The long road to taking the next step

The road to any goal is a long, unwinding one. You don’t know what the next intersection is going to bring on a daily basis.

That’s a good way to describe the BodyPump process I’m taking on much of this spring.

In case you haven’t noticed, and the only way you haven’t is if you’ve been living under a rock since last October, I completed Advanced Instructor Module Part 2 for the second time in my career last fall, the first step into attaining possible Elite certification, the first of many steps into earning one of those coveted Les Mills trainer positions.

Many of my peers and friends have been fortunate enough to become trainers, including a handful of talented instructors I participated in my first AIM 2 with back in 2012. Just attaining Elite certification doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a trainer. Some are fortunate to get invited to trainer summits.

But being the first instructor from Maine to ever be invited to a trainer summit is only a small part of this process.

That’s right. It’s a process. If you think too much about the long-term goal, you’re only setting yourself up for disappointment, and you’re only putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.

That’s what I’ve instilled in myself during the process of having to video a class and send it to Les Mills, similar to what happens when you’re attempting to get certified.

Thus far, I’m proud to say I’ve done three tapings. I have until this October to send in up to five. None of the three tapings have been perfect. No group exercise class is perfect. It can be a tad more mentally taxing when the camera is in the back of the room. But I just tell myself it’s just another participant, and he’s using a tripod instead of a benchtop.

While the result won’t come for at least another couple of months – I have yet to send any of these tapings in to Les Mills – it’s the process that you remember a lot more than the final result. Not only that, it’s the process of hard work, growth, blood, sweat and tears that come with the process that make the result well worth earning.

It’s all those hours in the weight room and doing other classes while not onstage. It’s late nights spent scripting and going over choreography, making sure everything is prepared to a T. It’s growing as an instructor, mentally and physically. It’s little things like hanging a University of Maine hockey jersey up on the wall behind our stage as a way to represent my home state and the hockey team of which I’m a season ticket holder. It’s knowing my participants are walking out of the room stronger than when they came in. It’s the growth that they show day in and day out. It’s them trusting the scientific principles behind BodyPump workouts, and how effective they are.

If all that hard work leads to where I want to get later this year, that makes it all the more gratifying. I’ve always been known as a hard worker. Back in my running days, I’d get in my mileage even during Maine’s harsh winters. You have to work for your success. It doesn’t just come to you. That’s what makes the process well worth it. Even if it means falling asleep in my recliner at 9:00 at night on occasion.

I don’t know when my next taping is going to occur. It could be this coming Monday, but with our club’s launch of the newest releases coming in a fortnight, tapings may have to take a back seat for a while. But that’s OK. The process has only begun. I don’t know where the next intersection will lead on this long road, but I know it’ll lead to a great result thanks to the process.

Ryan McLaughlin

About Ryan McLaughlin

BDN sports reporter Ryan McLaughlin grew up in Brewer and is a lifelong fan of the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins. In "The Boston Blitz" he'll be sharing his perspective with BDN readers about what's happening on the Boston professional sports scene.