Create Your Own Change

Muscles  in action leads to change.

It really is that simple and yet it is that hard.

If you want your workouts to change YOU, then it’s up to YOU to take action and make it happen.

At the end of the day, no one can do this work for you. No one is going to create the change you want to see except you, and it’s up to you to prioritize creating change.

Basically, it’s up to you to prioritize yourself.

That’s where we ultimately fail.

Don’t get me wrong, you might push yourself for like a month, but then the excuses will start getting the best of you, and you’ll fall off of your own priority list.

When you feel yourself falling lower and lower on your own To Do List, instead of just giving up, get creative with your workouts. Plan shorter, more efficient workouts so you know you’re still moving and still making yourself a priority.

Grab the workout below to get you started!

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Save this Tabata Set 

12 rounds

Alternate exercises on each round

Crunches

Russian twists

Plank hold

How to Build Consistency

That is how you build a consistent workout routine:

One at a time. 

One set at a time one interval at a time. 

One workout at a time.

One day at a time.

Not by focusing on the end. Not by focusing on the big picture. By focusing on the small steps you’re taking every single day to establish a habit that will get you the results you want.

We can’t get caught up in the end goal.

When you get caught up in what you want to have happen, you’ll ultimately end up disappointed in however the work goes which makes you less likely to show up the next day.

 This is the biggest struggle I see with my clients: consistency.

We focus so much on this end goal that we’ve created for ourselves that we don’t focus on the present work.

We have to focus on the work we’re stepping into instead of what we want the work to lead to at the end.

Because that end goal is ultimately only as good as we can hold on to it after we reach it.

Don't Forget to Warm Up

Regardless of how long you have to workout, you NEED to take part of that time to warm up.

One of my first fitness mentors did NOT believe in the power of the warm up. He thought we should be able to jump into the hard part of the workout completely cold.

I used to adhere to this line of thinking.

But then my check knees light turned on hard and I learned that for my body, warming up was a non-negotiable aspect of the workout itself.

Not only does it make the workout more effective, it also helps you prevent injury.

My go to warm up is anything involving core. 

In a class it’s a good way to get people started so people can run in late and not miss other work.

But because of the anatomy of your core, you’ll feel the work almost instantaneously which helps focus your brain into the work you’re about to do.

Not to mention the fact that your core is an integral part of the success of basically every exercise you do. 

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Here’s my fave warm up:

4 rounds

8 reps each exercise

Crunches

Weighted clam

Hip bridges

Don't Disrespect Day One

When we give less than our best, we disrespect our day one.

Regardless of where you are in your workout journey, we all have a day one. We all had a starting point.

That day 1 is HUGE. It’s the most influential day with your workouts.

It’s the day you decided was THE DAY to take action.

To do that first workout that propelled you on this whole fitness journey thing. It’s the day you decided your goals were worth your action.

Your day 1 is the day you decided YOU were worth your own effort. You decided that you were not going to let yourself fall down on your list of priorities. That what you wanted mattered just as much as all the other things in your life that matter.

When you get into your workout NOW, and you half a$$ it, you’re telling yourself that your first day doesn’t matter. That all those reasons why you decided to show up in the first place don’t matter.

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Grab the Workout Below 

4 Rounds

10 reps each exercise

Staggered deadlift

Lateral lunge

Windmill

Don't Be Nervous

I get nervous before every training session. 

I hear that at least once a day from a client. I call it the “Tummy of Trepidation”. Even as you’re putting on your workout pants, you feel…nervous. 

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Butterflies in your tummy. You know you NEED to do it, you know you CAN do it, but…you have sweaty palms. And you need a potty.

But I feel strong AF when I’m done. And that’s why I keep coming back.

I also hear that every day.

When I started coaching, I trained out of this one spot where I would get a complaint nearly every class I taught. To be clear, the complaints weren’t about ME, they were about my programming (the class was too hard).

I took it SO personally at first, even when my management said that complaints about the classes being too hard weren’t anything she necessarily cared about. To her, that was a reflection of people not going to the class that was the best for them - but that’s a blog for another time.

I was told to NOT stop how I programmed my classes because clients would either level up or level out.

Ultimately, the clients who became my regular clients learned: 

Ya it was hard. But HELL YES are you stronger when you leave.

Kinda makes the sweaty palms worth it…

Intrinsically we know when we’re pushing ourselves and when we’re selling ourselves short. We also know that when we sell ourselves short, we don’t feel as accomplished as we do when those workouts are absolute bears.

It’s that sense of accomplishment that ultimately makes the trepidation worth it.

Crash Through the Wall

You put the wall there. 

Crash through it. 

Excuses are only limitations we put on ourselves. 

I have heard them ALL in the years I’ve been training.

In all the years I’ve had in the fitness industry, with all the things I’ve learned, I know this for a fact: there is ALWAYS a way to make fitness work. 

That being said, there’s also always an excuse that makes you think the workout won’t work for you.

There’s always a way to adjust an exercise to make it work for YOU. So you can see results while making the workout work for your body. 

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Here’s how you adjust your workouts:

• Make sure you warm up. There’s no way to know how effectively your body will respond to the hardest part of the workout if your body is cold.

• Start with foundational aspects of the exercises. When you work complex exercises or hard intervals, your chances of doing the exercises incorrectly are pretty high. Breaking the exercises down will show you what you need to adjust.

• Don’t be afraid to adjust. There’s no such thing as modifications. There is such a thing as taking a different variation of an exercise to help suit you more.

Appreciate Your Greatness

The sh!tty workouts make you appreciate the great workouts.

You’re not going to have many workouts that feel like Disneyland. 

I’ll never be the trainer who lies to you.

Most of this is hard. Most of it sucks. Most of the time you’re going to what to be doing something else.

That’s the reality of working out: most of your workouts are going to make you question your life choices. Getting uncomfortable just does that to a person.

Ya you move and stuff during a workout, you’ll sweat but workouts are really a test of how you respond to an uncomfortable situation.

You have to persevere through those hard workouts to get the ones that remind you you’re strong and capable.

Those strong workouts are the ones that carry you through. That give you the motivation to keep going in all those workouts that make you want to cry or quit.

Those are the workouts you focus on when you’re in the workout that makes you question your life choices. The ones that left you feeling like a rockstar and relishing in your finish line instead of the ones that left you hating life.

Look in the Mirror

The reflection in the mirror is the only person you need to make proud today. 

When I interview clients prior to working with them (yes I do that, we have to make sure we’re a good match after all), I hear a lot of this:

✅ I have a wedding coming up and I’m the matron of honor…

✅ I told my husband…

✅ I need to wear a swimsuit on vacation…

✅ I want to show my kids…

All those are valid reasons.

They’re just not the reasons that matter.

But they’re superficial. They’re for the people around you. But those reasons are fleeting, they won’t hold over time.

I realize you need those reasons to get started and maybe even create a routine, but if those are the only reasons you have to workout and be healthy, then your routine won’t last.

The reasons, while important, aren’t important enough. They don’t dive into why you feel like NOW is the time to take control over your health and they’re contingent upon other people’s approval.

You HAVE to do this for YOU. No one else.

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3 Rounds

15 swings

10 single arm push press

10 single arm cleans

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Just you.

Even if you don’t tell a single soul why you want to change, it has to be something that isn’t dependent upon anyone else in your life or the things they might have going on.

When you make change for YOU, the change lasts longer because you are stuck with YOU. All day. Every day.

Core Workout

Save this Core Warm Up

Every workout I post is designed to be versatile.

My goal is to use my platform to teach you how to create your own workout program so you’re not dependent on a trainer to do it for you.

Granted I know you might be down with the group class for those intangible things the group class gives you BUT worse case scenario, you could do it all on your own if you needed it.

(Case in point: COVID and the gyms shutting down)

I write them with YOU in mind. The crazy busy schedule you have, the things you have to take care of, and the limited amount of time to do it all in.

So here’s what you do:

Use the workout below as a warm up if you have a longer amount of time to workout. Add it to the other parts of your workouts (hint: like the other workouts I’ve emailed over your way).

If you’re short on time today, add on a couple more rounds and use it as a shorter standalone workout.

Regardless of how you use it today, know that you can use it differently every time you go for it and it will work FOR Y O U.

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3 Rounds

15 reps each exercise

Crunches

Bicycle crunches

Reverse crunches

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I Promise I'm Nice

I’m not insensitive. 

As an instructor, I’ve been called a lot of things over the years. Well not called names, but there’s been comments. Mostly in regards to how hard I train and how motivated I am to get the best out of my clients. Shoot, there’s a whole Yelp page talking about the difficulty level of my classes.

When I first started training in a group environment, I trained cops. Specifically cops who needed to get back into shape in order to pass the physical requirements for their jobs. I was told I needed to “back off” because I “demanded too much” of those individuals. 

When I first started training in a more formal group environment, I got a complaint almost every single class I taught. It was never about my personality or the words I would say, it was always that the class was too hard for the individual who was taking the class.

I won’t ever apologize for my training style NOR will I ever feel sorry for you.

I just know this is an opportunity so it is what you make of it.

Being able to wake up, move your body, and create your own healthy lifestyle is a GIFT.

I also know how quickly you can lose that opportunity and how frustrating that loss can be. I never looked at being healthy in that light until I got hurt and the opportunity was taken from me.

I took the capabilities of my body for granted and I dreaded having to engage in any physical activity prior to my injury. I hated it. I didn’t see it for what it was, I saw it as a temporary means to an end, a necessity for my job, but not something that helped insure my well being.

Now I know that even on my worst and unmotivated days, it’s still a chance to give to myself and take care of myself. That might mean taking things down a notch if it doesn’t work for me that day, or even going extra hard because I can. 

Either way, I don’t look at the choices I’m making as an inconvenience or an obstacle. I look at it as a chance to give to myself, to take care of myself when my time is valuable and my days are busy. 

I know when I have those opportunities, big or small, that I need to take advantage of them so I can serve the community around me in a bigger way. 

Instead of thinking of working out and being healthy as an obstacle or a struggle, find the part of it you love the most and focus on that especially during the times you don’t want to try. 

Find that positive aspect of your healthy choices and hone in on those. Put those choices and how much better you feel on repeat. Create the gift for yourself and then continue to give it to yourself.