It All Adds Up

You are a sum of all your choices.

That’s really what healthy living boils down to, a series of choices. It’s those incremental choices that will eventually lead you to the healthy lifestyle you’re seeking.

This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect all the time. That’s not realistic. Neither is healthy living that requires you to cut out all the things you love. Healthy living needs to incorporate the things that you know if you gave them up, you would binge tf outta them once you had the chance to have them again.

Like wine. Or chocolate. 

That’s why getting healthy, working out regularly, and eating well consistently is hard. Because it’s about balance just as much as it’s about learning why you’re making the decisions you’re making in regards to healthy choices. Then understanding how to have those things you love with moderation.

But how do you get healthy and not give up the things you love? Like pizza?

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I encourage my clients to have what they want, I don’t adhere to cutting out every single treat you love or working out to the point where you feel like you’re going to break. Those paths, as my time training people has taught me, are not sustainable. 80% of the time, you need to be making the healthy choices even if that’s not the choice you want to make. It’s showing up for the workout when you would rather be doing anything else, and eating well when you would rather have take out. 

Then it’s you allowing yourself those treats in moderation. Over time, you’ll learn that you don’t actually need the WHOLE bag of chips, but just a bowl. 

So have your chocolate. Drink your wine boo and be ok with it because you know that you’re doing it in moderation. You give yourself those allowances so you don’t go overboard like a college kid at her first frat party. 

And know that with each one of those choices you’re creating balance and a strong foundation for a happy and healthy life. Also know that with every single choice, making those choices will become easier and more routine.

Starting Over Sucks

Starting over feels like starting over. 

People are inconsistent AF with working out. While part of me understands the reasons why someone might neglect their fitness, I have a really hard time accepting it.

I don’t understand why you would neglect yourself like that for so many reasons but mostly because I know how hard it is to start over.

How hard it is to re-establish your routine once it’s lost and to keep your motivation high once you re-start.

But it happens to the best of us…

Now that it’s passed though, you have to let go however you handled it. You have to accept it as you doing the best you could do under the circumstances you were given, and do your best now with the circumstances you currently have.

We can’t focus on what could have been or on how you could’ve handled it differently, or feel badly about it.

You have to stop beating yourself up for whatever did or didn’t happen. To stop talking about the workouts that were lost, the weight that was potentially gained, and to start again.

There’s no sense in being critical towards your actions when you can’t change it. But you can change how you handle things now. You can put those healthy habits back into place so you can move forward.

With realistic expectations of where you’re at, as well as what you need.

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Here’s my Top 3 Tips for Starting Over After Time Off from Your Workouts:

1. Be realistic with your schedule. I don’t care why you took a break, but I do care that your life potentially looks different now than it did before. Don’t bite off more than you can chew by creating a workout 🏋️‍♂️ schedule that is unrealistic for you to maintain.

2. Take it back a notch. When you take a hiatus from working out, you’re going to lose strength. There’s no way around it. Muscle memory will kick in fast and your strength will come back quickly, but don’t think you’ll be starting where you left off. It’s ok to take it back a notch to make sure you don’t injure yourself going forward.

3. Cut yourself some slack. It’s not the time to feel discouraged about all the time that was lost or to kick your own a$$ with some negative self talk about the “bad decisions” you made. Focus on what you can give yourself now.

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Get to Work

This is only gonna work if you do. 

It’s not enough just to show up even though that’s most of the battle.

I know getting to the actual workout is like 90% of the battle. But getting there doesn’t mean you’re going to be in the mood to do it.

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve gotten on my mat just to lay down and stare at the ceiling because it all feels like TOO much and I need a minute.

But once you’re there, you gotta try. You have to give your best for that day to get the results you want.

Re-read that sentence. The best for that day. Not what you think your best is, or what your best was yesterday or even what your best will be tomorrow.

It’s your best right now. Sometimes that means just moving, sometimes that means pushing yourself hard af, but whatever the effort is for that day, it means honoring and respecting your body.

But what do you on the days when the idea of doing the work gives you hives?

We all have those days. Maybe you didn’t sleep well, maybe everything you need to get done HAS to take priority over the workout, or maybe your head is just not in the game today.

You’re entitled to those days. After all, we’re only human. It happens.

When it happens, you address it and then you let it go. You know tomorrow is going to be a different day.

Regardless of the reason, the priority is having a killer back up plan in place so you know you can take a day to get your life together.

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Here’s my Top 3 Tips for Handling the Off Days:

1. Slow movement is better than no movement. Take it down a notch. Instead of doing a heavy lifting, long run, or crazy HIIT day, do something low impact. Go for a walk, do some yoga or mat pilates.

2. Move in smaller increments. Do something for 10 minutes instead of your longer workout. Stretch or foam roll, to get a little burst of energy and your blood flowing.

3. Focus on your food. Hydrate, give your body nourishing and balanced meals so you’re fueled to jump back in the game tomorrow.

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How's that Fancy At Home Gym?

Did you buy a treadmill only for it to become a clothes hanger?

I heard my friend talking the other day about how she bought a Peloton. She was loving it, in a total honeymoon period with it, and then…

School started, sports for the kids started, the family moved, and the Peloton became where she put her jacket. 

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I know you’re like “all that money though”.

You’re also probably thinking “why is she saying that in front of someone who’s a fitness instructor?”

But we’ve all done it. We’ve all had the gym membership that we pay for and don’t use, the equipment sitting in our garage that’s getting dusty, or the treadmill that becomes a clothes hanger. 

I hear the debates all the time. Debating whether or not to invest the money in the gym equipment because you’re not really sure if it’ll get used. 

It’s a valid debate and as an instructor, it’s a debate I’ll entertain. I’ll also entertain the debate about joining certain gyms, or even increasing your memberships at certain.

I understand it has to be worth the financial investment. 

I know you’re worth the financial investment, but I also know that sometimes you have to run through the practicality of your decisions prior to pulling the proverbial trigger.

Pulling that proverbial trigger is hard because you know it would be discouraging AF if you pull said trigger, only to have to sell the equipment or cancel the membership because they weren’t being used. 

It makes you feel small, it makes you feel worthless, and it makes you feel like the goals you’ve set for yourself are completely unrealistic because you can’t make the things you have access to work for you.

Be realistic with your schedule but realize that you’re worth the investment. You’re worth the hard work.

Gimme 2 Minutes

I can tell right off the bat if someone will be successful in their fitness journey. Crazy huh? But really I can tell. Want to know how I can tell?

I train a LOT of different types of people. From athletes, to adolescents, to stay at home parents, and basically everyone in between. Everyone has different goals, everyone has different things that propel them in their fitness journey, but their potential for success ALL looks the same.

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You want it so badly you can TASTE it. You want it so badly that nothing else in the world matters. You want it more than anything else.

At the end of the day, that’s what makes the biggest difference. I can’t want this for you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do want this for you, but you have to want it more. You have to want it arguably more than you want air. 

You carry yourself differently and speak differently as a result. Not just in private coaching sessions but also in your workout.

It does not mean that this process comes easily nor does it mean that you don’t have aspects of it that challenge you. 

It just means that the part of your brain that is telling you to JUST GO AND DO THE DAMN THING has taken over. Which means that all those excuses that used to hold you back are not as important anymore.

Here’s the thing: I also know that by the time you actually stop lurking on my IG, stop clicking the coaching link, STOP FREAKING TOE DIPPING and do the damn thing, you do want it more than air. By that point, you’re so sick and tired (ready for my cliche?) of being sick and tired, that you don’t give af about anything else. You’re in it to win it because you know how much the alternative SUCKS and you’re over the alternative. You’ve lived the alternative long enough and it’s past time for a change.

Maybe you don’t know how to get there, maybe you’re intimidated to take the first step, maybe the prospect of change is scary but you know it’s needed. Change goes from being a pipe dream to a necessity and when you hit that point, that’s when you find me.

Once you reach that point, anything I tell you need to do, any change I suggest you make, won’t feel like a sacrifice. You won’t feel like I’m inconveniencing you to incorporate healthy habits into your life. The excuses you once gave without a second thought will fall away.

Then all of those healthy habits won’t seem so extreme, they’ll be easy and you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

The Pivot Point

Every workout 🏋️‍♀️  has a pivot point.

It’s that point in the workout when all you want to do is stop. When it’s just so hard that the idea of continuing makes you want to hurl. Just a little.

As long as you’re continuing to challenge yourself, you’re going to have that “I wanna quit” moment. 

That moment is the moment that matters the most. Because what you tell yourself in that moment will determine how you subconsciously handle your workouts. 

Be honest with yourself. When you’re in that moment, what goes through your head? What do you tell yourself?

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Do you tell yourself how much the workout sucks? How much you hate whatever you’re doing? Do you tell yourself YOU suck?

Whatever that negative narrative is, it builds up over time and eventually you’ll associate your workouts with those negative vibes. Eventually that negativity will create excuses that lead you to skipping your workout and before you know it, you’re back to the starting block of achieving your fitness goals. 

Start taking notice of where your head goes when the workout starts to challenge you. Start taking notice of what you’re telling yourself when the workout gets hard.

Then work on changing that narrative. You don’t have to do anything crazy, and yes, this does take practice, but even repeating “I can do this” when it gets hard will eventually help you push through those negative moments.

Be patent with yourself. It takes time to shift that line of thinking from “ugh this is SO horrible” to “fuck ya, bring it”, but I know you can do it. Focus on how strong you are, how far you’ve come and how GOOD you feel when you’re finished.

Because that feeling…no one can take it from you.

Give Me Your Best Excuse

I’ve come to really enjoy hearing the sheer amount of excuses that keep a person from working out over the years.

Seriously, come at me with your best excuse. I bet I’ve heard it before.

Don’t get me, I’m not referring to excuses as the valid reasons as to why you can’t do something. Those valid reasons are usually medically related and due to injury. Even those valid reasons are things we can work around. 

Back to the excuses…

This is actually a legit internal monologue I have all the time. It’s really hard for me to understand why someone would let their workouts fall on the back burner when they know the benefit they get from working out. Conversely, they also know how poorly they feel when they don’t work out and how frustrated they get when they stop working out and have to do all this work to get back to where they were before.

I understand that the fitness industry puts emphasis on crazy results that happen in a quick amount of time, and that’s what we want. I also understand that most of us, generally speaking, don’t want to or don’t like to workout, so it’s easy for our workouts to fall low on the priority list.

We want to look good naked with the lights on to ourselves, with minimal amount of work, without understanding that the work we put into our bodies now insures our health over time. We just want to look good. I’m here for that, because duh I do too. There’s something to be said about the confidence you get when you’re feeling yourself.

Today’s Workout

Tabata

10 rounds

Kettlebell swings

I was lucky though because when I got hurt, I had a group of people around me advocating for my health and encouraging me to think about the longevity of my health. To be proactive about taking care of myself so I don’t end up back in a place where I needed to lose a ton of weight or get over a debilitating injury.

Because I know being in that place is more frustrating and more demoralizing than figuring out how to schedule in a quick workout.

The focus for me became how I could workout safely to continue seeing results, so I could not only look good naked with the lights on to myself, but also FEEL good

Knowing that about myself, it kills me even more to know that most of the time the workouts aren’t happening because you’re getting stuck wasting your time on BS like refreshing your email or getting stuck in the scroll hole on social media.

If you have 20 minutes to spend on IG or scrolling through TikTok, you have 20 minutes to workout. You have the time, it’s just a matter of how you’re spending it. Trust me, you can scroll TikTok again after the kids go to bed.

I know we use those outlets as a means to let go, decompress and not think, and I’m here for that, it has it’s time and place, but it needs to be after you’ve taken care of your health. After you’ve given to yourself, go for it, lose yourself in the scroll hole. But get the workout done first.

Do Me a Favor

Put your To Do List on hold.

I feel like the hardest part about working out at home is the sheer fact that you’re AT HOME. Everything that demands of your time while you’re at home is in front of your face while you’re trying to take time for yourself.

Easier said than done huh? That To Do List is important and I KNOW there are non-negotiable aspects of that To Do List. Things that have to get done today.

I know it’s a MILLION things you have to get done. After all, there’s a lot of people who depend on you to make their lives run seamlessly and smoothly.

Laundry that needs to be folded, puppies that need walking, and those lunches aren’t going to make themselves.

You look around your house and see all the things that need to happen, it gets super overwhelming, but because you’re a total boss, you get to work. It doesn’t matter if that means your workout gets totally neglected, because it’s not like your time was spent chilling on your couch.

I want you to look at all those things and make them wait. 

Make the conscientious decision to put yourself first. Don’t say “I’ll get to my workout when (fill in the blank) is handled”. Get to the workout first. Handle the workout before you go into handling all the other things that demand of your time, energy, and attention. 

All those things will be there when you’re done working out. But working out has to take the priority at least for a minute. Not just because you deserve to have that time to take care of your body and to move, but also because when those thoughts about what you need to get done post workout start creeping in, you get distracted. Distraction, the majority of the time leads to injury. 

There’s nothing worse than working your ass off just be sidelined by a preventable injury.

When you workout, you have to make sure your mind is in the game for that very reason alone. While I know that doesn’t sound exciting, when you can leave your worries and concerns at the door, you’ll feel better after the workout.

Here’s the 3 things I do to make sure my To Do List doesn’t distract me from my workout:

1. I schedule my workouts. Blocking the time out for my workout in my calendar gives me the assurance I need to know that I have the time built into my day to workout and I don’t have to worry about squeezing it in at some point.

2. I give myself 5 minutes to get my workout 🏋️‍♀️ area organized. Maybe it’s picking up clutter or Swiffering, but I know that if I see something that needs to be cleaned 🧽 during my workout, it’ll give me a great excuse to STOP 🛑 my workout. So I handle what I can before I start.

3. I set the kiddo up with snacks and her OWN distractions. Workouts are like being on the phone 📱 for a mama, at least in my house. She doesn’t need me until she sees I’m doing something FOR ME, so I make sure she’s engrossed in something before I start. Maybe it doesn’t last the whole workout, but I know it’ll last the majority of the workout.

You're it Babe

The only one who’s going to make sure you achieve your fitness goals is YOU.

Here’s the thing with fitness: I can teach you skills all the live long day. I’m freaking good at teaching skills. I can get your body to do the hard exercise and to do the thing, because I have honed my OWN skills of teaching people how to do hard things.

While I can teach skills, I can’t teach heart. I can’t teach you to want getting in shape and feeling better for yourself. I can’t teach the hustle of showing up to show yourself you’re strong.

That’s completely on you.

I know the one time you’re thinking you would actually ask for help, it won’t really do a whole lot. Even when you hire a coach, the work is still ultimately up to you.

The people I train who get the transformation they’re wanting, the one they crave so much they can taste it and the one they don’t tell anyone else about, are the ones who know that whatever happens is their doing.

They’re over making excuses as to why working out is on the back burner, they prioritize their health with the knowledge that everything else will get done. But their health is their priority. 

Most importantly: they show up especially when they don’t want to show up.

Those days when they would rather lay on their couch, they’re doing the work. When they’re tired, when they’re not motivated, when they’re over it, they’re showing up.

They know that even with the support they have, the choices they make are ultimately their own and achieving their goals is ultimately up to them.

It’s that simple. 

Not every workout is going to be easy, not every workout will be your best, and that’s ok. Because in those no so awesome moments is where you truly build your strength and where you show yourself that you are WORTH achieving your goals.

What matters more is continuing to show up and to put in the effort even when the going gets tough or things don’t go as planned. That doesn’t mean it’s always going to be pretty but it does mean that you will progress because you’ll be consistent. 

My Pro Tip for establishing those consistent habits? Make appointments with yourself in your calendar like you would for the doctor or to get your haircut. Then don’t cancel. You wouldn’t cancel those other appointments so why would you cancel on yourself? Then keep doing that until showing up becomes second nature.

Try it for a month, then message me and let me know how it went and how much better you feel.

You'll Never Be Ready

If you waited until you were ready it would never happen. Your life will always be busy, your plate will always be full, and there will always be entities in your life demanding of your time and energy.

If we know nothing else for certain, we know that.

Change takes a leap of faith. But not in the way you’re thinking.

This is a leap in faith in YOUR ability to make your workouts work in YOUR life and your schedule. I know it’s the easy answer to tell you that you’ll just figure it out, when the reality of figuring out is super daunting.

But at the end of the day, if you want to see that healthy living change, where living to your best ability means regular workouts and solid nutrition, you will figure it out. Maybe it means HIIT workouts so your workouts aren’t as long, maybe it means being realistic with how many days you can workout, and maybe it means incorporating in some meal prep so you’re not as stressed about grabbing healthy food.

Whatever the solutions are for you to get all these things under control, it’s going to have to happen when you’re not ready. It’s going to have to happen when life is busy and crazy and chaotic. It’s going to happen before your schedule is ready. But it is going to happen when YOU are ready. When the prospect of NOT changing is worse than the prospect of changing, feeling better, and being healthier.

My best advice to you? If you know you need to start before you feel like things are perfect and the planets have aligned, ask for support. Let other people know that what’s going on with you. That doesn’t mean you need to spill your guts and tell them that deep down embarrassing goal, you can keep that to yourself, but you do need to tell at least one person what you’re going to be doing.

Have that person hold you accountable, love you and support you. Then the pivot won’t seem so daunting because you know you’ll have someone in your corner who will love you through it.

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