Stormtroopers get out
noun1. the playful and friendly exchange of teasing, kidding and ribbing remarks. Being a recipient of banter is a sign of affection and attention.
I am from a place called Paisley: a short train ride away from the City of Glasgow where the funniest and most down to earth characters who exchange-without even a hint of doubt-the best banter in the world. No one compares. Not Londoners, not New Yorkers. Glaswegians are the best. If I was to rate my banter on a scale of 1-10 with Weedgies I would rank about a two.
However, my enjoyment in listening to Glasgow banter is a full 10. Remember this line: Good banter makes me return to Glasgow almost every year.
How does banter relate with working out? Everything.
I admire folk who can enter a training facility, have laser focus-train hard, and then bolt out. If you want to get results or succeed this behaviour needs to happen. However, we are talking training.
Training can be uncomfortable.
Training is not most peoples idea of bliss.
With the preparation involved such as changing, proper eating, showering etc training is a time drain.
Therefore, maintaining laser focus behaviour for-e-v-e-r would be a challenge. I reckon if you did maintain laser focus for an extended period of time your persona would change and as a result would become too serious, too analytical, less playful. The cache: If you became too serious you wouldn’t get optimum results as your belly would be catapulting cortisol into your belly. This is not conducive with training as added cortisol equates to increased anxiety, slower reactions, and those awful three words extra body fat. Case in point. Have you ever been the recipient of GPS training. If not, I will tell you what happens. At first it’s really interesting and intriguing as every step and heart beat is measured. This analysis becomes old fast as you start to feel more and more like a robot. As I recall there is really only two robots with pizazz: C-3PO and R2-D2. The rest are like stormtroopers and whenever we go to the movies we like to see the stormtroopers dead.
In my coaching experience optimum results requires the ability to relax and be playful as athletes need to feel loose to break through. In the end athletes want optimum results. Optimum results is achieved with a mixture of playful creativity with laser focus.
Enter Banter.
If Soul Cycle uses positive lift the spirits to the sky banter Train like an Athlete tries as best as we can to use Glasgow Banter. We like to have a laugh and keep it real by paying attention to the wee things. When you walk in we (of course) know your name and (of course) always say hello! Bonus: If we are in the banter mood may even comment on your bright socks or during the session less than exquisite form. In the end we like to think that the best things in life are really about paying attention, espressos, scotch, great uplifting occasionally sweary music, naps, making a connection, having a laugh, kidding on, eating great 80% of the time and the other 20%- well you know…… stretching, enjoying, training hard, resting for results, looking and feeling really good, guiding topics away from the deep to the superficial as quickly as we can and having training sessions that make you feel brilliant.
TLA is definitely not for everyone.