STORY TIME
It's Harder Than It Looks
The lower half of your body encompasses the majority of your muscle mass. that means when you do lower body work, you’ll feel your heart rate rising faster because the lower half of your body need more blood flow and oxygen to make the exercise effective.
The deceptive a$$ kicker. My favorite kind of workout.
I remember back in the day, when I had all the hours in the world to go to the gym, planning my workouts by the body part for the session.
It would start and end with cardio, and it would be some sort of body part for the weight training part.
Now I don’t plan workouts by body part now as much as I used to (LOL remember leg day??), but when I do, it’s always lower body.
The lower half of your body encompasses the majority of your muscle mass. that means when you do lower body work, you’ll feel your heart rate rising faster because the lower half of your body need more blood flow and oxygen to make the exercise effective.
In reality, to do any form of exercise you’re going to be using your core to support the exercise so while this workout looks like a ton of lower body, it’s a lot of sneaky core too!
Pro Tip: your activation better be on point. Make sure to warm up your hinge in addition to your core!
3 Rounds
15 reps each exercise
Reverse Lunges
Deadlifts
Sumo Squats
Lateral Lunges
It Never Gets Easier
There’s pride in challenging yourself though. There’s pride in being able to say “hey I did that” after a tough as nails workout. There’s a sense of accomplishment in knowing that you did the hard thing. You pushed through, you prevailed and now you know you can keep going.
Hard workouts suck. There’s no two ways around that. Hard workouts make you question your life choices, lead you into thinking you would rather be doing literally ANYTHING else except for what you’re doing in that moment. Like those taxes you’ve been neglecting to file…
It’s the HIIT workout that feels like it’s never going to end. That workout where the breaks don’t seem long enough and you’re counting down the minutes until you can move on with your day. Ever wondered how long a minute can last? Go do some burpees for a minute and find out. I promise, literally everything else you ever do will feel shorter than your minute of burpees.
But hey, with no challenge, you will see NO change. That much I can promise. And I don’t promise ANYTHING to my clients. Except that. Change, transformation, getting out of the mom jeans and back into that sexy little LBD that’s been accumulating dust in the back of your closet all comes from challenging yourself. It’s in those moments of questioning, of breathlessness, of SHOWING UP that change is made. I can also promise that staying in that comfort zone you’ve created for yourself hasn’t worked, you’re not seeing any change.
There’s pride in challenging yourself though. There’s pride in being able to say “hey I did that” after a tough as nails workout. There’s a sense of accomplishment in knowing that you did the hard thing. You pushed through, you prevailed and now you know you can keep going.
Here’s the thing: I’m always proud of you and I’ve never doubted your capabilities. I have this tremendously blessed position of being able to observe you and I know you can do it. I know that change you want so badly that you can taste it isn’t actually unreasonable or outside of your grasp. You just have to WANT to get uncomfortable, you have to embrace the hard workouts, you have to be willing to take that first step.
You know that even when the workout sucks and you want to quit, no one will be able to take that feeling of accomplishment once it’s over away from you. You can totally own your success as much as you can own your failure, so take your hard workouts one at a time. Take the challenges one at a time, and then over time you’ll notice, it gets easier.
It All Adds Up
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
Here’s my Top 3 Tips for Starting Over After Time Off from Your Workouts:
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.
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.
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.
Get to Work
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.
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.
Here’s my Top 3 Tips for Handling the Off Days:
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.
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.
Focus on your food. Hydrate, give your body nourishing and balanced meals so you’re fueled to jump back in the game tomorrow.
How's that Fancy At Home Gym?
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…
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.
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
Working Out At Home
When I started noticing that I was doing that, I seriously checked myself. Granted, things didn’t change overnight, but I started reflecting on why I would waste my own time when my time was so limited.
Here’s the difference between working out at home and working out at a gym:
At a gym, the people around you hold you accountable. You have the person next to you who you can silently compete with, you have the friend in the class who makes sure you’re going to be there, and you have a community.
That community gives you energy, it motivates you to show up, and gets you excited (even on the smallest level) to do the work.
At home, YOU have to hold YOU accountable.
That is such a hard thing for people. Myself included. When I started working out at home after I had my daughter, it was SO hard to stay motivated. I missed the energy of the class, not the competitive nature, but just being around other people and having them join me in getting stronger.
It made it super easy for me to quit on an interval when I only had a few seconds left, or skip an exercise because I didn’t want to do it.
When I started noticing that I was doing that, I seriously checked myself. Granted, things didn’t change overnight, but I started reflecting on why I would waste my own time when my time was so limited.
Knowing that I didn’t have a lot of time to workout, I gradually stopped half asking my work. I started becoming competitive with myself. I started drawing inward to find the motivation I needed to keep pushing so I could become stronger.
It wasn’t always cute and definitely wasn’t comfortable, but over time, I began to rely on myself for my own accountability instead of the people around me.
How will you show up when no one else is watching?
Grab the workout below to show yourself your strength.
Pyramid AMRAP
5 minutes
Start with 2 reps of each exercise
Increase by 2 reps on each exercise until the 5 minute mark
Rest for one minute
Start where you left off, and work back down to 2 reps of each exercise
Reverse fly
Hang clean
Reverse lunges
Check Your Vibe
When you workout at home, you have to figure out how to get that energy without the gym environment, as well as how to push those distractions out of your visual and mental space so you don’t get diverted from your workout.
Working out at home is a M A J O R vibe check.
I think it’s harder than working out at a gym.
I understand when people tell me as much as they would like to workout at home, they know they won’t be able to be consistent with an at home workout program.
They like the gym vibe, they like the routine of going to the gym, they like getting the energy from the people around them as a means of motivation for their own workout, and mostly, they like that going to the gym gets them into a different environment to workout.
I get that vibe because I’ve needed that vibe as well. I’ve belonged to numerous gyms and I know the energy you can get from just stepping into that environment.
When I first had my daughter, that gym environment was not conducive to life as a new mom, and I needed to figure out something to make sure I was taking care of myself. We didn’t have the home environment where I would be guaranteed time to go to the gym by myself everyday, and with the constant changing of our routine due to having a newborn, even if we had that flexibility as a family, it wouldn’t have worked.
Then we went through this phase where going to a gym with a daycare was a necessity of life. I needed to have that space and time to myself where I knew I had dedicated time to workout that wouldn’t be interrupted.
Life changed again though, and soon that gym environment didn’t work for my household. The hours of the daycare at the gym didn’t work for our family, and luckily my daughter was a little older and could be more easily distracted during the workout.
But then I have to make sure I’m not getting distracted during the workout by looking at all the distractions around my house.
Because your laundry is literally staring at you from across the room whereas at the gym, you can push it out of your head. You’re not getting interrupted every 5 seconds by someone who all of a sudden needs something, even though they didn’t right before you started working out. Shoot, even seeing the dog fur float around on the floor can be a total mind game.
When you workout at home, you have to figure out how to get that energy without the gym environment, as well as how to push those distractions out of your visual and mental space so you don’t get diverted from your workout.
I know it’s possible, but I know it takes time and ultimately the intrinsic motivation to WANT to workout. I know you’re choosing this option because logistically speaking, it’s going to be easier for your life.
It takes some getting used to. Like anything else, it takes patience and practice to get used to how this new aspect of your routine will work within your life and schedule.
Here’s my Top 3 Tips to Adjusting to At Home Workouts:
I did a TON of HIIT workouts 🏋️♀️ . They’re short and they move fast. Less transitions = less time to get distracted.
I put an alarm in my phone 📱 for my workout time. Like I was going to a class without leaving my house 🏠.
I used a heart 💜 rate monitor. I know it sounds off the wall, but the monitor gave me accountability to keep moving and not stop my workout short or half ass it.
