Wow! There has been so much intensity in the last 24 hours in the news, social media etc. I don’t want to talk about any of that.
I wonder what would happen if everyone in an uproar started working on their fitness and nutrition as passionately as they slam each other politically we could end obesity pretty quickly.
Independence Day is next week. Let’s all remember what that means to us. Have a safe and happy holiday!
I’ve said it a few times and I’m going to say it again. Motivation is not a constant. It comes and goes and often times there are things going on in our lives that add to the loss of motivation. I’m a firm believer in staying with my workouts (even if it’s 10 minutes of air squats in your office) and keeping my food at minimum 80% clean always.
Doing some type of work-out even when you don’t feel like it add positive motivation to your mojo bank. Doing nothing is just that…a big blank of nothing. If you are serious about getting fit you should figure this one out fast.
Secondly, work-out your mind! Positive thoughts, visualization and gratitude are three of the most powerful work-outs you have access too.
Positive thoughts include being kind to yourself instead of being critical of all of your perceived flaws.
Visualize yourself exactly where you want to be.
Make a list everyday of the top three things you are grateful for. Challenge yourself not to duplicate them for 5 days.
A huge thank you to my friend Leah VanHoose for allowing me to use this positively beautiful photo today!!
Sunflower by Leah Vanhoose
Celebrate your Badonkadonks today ladies!!
I have some friends that never seem to have slip ups or slumps in motivation. I’m not one of those people. Although I’ve learned how to keep myself on task simply by adhering to my own set of rules.
When you fall off the wagon and eat or drink excessively, admit it and stop it.
Stop it you say? That’s hard. Yes it is. But what’s harder is breaking yourself from the eat bad, feel bad cycle that can go on indefinitely if you don’t stop it.
Do it by committing to yourself that the next meal will be clean. Once you start consuming clean food and WATER, yes a lot of water you flush out all of the nastiness you’ve consumed and you give your internal organs a nice clean shower. Not to mention you mentally feel better for making good choices.
Another rule I have is no more than 3 days of wallowing. Everybody has a woe as me time at some point. Yes, me too.
Share your concerns with a friend. If they are truly your friend they will smack you right in the mindset with the excuses and what-if’s come back. So you had better be tough enough to take tough love from your fitness friends, that’s what they are there for.
What happens at the end of 3 days? Get moving. No matter what, set your clock, do your workout, pack your meals for the whole day and get on with acting your way to better thinking.
Lastly, quit comparing yourself to other people. It’s not about them, it’s about YOU getting better.
***Edited to add: I realized after I posted this that the 3 day rule is incomplete. That’s 3 days in a row ONCE every 4 months. Not every week or even every month. To take that 3 day rule more often means you need to dig a little deeper and figure out why you would sabotage your own efforts that often.
I’ve been in the habit of resting on the weekends for quite sometime. In fact I believe that I’ve developed a rather naughty habit of literally become lazy in the name of rest.
This past week I decided to try something a little different. I rested on Friday. Friday is usually my favorite workout day of the week because everyone tends to be a little less serious about it and there is a good chance that you’ll hear lyrics such as “apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur” or “my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard”. Just fun dance type music that creates a much lighter air. So giving up my Friday workout was a mind game for me but I did it.
On to Saturday. I was thinking of all the workouts my friends over at Cultfit publish everyday and decided to keep it fairly simple. I managed a short 16 ish minute workout of KB snatches, pull-ups and push-ups. That and the only activity related to fitness that I can coax the spousal unit into a 2.3 mile hilly walk. It was just what the doctor ordered. I felt great all day and didn’t veg in front of the tv set on HGTV.
Sunday was another scorcher, we’re seeing upper 90’s in the temps so I took my stand-up paddle board down to the water and decided that I would see if I could paddle board as far as I normally kayak. I managed it. I loved it. Being out there in the early morning just me, the water and nature. Talk about soothing to the soul.
I didn’t have a plan of what I was going to do regarding workouts, I just got busy doing. Some days that’s all it takes. There doesn’t have to be a grand well written plan. Just a willingness to do.
This morning I stood in front of the mirror criticizing my perceived flaws. As I realized what I was doing I stepped back and thought “hold on now, lets take a look at what we really have here”.
I have a healthy body that allows me to trash it working out 5-6 days a week. It doesn’t give up, it doesn’t quit. It just keeps responding to the physical challenges I dish out everyday.
Did I get there overnight? Absolutely not.
What’s even more important than what I see staring back at me in the mirror is what I’ve built up on the inside.
My mind, confidence, willingness to succeed, discipline and consistent dedication to living a healthy lifestyle. Being able to stop myself from comparing my physique to that of another is invaluable. I am me for a reason. Why would I change that?
You want instant gratification? Get yourself moving. There is nothing more gratifying than taking that 30 or so minutes a day to work on your goal of getting fit.
Want more instant gratification? There is a tremendous feeling of empowerment that comes from making healthy food choices every day.
Need more instant gratification? Stop comparing yourself to other people and focus on becoming the very best you that you can become.
Sooner or later your instant gratification vault will be running over with results.
Community and support. I had no idea what those two words really meant outside of community = neighborhood and support = a helping hand if needed.
Since I started my fitness journey, I’ve come to see both of those words in a completely different light.
Community now means a group of people who support each other in a common goal.
That means the good, bad and the ugly too.
There are some folks out there than can simply go it alone. I’ve found that I am much better as part of a community.
Higher goals, higher level of accountability, higher levels of support, both give and take.
If you are just starting out, find a group to get involved with. Whether its classes at your gym or online forums or joining a CrossFit box.
Don’t expect everyone to coddle you, don’t expect everyone to check on you when you are down. If you need support reach out instead of having a pity party.
People cannot read your mind and know if you are having a lack of motivation, feelings of discontent or even a life crisis. Your support group will rely on you to let them in on what’s happening. And trust me, everyone eventually has a lack of motivation.
These two ladies are two of my dearest friends, they are from other states. We’ve been a part of the same fitness support group for years. We all met up in DC for the Marine Corps Marathon in 2011. Here they are coming across the finish line.
Community and support! Get some!
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m an early riser. Up with the chickens as they say down here in the south. I’m up and getting ready to go workout at 4:30am every morning during the week. That’s my “me” time. The no excuses time that works out best for my life.
As I was running out the door of the gym this morning another lady looked over her shoulder and said “I am 48 and you’ll pass me in a minute”. I jogged up beside her and I said “you are never to old to reach for amazing” besides I’ve got you beat by a year.
I gently reminded her instead of comparing ourselves to the ladies in the class who are 20-25 years younger we needed to remember to focus on how we stack up against our peers and more so than our peers, compare ourselves to who we were yesterday. Better today than yesterday.
On the next lap which was in between dead-lifts/push-ups and air squats/sit-ups we continued our conversation about wisdom, discipline and consistency being the keys to staying at least within sight range of the younger crowd. As we finished up the last run she looked over at me and said “now what was that you said earlier?”. I said the amazing quote again. I suspect she’ll be holding on to that one just like I have.
Wisdom comes with age. And to this day I still greatly appreciate my friend you said “you are never too old to reach for amazing” to me.
I read this today:
“Talking a lot about something that bothers you is a clear sign you’ve got something huge to learn, unrelated to “the thing.” ~Mike Dooley
Seriously, over the past month my blog posts and conversations have been all over the board.
After writing my post from yesterday the word truth stuck with me while I worked through my not so obvious thing.
As of this morning I decided to re-label myself. Up to now I’ve been a number of things. An average mom with 3 little boys, morphed in to a morbidly obese single mom with 3 big boys, morphed into a before and after weight-loss success story, morphed into a masters level CrossFitter.
As of today, I am re-labeling myself a general bad-a$$. How did I come to that conclusion? Up to now I’ve blocked and tackled myself just before I reach that next step in getting better. Notice I said blocked and tackled myself? You see when you realize that you keep getting in your own way to success it’s now time for change. Today, I’m throwing down the gauntlet for change. The first thing that must change is how I see myself. If I don’t see myself as a bad-a$$ then I will never be one.
Raising the bar again, simply because I’m happier when I have to jump to touch a new goal.
So what if I have to step up on a box to reach the bar from time to time? So what if one of my friends has to say “here let me help you up”, so what if my son and his girlfriend have to count the last reps so I don’t have to think, I can just do.
It’s all about getting better inside and out. It’s about learning that it’s you that has to make the right decision for yourself. No-one else can change you. They can support you, train you, and listen to you, but you are the only person that can follow through.
One thing is on my mind today. That is truth. Truth is what you do when no-one is watching, reading or listening.
I work myself up in to a tizzy sometimes over lack of results both with nutrition and workouts, when in truth I am not holding myself to the level of discipline needed to achieve those results.
Does that mean I’m a train wreck? No, absolutely not. It means perhaps that I’m being complacent. It means I’m not focusing with intent to a specific goal and/or it means I’m not taking things to the next level. I’m just hanging out in my current comfortable place.
Truth is that it’s time for me to get back to the task at hand with no excuses. In reading “Switch” by Chip & Dan Heath, I find that little ah-ha moments come to light. I had one of those this weekend. The average person (myself included) wants an open-ended criteria when goal setting especially where diet and exercise are concerned.
In example, “I will work on running 4 miles without stopping” = open-ended instead of saying “I will run 3 days per week until I reach my goal of 4 miles in 3 months”.
Or “I will cut back on sugar” open-ended instead of saying “I will only consume natural sugars from fruit or honey”.
Truth is TRUTH.
There is no way to know what I’m capable of until I make that goal black & white. I’ve notoriously made my goals escapable. Funny thing is that I am very successful at being an escape artist. And that my dear friends will hold you back from your morphing efforts.
I like the freedom of truth. I like the self-honesty of truth. Truth keeps me on my toes. Truth is success.
I like knowing where I am and each time I take a look at the truth I grow exponentially.
garagegym107 