It’s rational to assume that since both my sister (Jen, who owns FITT-RX) and Dad own fitness studios that I must also be committed to working out. Well, truth be told, I don’t gravitate towards it and actually tend to quit anything related to fitness. This surprises most people I encounter, because I set the bar high for myself and never give up on anything else in life that is difficult, including on goals related to my career and academics. I’m not sure when or why, but some time in my past I convinced myself that I couldn’t succeed in anything physically challenging.
In January, I was asked to join a team of 26 people in Nepal to trek to the Annapurna base camp. Basically, I would need get into top shape within 11 weeks in order to walk up and down stairs 6-9 hours a day for 10 days in very high altitude. My first reaction was to decline, but something inside of me said I deserved to prove to myself and everyone who ever believed in me that I could do something like this. I called Jen and asked her to be truthful and tell me if she thought I could be prepared for the trek. Without delay she responded, “I believe you can do this if you stay committed to training”.
Jen developed a training plan that would take me from 0 to 60 which included strict goals for working out on my own 4 days a week, training for strength 1 day a week with Andrew, and training for endurance 1 day a week with Stacy. This amount of dedication seemed impossible since I travel 4 days a week for work, put in 10-14 hour workdays, and had a 3 week work trip to Africa during this period of time. However, I only missed a total of 2 workouts over those 11 weeks!
During my training, there were days when I felt like a champ because I started feeling strong. Yet, there were days when I wanted to quit because I felt like the underdog and that I couldn’t succeed even if I trained. I quickly realized that what was going to enable me to succeed was to ask for support from people who truly believed I could get to that base camp. I am blessed with a lot of amazing family and friends, but there were specific people I would reach out to for encouragement when I needed it. Sometimes, a simple text exchange could get me through mental roadblocks, but other times I had to pick up the phone and ask for a pep talk to get me through tears. In the end, I grew a strong passion to succeed not only for myself but for them.
I made it to the base camp without any difficulty even though the trek was way more challenging than anyone on my team imagined it would be. Thankfully, my FITT-RX trainers pushed me beyond what I thought were my limits and I was prepared for the extra challenge. I was actually part of the “fast group” which finished each day in record timing and was the third person to reach the base camp!
My advice to anyone who thinks they are the underdog is to set an “unachievable” goal and be passionate about accomplishing it. The key is to surround yourself with people who truly believe in you and will not let you quit. You deserve to prove you can do all those things you think you can’t do, and you will be shocked at what you can accomplish if you maintain confidence in yourself. Statistically speaking, the underdog shouldn’t succeed, but life isn’t a math test and sometimes passion trumps logic.
–Becca Knuth
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