Dear Michelle Bridges

Dear Michelle,I think you’re awesome, I really do. But we need to talk.Last week you wrote a column for the SMH titled, “fitness brings many benefits, but having fun isn’t one of them.”You then went on to ask that, “all the cheesy fun pedlars, please stop it” and suggested every trainer that uses the word “fun” to describe what they offer was assuming their clients were “stupid” and that nobody could possibly have FUN while exercising.Really? Is that what people need to hear from Australia’s fitness icon? Isn’t the whole point of being in this industry to motivate and inspire people to make change and become the best version of themselves?I must be missing something here because all this time I thought I was playing sport for fun, not punishment! Isn’t a game that gets your heart racing classified as exercise anymore?I understand that everyone has a different approach and agree exercise isn’t always fun but of course, it can be and making it fun creates a much healthier association with doing something that’s good for you on a regular basis.Perhaps some people need a healthy dose of tough love to get their mindset in the right place and their bodies moving, but saying nobody could possibly have a good time while sweating it out is just plain wrong and frankly, a little depressing, particularly when you consider not everyone wants (or needs) to punish themselves 7 days a week.I once had a trainer that was a real hard ass. Was he a great trainer? Yep. Renowned in the industry? Definitely. A “fun pedlar”? Absolutely not. And guess what? For the very first time in my athletic career, training with him really put me off exercise. I didn’t want to show up to sessions and I started getting way too obsessed with training and my body.Once I finished the program, I was so emotionally and physically exhausted that I didn’t train at all for a few months because I was just totally over the gym, it had such negative associations for me.These days? I haven’t missed a session in years and am still so excited by my training program every single week. While I certainly believe in not letting clients leave a workout without having truly pushed themselves, they’re having fun because we make it fun.How do we do that? We make it a game. Our sessions are sometimes themed, we experiment with new styles of movement, we use music strategically, we have a go at the workouts elite athletes and celebrities are doing and try to make every session a unique experience, while still working in a way that gets serious results.It’s much harder as a trainer to do this, it takes a lot more prep and creativity to successfully combine an athletic workout with a truly engaging (and fun!) experience but hey, if you genuinely want to make a long-term difference in someone’s life then giving them the gift of learning to love exercise is critical.All motivation comes from either pleasure or pain – we move towards pleasure and try to avoid pain. If you consistently associate exercise with pain, sooner or later you’ll start avoiding it. The only way to build the right exercise habits is to associate exercise with pleasure and I dare say this is something you’ve managed to do yourself, otherwise you wouldn’t be as fit and healthy as you are.Everyone is motivated in different ways – for some it’s competition that gets them going, for others focusing on a goal or outcome, for some the community aspect. But there are also those among us who love nothing more than a bit of corny storytelling thrown in with our workout – and there are more of them than you might think! For example, a “World War Z” themed workout we ran recently was the most popular session we’ve ever had at our gym, every session was sold out and people talked about it for weeks afterwards.Yell at someone and push them to their absolute limit and sure, you might get them to perform better in that one workout… but educate and inspire them, make them feel great about themselves and help them learn to enjoy their workouts (yep, maybe even have one of those giggles you seem to think are so absurd) and you might just have helped someone create a positive relationship with fitness, their body and themselves for life.I want people stepping into my gym, or coming down to my outdoor sessions feeling excited to try new workouts I’ve created for them, wondering what’s next… not dreading it.After reading in your column that 45-minutes on a cross-trainer is the type of exercise you do, I’m not particularly surprised you’re not having fun. That sounds truly terrible, poor you!Maybe it’s time for you to get a little bit creative?With respect,Libby Babet