Breaking bad habits...

How do you break a bad habit with a tennis ball?  Well, I'll tell you.

Today at training Madam Lash and I were talking about what my new goals are for myself this year.

Because, as you know, I am just so fan-fricking-tastic that I had smashed the ones I had long ago.

Now these goals aren't the usual sort - they're not weight based, or even really fitness related, and not even tightening the belt an extra notch sort, they're more like changing how I do things in my everyday life, finding new ways of doing things with a constantly changing body.

When you're morbidly obese, you tend to develop little habits and routines that help you to achieve things, or complete tasks, that other people, regular sized people, can usually do with ease, and generally without even thinking.  Like going up and down steps. or rising from a chair, or getting up off the floor, things like that.

One of the habits that I developed is that when I'd go up stairs, I'd throw my left arm out as leverage to help me get the momentum to get up the step.  If the stairs had a railing, then I tended to grab the railing with my left had and almost pull myself up.  This was all because of 1) the weight, and 2) dodgy knees, not at all for balance or stability.

NB:  All the dodgy knees needed was to build strength and for me to trust them.

Did you notice that I spoke in the past tense there?  Using my arm as leverage is on it's way out, it happens less and less, and one day, in the not too distant future, it'll just stop.

That's because Madam Lash taught me how to change the pattern of how I do things, how to trust my body, and together she and Michelle Bridges via 12WBT have changed how I think about movement.

My body has changed over the past few years, and I'm constantly amazed at what it can do now.  It has been challenged time and time again and it meets those challenges head on.  This body of mine is relearning how to do things that it hasn't done in 20 years or more, and as in the case of running, things that it has never done!

So when she asked me today "what would you like to be able to do?"  I answered with "I'd like to do step ups with having to put my hand on my leg for support and to push myself up - but I think I'm still about 30kg away from that yet..."

*picture Madam Lash having a light bulb moment*

The next thing I know, she's dashing off inside only to return moments later triumphantly holding a tennis ball.  Wreathed in smiles.  Her not the tennis ball...

She says "hold this" and hands me the tennis ball.  Then she says "now do the step ups while holding the ball in your hand".  I think I may have said something along the lines of "and what exactly is this for??" while internally questioning her sanity.

She'd had a flashback to when her Dad gave up smoking.  He was told that to successfully break a habit, you must consistently replace it with a new one.  He did it and it worked, so she decided to apply the concept to me.

By holding the tennis ball it gave my hand something else to do instead of pushing off my thigh.  I had to completely rejig my thought process, turn off auto pilot and actually think about what I was doing.  I will admit I thought she was a little bit nuts, but it worked.

It's going to take practice, but I can do it.

I can do it!

I challenged my body and it responded.  I thought I was at least 30kg away from being able to even attempt it, but it was only 30 seconds.

Goal = CRUSHED!!

Next goal?

To get up off the floor without looking like a baby elephant that has just face planted.

Lash said Turkish Get Ups would be good for that.

I may have to reassess my goals...