STORY TIME
How I Create Workouts
I want you to get the most out of the LITTLE time you have in your day to get stronger and I want you to have the option to switch things up if you end up with more time in your day.
Every workout I post is designed with you in mind.
Shoot, I started A Healthful Life with YOU in mind. Because I was hearing you talk about how frustrated you were getting with the lack of time you thought you had to workout. Or understanding how to make shorter workouts produce the same results as longer workouts.
As someone who does this for a living, I couldn’t let myself sit by and let you spin out of control in frustration.
I want you to get the most out of the LITTLE time you have in your day to get stronger and I want you to have the option to switch things up if you end up with more time in your day.
That means workouts that are effective AF in a short AF amount of time.
Unilateral work is my go to for efficiency. It’s sneaky core work (which you know you love), it’ll get your heart rate up, AND it requires FOCUS. So you can tune out all the noise and tune IN to your own strength.
Unilateral work also helps strengthen the neurological pathways in your brain and correct muscle imbalances.
Here’s my Pro Tip for this workout: if you don’t have a ton of time, drop it to 3 rounds.
Either way, you’re warming up and cooling down so make sure you take that into account when you’re planning your workout!
5 Rounds
12 reps each exercise
Offset single side reverse lunge
Hand to hand swings
Single side strict press
Grab This Circuit Workout
Give yourself time with this workout if you do it as written. It’s a little longer and will take you a hot second.
Check this workout out. But make sure as you’re looking through it that you’re grabbing all the tips so you know you’re getting the most out of the work you’re putting in.
Give yourself time with this workout if you do it as written. It’s a little longer and will take you a hot second.
Like all my other workouts, it has those versatile aspects just in case you don’t have the time to do the workout as written.
If you can do it as written, go for it.
If you don’t have the time here’s what you do:
Take one (or two) of the circuits.
When you get to the work portion, do 3 rounds instead of one
Pro Tip: Mix and match the runs and the plank holds.
Running not your thing? Do the plank holds instead!
Circuit 1
400m run or 1 minute plank hold
15 swings
10 high pulls
10 renegade rows
10 deadlifts
15 swings
400 m run or 1 minute plank hold
Rest 1 minute
Circuit 2
400m run or 1 minute plank hold
15 swings
15 push press
10 push ups
10 squats
15 swings
400m run or 1 minute plank hold
Rest 1 minute
Circuit 3
400m run or 1 minute plank hold
15 swings
15 sumo deadlift
10 tricep presses
10 alternating lateral lunges
15 swings
400m run or 1 minute plank hold
Be Brave
We are so quick to tell ourselves that we can’t do something. Really, we’re normally the first ones to doubt ourselves, to convince ourselves that quitting is OK because we wouldn’t have been able to do it anyways and to just plain give up.
I want you to get brave and curious about your strength.
We are so quick to tell ourselves that we can’t do something. Really, we’re normally the first ones to doubt ourselves, to convince ourselves that quitting is OK because we wouldn’t have been able to do it anyways and to just plain give up.
When I got hurt, I had two roads in front of me. The one where I doubted myself and my capabilities constantly or the one where I said Fuck it and just tried anyways. It doesn’t mean I didn’t fail, oh girl I have failed and in spectacular fashion, but I’ve tried.
Failing didn’t mean that I beat myself up about not being successful.
Failing meant I had the opportunity to see where my limitations lie and how I could get past it. It just showed me what edges could get expanded on and what I could change.
When I let go of those thoughts of failing, I could see my strength for where it was really at as well as where it could go. It made me curious to see where I could take things and where I could grow.
How strong are you REALLY? Have you ever even thought about it? If you stopped putting limitations on yourself, how strong could you become and what could you be truly capable of doing?
The Comparison Hole
It’s hard to not feel badly about how you look when you see the mom on IG who’s had baby #6 8 weeks ago and is already posting selfies of her 6 pack. Oh and she looks like she slept through the night 🌙 too…which is awesome for her, but it’s hard to NOT go to the negative place when you see the highlight reel.
Getting stuck in the comparison scroll hole nearly killed my vibe after I had Grace.
It’s hard to not feel badly about how you look when you see the mom on IG who’s had baby #6 8 weeks ago and is already posting selfies of her 6 pack. Oh and she looks like she slept through the night 🌙 too…which is awesome for her, but it’s hard to NOT go to the negative place when you see the highlight reel.
Compound that with being in the fitness industry where I literally am a walking billboard for what I do, and feeling badly is taken to a whole new level. At least for me.
I remember telling my clients that when my doctor gave me the clear to workout again, I went into the studio alone. I tried ONE exercise and struggled so badly with it that I thought I would need to find a new job. I didn’t know how I be able to teach things that my body couldn’t currently do much less with how I looked. Which wasn’t like myself. I felt weak, and I felt worse than discouraged.
I busted my butt to feel strong again. To feel like myself again. But it didn’t work. I did two workouts a day, sometimes three, at least 5 days a week and NOTHING.
I found myself looking on social media for insight into how to get my strength back. I thought surely even with all my years of experience, I was missing something, but I couldn’t find any answers. The only thing I found where women who bounced back seemingly without any effort.
It only made me feel worse.
So I became determined to create a community for women to have the support they needed to find their strength and confidence again, without feeling like they needed to be shoved into a box.
I want you to have a community that is going to support and love ❤️ you on your journey with fitness, and a coach who understands that everyone’s BODY, life, and journey are completely different.
I want you to have that safe space to let go of your frustrations and find the power in your own body without worrying about how you look or what other people think about how you look. I want you to focus on your own journey with the tribe around you to get you to your goals.
I couldn’t find that for myself so I created it. Join us. We’re always accepting new members.
Make the Harder Change
Because it’s the sustainable one. It’s the one that takes longer to achieve but is going to last longer than the yo-yo changes you’re accustomed to trying.
The change I’m proposing you make is the harder one.
Because it’s the sustainable one. It’s the one that takes longer to achieve but is going to last longer than the yo-yo changes you’re accustomed to trying.
I get the appeal of the fast change. The instantaneous results. You want that fast result because you’ve taken so long to change that by now, you wanted that change like yesterday. You don’t want to take the time to make change that will last for the long term. It’s the “I just need to lose 15 pounds” but not thinking past what happens AFTER you lose 15 pounds.
What I teach is not the temporary, rigid, give up your whole life change just to drop a few pounds. It’s the change that will teach you how to effectively incorporate healthy habits into your life, so you feel like you have balance and you’re not deprived of the things you love 💗.
So you feel like you’re thriving and not surviving.
So you don’t make a drastic change just to lose it a year later when you permanently fall off the wagon, because you gave up too much and couldn’t take it.
Stopping the Comparison Game
I know so many people thrive off of that comparison. It wakes up an innate sense of competitiveness and that drives them to pushing themselves harder in their workouts.
Working out at home allowed me to let go of comparing myself to other people at the gym.
I know so many people thrive off of that comparison. It wakes up an innate sense of competitiveness and that drives them to pushing themselves harder in their workouts.
That is NOT me. I think in large part it’s the knowledge that because of my injury, I move differently and have different capabilities. So comparing my performance to someone else’s is totally fruitless because we’re not even starting at the same place. But isn’t that so many of us?
Being in a gym is intimidating AF especially when you’re not feeling yourself. Shoot even if you ARE feeling yourself.
Like how is her hair SO damn perfect and she’s not even sweating? Meanwhile I’m over here creating sweat angels 👼 on my mat because this shit is so hard. Oh and my outfit never matches. I really just grab whatever is clean.
I feel like those ☝️ distractions will only hinder your progress. You’re either going to push your limits so hard that you get hurt or that you get discouraged and want to stop.
I needed to create my own tunnel vision to see the results I KNEW I was capable of creating.
I would encourage you to do the same. It doesn’t mean you turn on the blinders to the point where you don’t see what other people are doing, but it does mean that you keep that comparison in check.
Know that everyone comes in with different capabilities, different goals, and at a different place on their journey. Those differences are awesome things and a place to find growth together. To encourage and support each other into better versions of ourselves.
When you let go of those comparisons, you start finding your own intrinsic motivation to show up. Let that motivation drive you, push you, and move you forward to your goals. Regardless of where you workout.
