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Your true nature comes out when you have to teach others who know nothing about the things you understand well — the amount of patience, empathy, and kindness you have all come out into the open. You learn other things about yourself too. Maybe you realize you don’t know things as well as you think. Sure, you know how to do them because it’s now just a part of you — but do you know the nitty-gritty basics that you have to start with for some people?
I’m thinking about this mostly in terms of lifting weights and teaching proper form and movement (and also, “proper” is a relative term because it depends on your goals) because this is pretty much what I do in both of my jobs. However, it can apply to anything. Being an actual teacher, showing someone how to change a tire (which incidentally, I really need to learn), etc. And a few days ago I read something that’s been stuck in my mind — when you learn something new or change your beliefs, what do you do with your old beliefs and opinions? Do you forget they were ever in your mind?
I will be honest in saying that maybe I’ve forgotten some of the old beliefs, opinions, and lessons I’ve learned. Something I’ve had to do lately is teach people movements that I was required to learn in class a few years ago — and I applied them to my own workouts and the rehab I did with athletes in undergrad. So, those movements have become almost ingrained within me. I usually never have to think twice about how to do them, so reaching into the back of my mind to teach others has been difficult.
For example, do I have to remind people to “let go” of their hamstrings and glutes in order to hip hinge and perform a proper deadlift? And what about the posterior shift? And how do you tell people to tilt their pelvis when they’ve never given it a second thought? There was so much I had to relearn because I needed to bring it back to the basic, easiest movement. Some people I train simply want to make getting up from a chair easier, or they want better balance. Not only do you have to teach them from the beginning, but you have to make sure what you’re doing aligns with their goals. It’s more than just using what you learned from the book — it involves people, their history, their current progress, and their future goals. It’s real life application…you’re showing people…
