Over the past 20 years Personal Training I have come to see strengths and weaknesses are not as black and white we might think. Sometimes muscles that appear strong are actually weak, and strong muscles, while looking good in the mirror, are typically tight and short, often leading to musculo-skeletal injuries. Apparently, this blurring of the lines extends beyond just muscles.

I was having lunch with a friend last week and he talked about how sometimes our percieved biggest weakness is actually our hidden greatest strength. I immediately thought of my own body, which after running eleven marathons, teaching literally thousands of fitness classes, pumping countless weights, practicing yoga and Pilates daily and consuming a vegetarian diet, still resembles the Venus de Milo, not Twiggy. What the hell?

We all know Fitness Professionals are NOT supposed to be curvy. Says who? Well, no one actually says it out loud. Instead they do things like suggest playing squash, or cutting down on carbs to help shrink my hips.  Riiiiggght. Do you think if it was that easy I wouldn’t have done it by now? Then there is the ridiculously obvious look of surprise when people discover my marathon PR is sub 3:45. Once in a high school track meet, someone actually remarked, OUT LOUD, that he couldn’t believe someone my size could run so fast. Sigh.

I guess that’s when it became a bit personal mission to show people fitness comes in varying shapes and sizes. Okay maybe its more that ‘a bit’ of a mission. Maybe its a life-driving-all-consuming obsession. I still struggle inside, looking at many of my colleagues with envy, but honestly its what defines my work. Thank you to so many of you who have responded and stuck with me for years even though I am so not a Barbie Doll. You have transformed what I percieve as my biggest struggle into my greatest strength.

Now what about you?  What’s your hidden Golden Achilles Heel?