On Thursday night, I went to the South River Road Courthouse and watched a new Team Training format called Ignite.

10 women begin by warming up, moving back and forth through the room, stretching, and laughing and talking. They then move through a power circuit, meant to wake up the body. They jump on steps, squat and push medicine balls against the wall, and lift slosh pipes over their heads. After this, the women do a team exercise. Today, the women gather in a large circle and pass medicine balls between themselves, taking a strong, controlled step as they do. Soon, this exercise becomes a game and the women try and see how many times they can pass the ball around the circle in a minute, switching directions every 60 seconds. Then, another circuit with a larger emphasis on cardio and balance. Then, a game. The women laugh and play and enjoy the process. Afterwards, they meet in the middle of the room and put their hands together. “Ready, set…Ignite!” They yell and gather their things. End of week 4 of Ignite.

Some of the women hang around and talk with me and tell me about their experience in Ignite.

I ask them about how their relationship to exercise used to be. One woman answers, “Oh, I used to hate it.” Another says, “I always thought it was miserable. I would never do it for very long.” And another says, “I thought it was boring.”

Then, I ask, how do you like Ignite? “I have a blast,” one speaks up. “I like the support I get from the other ladies and from Audra. I love playing the game at the end and I love the way that Audra pushes us…just enough and in the right way. I wouldn’t be able to do this if I didn’t have the group here helping me out. I would have quit by now.”

I ask, “What is it like to enjoy exercise? Because that can be a success in itself. To go from hating exercise to liking it. What does that feel like?”

Every woman answers something to the effect of “It is great.” But I get something deeper from that answer and from the look in their eyes when they say it. I get a sense of pride in themselves. I get the sense that they know now that anything is possible. I feel them saying, “If I can enjoy exercise, I can keep enjoying exercise. And if I can keep enjoying exercise, then I can become an exerciser, a mover, a person who does. I can enjoy my life more fully.”

One woman put it this way. “It sounds kind of silly, but I now can do work in the lawn, pull weeds, clean up, do the dishes, and not hurt. I feel my age. I feel like I should feel. Even my kids are looking at my arms and saying, ‘Mom, you’re ripped.’ That is pretty cool.”

Success is enjoying exercise. Success is having fun moving. Results will always follow.