Tag Archives: workout program

Celebrate Your Way into Working Out

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ConfettiWoo hoo! I got a 20 minute workout in this morning!

Doesn’t sound like much?

I am celebrating!

Why? Because I’ve missed my workouts for most of the past two weeks due to a chest cold.

While 20 minutes is less than half of the time than I normally spend, I did what I could do.

And it felt good!

It felt satisfying to get back to regularly moving my body. It felt like progress. It felt fun to focus on wellness.

An interruption to your workout routine is actually a key time to focus on progress not perfection.

Too often you may be disappointed, frustrated, and discouraged because you aren’t where you were or where you expected to be. It can take a few days—or even weeks—to get back up to full speed and intensity if you’ve been sick, injured, or are just under a lot of stress. (Holidays anyone?)

When you focus on what you’ve “lost,” where you “should” be, how “hard” it is, etc., you are actually getting in the way of your comeback. It will be hard because you believe it to be.

I know.

In the past, coming back from an illness might very well have sent my workout routine on the skids for months.

I would have focused so much on the negative elements of my recovery that I literally made it 100 times harder to get back into a healthy routine.

I didnt make to the gym

Think of it this way. If all you focus on is how much you are dreading your workout, how much you hate exercise, how horrible sweating is, how hard it will be—how likely are you to sustain your workout program?

Not very!  

Pretty quickly, even the idea of working out can be emotionally and physically draining. This is often the beginning of your regaining the weight you have lost—and then some.

When you catch yourself starting that negative thought spiral, STOP!

Instead, celebrate what you can do, rather than what you can’t, what you did, rather than what you should have done, and where you are, rather than where you think you should be.

Shifting your focus to the positive literally generates energy that will help you get back on track more quickly and easily. 

I also have the personal experience that exercise relieves stress, and now I use stress as an excuse to workout rather than a reason to avoid it.

When exercise feels like the very last thing you want to do, focus on the stress-relieving benefits of exercise and how much better you’ll feel afterwards.

And when you do the workout and are in that better-feeling place, notice it, focus on it, and celebrate it so that you can remember it the next time you are trying to convince yourself to go workout.

The key to getting back on track is to figure out the minimum that you can do that will make you feel like you’re making progress, and then celebrate doing that. Even a walk around the block has benefits and will help clear your mind, and it’s a lot easier to convince yourself to do than a full-blown workout.

And if you really can’t motivate yourself to get a workout in, forgive yourself and focus on doing what you can do to take care of you.

Together we can do it!

Not Your Daddy’s Cardio

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One of my fabulous readers shared yesterday that she takes tap dance lessons for exercise and enjoyment.

I love that!

Another woman I know also uses dance for her cardio—including fire dancing—and she looks amazing!

The key to moving your body consistently is to enjoy it.

A limiting belief of many of the women I work with is that they will have to take up running or some form of exercise that they hate.

Depending on what your goals are, there are many ways to achieve the results you’re looking for.

For instance, I know women who are in great shape who have achieved their goals by doing everything from walking, to yoga, to tai chi. Others have done Pilates, dance-walking, boxing, jump-roping, and of course, running. And there are many more options.

Picking something that you actually enjoy doing significantly increases your chance of long-term success.

Think of it this way. If you are starting a workout program that you hate, are dreading and despise every moment while you are doing it, how long are you likely to sustain that program? Not very!

This is another example of how harnessing your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and aligning them with your actions is like adding a rocket booster to your ability to achieve your goals.

If you think about your workout and want to do it, are excited about how fun it’s going to be, and love how you feel afterwards, just imagine how likely you are to do it consistently—and see results. 

So shop around. Try a variety of different exercise programs—or even some non-traditional exercise options. Find the way that moving your body feels good! 

Together we can do it!

Here’s one of my favorite examples of non-traditional exercise. Just watching this video makes me feel good!

 

 

 

What Did You Need?

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I had an intense session with my coach, Kendra Thornbury, yesterday where we broke through some blocks that were showing up in the form of limiting beliefs and fear.

Whew that felt good!

The resulting clarity will help me move forward in achieving my goals.

But any time you do intense emotional work, you have to be aware of the impact it has on your body.

Our bodies and minds are much more significantly linked than most people realize.

So I slept in this morning, skipped my workout, and am treating myself gently.

It wasn’t too long ago that I would have made myself get up and workout anyway.

There’s a fine line between knowing when to push past mild resistance and when to ease up and give your body a break.

Here are some tips to help you figure out how to listen to your body and honor its messages.

How often do you give in? Are you regularly training yourself to go for the bigger win of a slim and healthy body by skipping treats and working out most of the time? Or do you scarf down every treat thinking it will be your last one? It gets easier to tell when your body needs a little TLC when you are more consistent in your actions.

Practice shifting your thoughts and emotions. Your thoughts and emotions will determine how successful your actions will be. For instance, if you want to start working out, yet you’re constantly thinking about how much you hate exercise, hate to sweat, hate the gym, etc., etc., your chances of maintaining an exercise program are pretty much nil.

So the first step in starting your workout program isn’t joining the gym, but is figuring out all the reasons you want to exercise and making those reasons your predominate thoughts. Then when you join the gym, the action of going is easier. As you practice shifting your thoughts and emotions you are better able to hone in on what is actually going on in your mind and body.

Take out the judgment—yours or anyone else’s. Just observe what’s going on with you. Skipping an occasional workout because it feels like what you need in the moment doesn’t mean you’re a slacker—no matter what anybody says. When you take out the self-criticism, you can tell if there is a pattern of negative thought that needs to be shifted, or if this a positive step of self-care.

You are the only one who truly knows what is best for you. Learning to listen to yourself and trust your judgment takes practice, but is an important part of loving your way slim.

Together we can do it!

Photo by Lindsay Miller

What’s Holding You Back?

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One of the benefits of taking on a new challenge is the opportunity to identify and clean-up limiting beliefs and other blocks to your success that absolutely will come up. The quickest way to ferret these blocks out is to pay attention to negative emotions.

When I identified a whiff of discouragement, I knew this was a fabulous opportunity to identify and shift some limiting thoughts, feelings, and beliefs so that they will better support me in achieving my goals, rather than hold me in place.

I am in week two of an 18-week challenge for Transformation Mastery. When I decided to take on this challenge, not only did I set the goal to release 10 pounds of fat and increase my nutrition and fitness level, but I also wanted to let go of lingering fear or limiting beliefs about what I can and cannot do.

My only surprise was that they showed up so quickly!

After a week-and-a-half of eating cleaner than I ever have before, and going after a new high-intensity workout program, I was shocked yesterday when I pulled on my jeans and they were tight. Sure enough, when I stepped on the scale, I was up a pound-and-a-half.

The first thing I did was go into troubleshooting mode and look at what I’ve been eating. What I found was plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean meats and other quality protein, and complex carbohydrates. I had already replaced one cup of coffee a day with a cup of ginger-green tea, and was working on letting go of the second cup so that I would be half-and-half free. Other than adding an apple and a few strawberries here and there, I couldn’t see what the problem was.

So I added up the calories and discovered that I was actually eating between 200 and 300 calories more a day than my goal of 1,800. I wrote out a new plan for the rest of the week that would help me hit my mark and the problem seemingly was solved.

But my Gremlin, that inner critic that likes to tell people they aren’t good enough, took this opportunity to kick in. With this increase in self-criticism, I found myself really struggling with my workout this morning.

The good news is that, as my mentor coach likes to say, your Gremlin shows up when you are about to step into your greatness.

What are the thoughts that were coming up for me that were at the root of this feeling of discouragement?

  • My metabolism is too slow. Maybe my body type just can’t lose weight.
  • What if I get through this and there are no physical changes? I’ve been pretty public about this challenge. Won’t people think I’m a failure?
  • Maybe this is the best my body can look and feel, and I should just accept it.

If left unchecked, these thoughts would lead to actions that would begin to undermine how well I would stick to my eating plan or how much I would challenge myself during workouts. What’s the point of eating clean or pushing yourself if you are only going to fail anyway?

These types of thoughts are normal. We all have doubts, fears, and worries. But the difference between people who achieve their goals and those that don’t is that they learn how to shift their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to support them.

What are some new thoughts that I can think?

  • My metabolism may be efficient, but everything I am doing can certainly kick it into a higher gear. And I have been fitter, stronger, and leaner in the past, so I absolutely can get there again.
  • If I truly can get through these 18-weeks loving my body enough to consistently feed it high-energy, anabolic foods and move it with intention and intensity, then regardless of any physical changes, I will achieve my goal of being an authentic example of successful weight management, and optimal health and wellness for my clients and everyone I encounter. That’s what matters.
  • If my words and actions are in alignment with my intentions, values, and beliefs and I am allowing myself to be the fullest and most authentic version of me, then it truly doesn’t matter what size I am or what my body looks like.

The emotion these new thoughts generate is confidence and renewed commitment, because for me, this isn’t about being a certain size or body shape, it’s about striving to be the best possible me that I can be.

Are your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs supporting the achievement of your goals, or holding you in place? How can you shift them to better support you? What new feelings does that generate? How does that help you achieve your goals?

Together we can do it!

Photo by Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net