You’re 22 minutes into your Hit.

You’re working hard. You’re sweaty. You have personally decided that your current pace is perfectly respectable.

Then you make eye contact with your trainer.

“Okay, let’s pick it up!”

Excuse us?

We were under the impression that we were picked up.

Welcome to the complicated relationship between you and the person whose job it is to encourage you, support you, teach you proper technique and, every so often, become just a tiny bit annoying.

Unfortunately, They’re Paying Attention

There are moments in life when it’s nice to go unnoticed.

This is rarely one of them.

Your trainer saw that last round.

They saw the first five punches, when you were absolutely flying. They also saw punches six through ten quietly enter energy-saving mode.

They know what your strong looks like. They know when your form is getting sloppy because you’re tired, when you need a modification and when you probably have a little more left than you’re currently volunteering.

This is deeply inconvenient.

Especially when you were hoping to negotiate directly with the bag and leave them out of it.

“You’ve Got More.”

One of the benefits of having somebody coach you through a workout is that they can sometimes see what you’re capable of before you decide you’re done.

That doesn’t mean every workout needs to be your hardest workout ever. It doesn’t mean ignoring pain, pushing through an injury or turning every Hit into some kind of test.

Sometimes your trainer is going to tell you to slow down, adjust your technique or take a modification.

Other times?

They’re going to look directly at you and say, “Come on, give me a little more.”

They Also Keep Correcting Things

You finally remember the combo.

You’re feeling good.

Then you hear it.

Oh, right.

Your trainer isn’t correcting you because they’ve made it their personal mission to ruin your fun. Good technique helps you get more out of what you’re doing, keeps your movements controlled and helps you build skills instead of simply throwing yourself at a bag for 30 minutes.

That means they’re going to remind you about your stance. They’re going to notice your hands dropping. They may ask you to slow something down before you speed it back up.

And yes, there is a very real possibility they will correct the exact thing you were hoping they hadn’t noticed.

Then There’s the Encouragement

Trainer encouragement comes in many forms.

But there’s a reason the encouragement matters.

When you’re in the middle of a hard round, your perspective is mostly, this is hard and I would like it to stop now.

Your trainer gets to stand slightly outside that moment. They can remind you that you’re almost there, that you’ve done this before and that you probably have another few seconds in you.

The Goal Isn’t to Make You Miserable

There is an important distinction here.

A good trainer isn’t trying to destroy you.

They’re not there to make you feel embarrassed, punish you for needing a break or push you through something that doesn’t feel right.

They’re there to coach the person who walked in that day.

The goal isn’t for you to leave thinking, “Wow, my trainer absolutely wrecked me.”

The goal is for you to get a good workout that works for you.

Even if you roll your eyes at them once or twice along the way.

You Know You’d Miss Them

Here’s the annoying part: they notice the good stuff too.

They see the cleaner punch, the stronger round, the station that doesn’t intimidate you anymore. And on the days when you’re not convinced you’ve got it in you, they probably remember all the other days when you did.

So yes, they may tell you to pick it up, put your hands back up or give them ten more seconds at an objectively terrible time.

They’re doing their job.