True Love and Pay Toilet
I have been asked on several occasions about the name of my brand #TrainYourInnerWarrior. Do I train people to be big, bad, burly "warriors"? Do I see myself as the warrior training others? What is "inner warrior" anyway?
Well, I'll tell you a story about my true love, add a little anecdote about Jon Bon Jovi and pay toilet (do I have your attention?), and maybe it will at least clarify what Train Your Inner Warrior means to me and how it translates to what I do.
If you've read my stuff before, you know I am huge music fan, which started as a very small child, and was exacerbated times a million the first time I saw Jon Bon Jovi on MTV.
One thing I read over and over about Jon was how grounded he always was. Knew where he came from, married his high school sweat heart ( I was heart broken at 12, could not understand why he didn't just wait, I was moving to New York for heaven's sake!), and I promised myself, just like Jon, if I was ever famous I would stay grounded.
AHAHAHA. I'm not laughing about the famous part, I'm laughing because it does not take fame to up-root us, Or even the slightest dose will do it so fast you don't even know what hit you.
In a second we forget the heart and soul of why we do something, enjoying the glory of having done the thing.
We love the approval, it's natural, and I'm not sure it's a bad thing to enjoy what others enjoy about you, and what you do. On the other hand, the pressure to repeat that thing can become overwhelming, authenticity easily lost.
I have had this experience in every thing from teaching an amazing class, to giving an amazing performance, to posing for a picture.
You cannot repeat it. You have to be more YOU every time you do something.
And we often confuse that with being BETTER at the thing ... no, it is a matter of being more connected to the thing we do because we love to do it.
Another thing JBJ used to say, "I wanted to play so much, I would have played to a pay toilet and paid for it" (Cities used to have pay toilets)...
I saw them play Central Park about 5 years ago, for 70, 000 people, there were actually more, but the city ordinances could not lawfully allow more people on to the great lawn. Paul Simon was the last one to do this. Do you think Jon is still thinking about that pay toilet? I hope so, and I bet so because I watched him sing his guts out on that stage for two hours in July city heat.
For me, teaching kids in school illuminates this even more profoundly. It is not a job, it is a love of what I do which I give to these girls, and not just what I do, but also who I am. If that is not the case they will know. They don't show up at 7:30 a.m. for me to go through the mechanics of a squat, they come because it is fun, there is love of sport, and they want a six pack. And if that is not what I bring with all my heart and soul, they will know.
I don't have to think of something new and cool for them, I have to be more present and more fun for them. And that comes from my heart, not from my book of exercise lessons, or my resume of videos and big fitness jobs.
I'll tuck it in all nice and neat for ya, when I am in the gym, and it's just me and me, the woman in the mirror looks back at me, and we both know if we don't get better everyday we cannot give it better than the day before. And I guess, what I mean, is me and that gal, the one in the mirror, love fitness and the sport of bodybuilding so much it has to infuse everything we, (I), do. We cannot live without it because we would have died without it.
Just like Jon, I would pay for it. I do pay for it... in a small gym in St. Louis, MO. (www.stlworkout.net, super awesome guys and gals).
They are glad to have me and my credit card, and they do not care how many videos I've done, or how many fitness companies I have helmed.
It is no accident I run a fitness brand called #TrainYourInnerWarrior, as it is the inside of my heart, soul and all the guts I have that I do what I do. And it is with that center, I look for yours and we find your #InnerWarrior.
With love and gratitude,
Anna