Alter Ego

I stopped abruptly and froze when I saw her. One of my kids bumped into me, and I held out an arm to keep him from moving forward, whispering with excitement, "Look! Over there next to the tree!" Until now, I had never seen a deer lying down in the woods. She was unconcerned with our presence, and we were able to get a good, long look. I slowly brought up my camera and tried to get a  picture, but there was some brush in the way, confusing the auto-focus. She saw me. There's no way she didn't. But deer at Peace Valley know they are safe and have become accustomed to human visitors in their world.

Here is what I love about DDIP, and why I think it stands out from other workout programs. First of all, it is a community. I've taken other exercise classes in the past and never knew the names of any of the other participants, and rarely knew the name of the instructor. In DDIP we have a rotation of instructors, all with memorable names. Names like Hurricane, Diesel, Mad Dog, Iron Mike. They know you by name. They watch you and call out encouragement or challenges to you, and they care.

When I was feeling down the other day, I could see Hurricane watching me. I didn't want her to see me give up, so I worked harder, and felt so much better afterward, because of it. Today, Drill was there, and he kept his eye on me, too, knowing my struggles. But today I'm feeling better, and I was smiling most of the morning, enjoying every moment - especially the trail run.

DDIP fosters relationships. We write our name on the back of our shirt so we can get to know each other, and motivate and cheer people on by name. We occasionally have games or races - always good-natured and encouraging. If anyone falls behind or struggles with an exercise, there is always someone who will run back out and finish it with them. Sometimes several people. Games always end with high fives and pats on the back and never with sore losers or arrogance.

We each have an Accountability Buddy to help motivate, encourage, and challenge us to do our best. What you put in, you get out. An AB makes you less likely to skip just because you don't feel like going. Sometimes they will give you a wake-up call or email you between classes to keep you motivated. They are there for you when you do partner-assisted exercises. The AB changes every session, so you have a chance to get to know someone else a little better, and to keep things from getting too predictable. A lot of people have made lifelong friends this way.

Most of us have nicknames. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose for this is, but for me, it gives me a feeling of strength and confidence, sort of like my super hero persona. It allows me to step outside myself and do things the old me would never think possible. I think having nicknames gives people a closer connection, like a shared secret that people in the outside world don't understand.

Best of all, DDIP reaches out into the community. Once every session, over 100 of us gather donations and hand-deliver them to a local charity that serves the needy. (see my post entitled "Manna Run" for more on this.)

 When I get to DDIP in the morning, I feel like I step into another reality, with my alter-ego and super powers. My first session, one of the instructors asked that people not talk about their work problems during warm ups. They want us to feel like this is our escape from the stress of life and focus on ourselves for this hour we have together. In this alternate universe, we even have our own language. Outsiders may need a translator to understand terms and phrases like "ZDT", "IVMF", "Crumble the Booger", and why we say "Warriors, come out and plaaaayyy!"