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Welcome to the final post in my series on “What Regimen Training Taught Me as a Worship Leader”.  If’ you’ve missed the series, back up and see these other entries:

Part 1: What is Regimen
Part 2: R.A.N.
Part 3: Change It Up
Part 4:  Teach the Why

Part 5:  Encouragement Matters

In the last entry I talked about teaching.  The teaching is critical but it’s not enough.  You have to have encouragement.  In the trenches when the sweat is pouring, the body is resisting, and the mind is telling you there’s nothing left, it’s that encouraging word that pulls you through.

A good fitness trainer will challenge you in your routine, correct you when you’re wrong, and encourage you when you are doing it right. But how can we apply that to worship leading?

So far these teachings have primarily applied to how we (as leaders) interact with our congregations.  Today I want to focus on how we interact with our teams.  How often do you encourage them?

Keep in mind that the majority of us work with volunteers who have already been bossed around all day and have endured stress and anxiety at the work place.  The last thing they need as they volunteer in the band or tech team is to feel the same way.  Encourage your team.  Build them up.  When they play well, acknowledge it.  When they seem frustrated or overwhelmed with a part, encourage them.

Take this beyond words.  I’d encourage you to have a box of stationary in your desk so that you can mail a letter from time to time … you know, write it, stuff it in an envelope, place a stamp on it, and put it in that old thing called a mailbox.

Don’t let this stop with your band.  There is a tech team that makes everything work; yet, they are usually acknowledged only when something goes wrong.

Can this apply to our congregations as well?  Of course it can.  As you notice those who seem to really connect with the worship, make a point to encourage them.  Tell them that seeing them worship and engage encourages you and spurs you on as a leader.  In the same way, with sensitivity, you may approach someone who is obviously struggling.  Pull them aside and give them an encouraging word – tell them how glad you are they came and ask if there’s anything you can pray with them about.

I know this.  When I’m on my last pushup … and my body screams it can’t do another … all it takes is Eric or Matt standing over me saying “c’mon Fred, you can do it, one more” and I push it out.  You can too.

That’s a wrap for this series.  I hope it’s been helpful for you.  I’d love to see your comments, so chat it up!

About the Photo:
Another shot by Chris Moncus Photography, who was hired to take some pictures in Summer 2009 during some of our East Beach workouts.  This is a great group, many of whom are still attending the regimen workout classes on East Beach.  For more info on the “Regimen” training, visit Taylor Made Training.

Welcome back to this series called “What Regimen Training Taught Me as a Worship Leader”.

Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.

Part 3 – Change It Up

Routine.  It can be a good thing – for a while.  But changing up our fitness routines makes it more enjoyable and unpredictable.  We never know what the routine will be.  Some days we’re on the beach.  Some days we’re in the grass.  Some days we have “toys”.  (ie.  kettle bells, jump ropes, dumbbells, TRX suspension systems).  Other days – it’s just old-fashioned exercising.

Granted, when we plan a corporate worship experience, making it “enjoyable” shouldn’t necessarily be our first intention.  However, breaking up the routine can bring a freshness to the gathering and help give our minds a jolt out of the norm.

Why is this important?  When our routine is the same, Sunday after Sunday … it’s easy to just go through the motions.  You know … open up with a fast song, do announcements, do a few medium/slow songs, have a sermon, and close with the song that makes them come to the altar.  You can predict it so many times.  It’s not that this type of flow is wrong … but can we make our gathering more meaningful by changing things up?

Changing the routine can make us pay more attention to what is happening.  When we depart from our normal way of doing things it causes people to stop and take notice.  Try opening up with a more reflective, slow worship song to begin your services.  Put more songs together in a set, or break them apart with some readings or prayers.  Just don’t do the same motions – over and over.

Well, I hope you’re enjoying this series.  Please leave your comments below.  If you aren’t already subscribed to the blog, consider subscribing by email or RSS.

About the Picture:
This wasn’t your expected routine.  With these big bungie cords, we literally pulled one another across the parking lot.  As you can see, it was tough on both sides of the cord.  We left this routine excited because we did something different and new!

Welcome back to this series called “What Regimen Training Taught Me as a Worship Leader”.

Part 1 is here.

Part 2:  “Rest as Needed”

R.A.N.  It’s an acronym for “rest as needed” that our trainers constantly use.  They want us to be pushed past our comfort zones but they don’t want anyone hurt.  Every person that arrives at “Regimen Training” is at a different place in their fitness ability.

It’s profound how true this is when we gather to worship.  Every person that arrives is in a different place spiritually.  Some are super-charged and ready to go.  Others are broken, hurt, devastated, or discouraged.  Some are full of confidence while others are beaten down with guilt.

These are examples of one’s spiritual condition – but we have to account for one’s physical condition as well.  Have we ever considered that not every person in our congregation is comfortable standing for 25 minutes?  That clapping actually hurts the hands of the person suffering from arthritis?

As worship leaders we should encourage our congregations to press past their comfort zones.  At the same time, we have to give them freedom to “rest as needed”.  Perhaps communicating this to congregations will liberate them from the fear of being judged if they take a break.

Here’s the truth.  There are some who come from church cultures where it’s not uncommon to praise and worship through song/music for 45 minutes to over an hour.  There are others who have never engaged in a flow of 2 or more songs back-to-back.  Worship is a spiritual discipline – and I might add, isn’t always defined by standing and singing.

So what do we do?  Communicate that worshipers can “rest as needed”.  Communicate it frequently.  Communicate it lovingly.  At the same time, encourage your congregations to push further and deeper into their expressions of worship than before.  Encourage them past their comfort zones.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!  Comment below.

About the Picture:
Photo by Chris Moncus Photography, for Taylor Made Training.  After a series of “bear crawls” and “crab walks” through the surf  of the Atlantic Ocean on St. Simons Island’s East Beach, my arms and legs decided that “R.A.N.” was in order.  No pain, no gain.  And of course, Mr. Moncus was right there to capture my defeating moment.

Happy Monday, friends!

For those who have followed for a while, you will recall that I joined a fitness thing called “Island Regimen” … an outdoor, boot-camp style fitness program.  I started in May of last year, got myself into better shape, and lost nearly 30 pounds.  I waned off in December due to a number of things, including injury, work, travel, and just plain ole’ laziness.

Because I still struggle maintaining a healthy lifestyle, especially in what I eat, I gained most of that weight right back.  Shame.

I’ve been easing back into the program and now there are classes 5 days per week … outdoor and indoor.

This morning was the official return of “Outdoor Regimen”.  It was great.  We met down on East Beach at the Coast Guard Station on St. Simons Island.  The routine wasn’t quite as hard because we took a 10-minute pause from 6:20-6:30 to enjoy the beauty of the Space Shuttle Launch.  Nevertheless, for this ole’, out-of-shape boy, it was still tough.

Opening Dynamic Warmups:
Typical, bunny hops, Russian walks, high knee pulls, step drills, sprints

We did this one cardio drill where we all got in a big circle and side-shuffled around, and kept changing directions.  My heart was racing.

Let’s Go Watch the Space Shuttle:

Our trainers were gracious enough to let us jog down to the beach to watch the launch.  But of course it was no Sunday stroll … we jogged and passed along big sand bags along the way!

Back to Work:

After the launch we raced back to the Coast Guard Station parking lot where we did about 10-15 minutes of a cardio drill that consisted of:

1.  Plyo/forward jumps to a hurdle.
2.  10 lateral jumps (side-to-side) over the hurdle.
3.  Sprint from hurdle to far end of parking lot and sprint all the way back.

We did this 5 times.

From the embedded data from my Garmin Forerunner 50 watch, you can see that I’m still WAY out of shape.  Since I’ve not done any jogging or cardio since December, my heart rate went crazy.  I believe it max’d at 193.  The dip in activity was between 6:20 – 6:30 AM when we caught our breath, watching the shuttle blast through the sky. (click the “view details” link for more data if you’re interested)

So how about you? Any health or fitness goals for 2010? Are you on track?

So a couple of days ago I wrote this post about being motivated during “the dip“.  I’ve been in a serious “dip” lately with my fitness routine, eating habits, etc.  I talked to our trainer, “Eric” this morning, and he said it happens to everyone.

We were out late last night enjoying a big fall festival with the kids in Savannah – so we didn’t even get home until after 11:00 PM last night.  The 5:15 AM wakeup call for regimen is the LAST THING I wanted to deal with – especially since my supper was a bag of chips and a Diet Coke.

I dug deep and showed up this morning – after all, I did PAY for it.  It was tough … my shoulders were on fire.

The routine was called “Progression”.  You progress from a simple squat (there’s nothing so simple about it really), into a full series of exercises.  The keys to this routine were:

* don’t go to fast – take your time, rest as needed
* hold each exercise, have good form – don’t rush through the motion, but stop in each “progression”

1.  50 squats
2.  40 squats, progress into a thrust position
(ie. standing, do a squat, go into a thrust position, which is like a pushup/plank position w/o the pushup, stand up do it again)
3.  30 squats, thrust, pushup
(ie. #2, but this time, when you go to thrust position, hold for a second, do a full pushup in that position, stand up, do it again)
4.  20 squats, thrust, legs out/in (ie. like a horizontal jumping jack), pushup
(ie. squat, into thrust/plank position, spread legs out wide, legs back in, do pushup, stand up, do it again)
5.  10 squats, thrust, leg in/out, pushup, full stand/jump burpee
(ie. squats, into thrust/plank,  legs out, in, do the pushup, and complete by standing and raising hands fully over head, repeat)

I think I was the last one to finish.  I joined my comrades for a bonus lap around the Coast Guard Station.  My issues this morning were all upper body issues.  I think my legs have gotten better, as the squats weren’t killing me like they used to.  But by #3 where we were adding the full pushup, my shoulders were burning like crazy … all out hurting.  I’d take a break for a few minutes, but found no relief.

No pain?  No gain.