Tapping out is defined by Wikipedia as "A submission; a combat sports term for yielding to the opponent, and hence resulting in an immediate defeat." Feeling defeated already? Tired? In pain or discomfort? Simply tap your hand on the floor and the fight comes to an end. Done, over, finito...you lose.
For those of us who fight the battle of the bulge in the gym every day, there comes a point in your workout, no matter how dedicated you are, that you want to tap out. Especially when trying something new or more challenging. You get into the workout, you fumble the new moves, your body screams, your lungs seem to tighten up on you, your muscles lock down, time seems to crawl, sweat pours down, maybe your back hurts, maybe your feet hurt, maybe you're exhausted and you look at the clock and realize you're not even halfway through, maybe you're just not feeling it. Maybe everyone around you is moving with ease and you feel like a stiff, bumbling idiot who everyone is looking at and finding lacking. No matter what stage of your journey you are on, from time to time we are faced with challenges that can embarrass us, take us to our limits, and which bring out the inner two year old who just wants to stomp their feet and yell, "I hate this." That two year old wants to take their toys and go home. That two year old wants to take the easy route. That two year old wants to tap out.
This inner toddler is one of the very important reasons why I don't workout alone. Left to my own devices, there are many times when I would "tap out" early or simply not try something challenging to begin with. I can't tell you how many times, before I became dedicated to this journey, that I started a workout DVD at home and did it halfway. I can't tell you how many times I shut the TV off early and chose the couch over finishing my workout.
This is where a group of friends comes in handy. Be it one person or six, there's always someone who needs some motivation and someone who pulls the others through when they would otherwise take their toys and go home. Many times on this journey I've felt exhausted, sore, awkward and close to tapping out and my wonderful group of gym buddies have pulled me through. Sometimes, like today as we did the TapouT XT Muay Thai DVD and everyone in turns hollered "I hate this!", I'm get to be the one pulling others through.
Sometimes Mike Karpenko, the TapouT instructor, comes across cheesy and worthy of being knocked out with one of his signature punches, but as we sweated and grunted through today's killer routine, something he said got to me: you have to make yourself uncomfortable in order to get results. It makes sense; doing the same old, same old will not push us or get us where we want to be. Improvement and change don't happen in a vacuum. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it's awkward, sometimes I want to say "screw this, I'm done," but I've found if I just keep moving, modify as necessary, and do whatever I have to to finish, I always feel better. Tapping out leads to "yielding to the opponent [my lazy inner two year old], and hence resulting in an immediate defeat." And immediate defeat never got anyone anywhere.
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