The human body is far more incredible than I ever realized. I’ve recently begun studying personal training and just the first few chapters on the body’s response to stress, such as exercise, is by all means mind-blowing.

For example- I just learned that the heart wants to naturally beat about 100 times per minute. Your body actively slows this to what is your resting heart rate- 60 to 80 BPM for most people. Then as part of a response to stress does your body lower this slowing-signal and allow your heart to raise its beating pace.

Forever, I’ve always thought that the resting heart rate was the baseline your body ran at. Instead, the body essentially ‘keeps some in the tank’ for quick reaction to outside stress.

Which makes complete and total sense.

Just these first few chapters have already made me confident that this studying is going to pay off in so many ways. I appreciate that the program I’m using, ACE, has made it clear that Personal Training is far more than what many (myself included) must assume it to be. Trainers aren’t picking exercises or activities from a list and assigning them- they truly know the body and why it’s acting the way it is.

The level of information I’m being slammed with already is incredible. If anything, I can’t wait until I’m in a position where I can share this information in a meaningful and helpful way for the people around me.

The heart rate example above has already sparked some thoughts towards researching anxiety. Maybe there’s something about all of the systems that come together to raise heart rates and prepare your body for ‘fight or flight’ that is really the cause for many of the debilitating anxiety stories I’ve heard.