Discipline or Devotion?

What if we switched the word discipline with devotion?

I think we hear discipline and we think about punishing a child. Then we apply that negative connotation to our workouts.

So working out becomes a punishment as opposed to something that is truly serving our bodies, making us healthier and happier beings. Keeping our bodies thriving instead of suffering.

What if we said devotion?

No for real…listen:

She’s DEVOTED to her health.

She’s DEVOTED to her workouts.

She’s DEVOTED to herself.

She shows up regardless.

Feels better huh?

Not so intense. Not so grueling. A little more positive and loving…

Be devoted to yourself and your health. You deserve it.

How to Make HIIT Work

How do I work a HIIT workout?

When I started getting certified to train people, I got certifications in the modalities of fitness that interested me. The first being CrossFit.

Back in the day, the components of CrossFit were unheard of to the majority of the population. The biggest of these being the utilization of HIIT in a workout routine.

Over the years, with the popularity of CrossFit and HIIT workouts growing, HIIT is one modality of fitness I train on a consistent basis.

It is also, arguably, the one that intimidates people the most. There’s hesitance to try it because it looks cool but also scary as hell, and the general thought of getting that uncomfortable during a workout doesn’t endear us to do the workout.

Buuutttt…while there’s great science behind its benefits, there’s also strategy behind how to start it.

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Here’s what I notice:

• If you’re new to it, it’s intimidating AF. You see those people making the burpees look easy and you’re like “well, that’ll never be me”.

• That breathless feeling sucks. You either come to love it or hate it but there’s often no in between.

• A lot of people train HIIT incorrectly. This is what I mean:

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You get into the interval and you push super hard right from the start, gassing yourself out in the first 10ish seconds. That makes you want to take a break, and when you do that, you’re not utilizing the interval in the way it was intended. 

HIIT work is not intended for you to break until the break is written in. You gotta earn that rest girl.

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Here’s my Top 3 Tips for Pacing Yourself During a HIIT Workout for Optimal Results:

• Find a comfortably uncomfortable pace. That’s the pace where you don’t feel like you need to take a break 15 seconds in but you do feel like you’re pushing your limits.

• Choose the appropriate weights. Heavy enough to challenge you and not so light that you feel like you’re breezing through the work.

• Take advantage of the rest. That’s why it’s written in. For you to use it to recover your breath and your heart rate so you can push just as hard on the next interval.

I Want Your Arsenal of Whys

Ok ya I’m a curious person by nature. I like observing and listening to people, I like understanding why they do the things that they do. I think that’s why I went into psychology for my formal education and really why I liked working with victims of violence. Sure it was all really intense, but I liked hearing people tell their stories, I liked learning about them, and figuring out what drove them to engage in specific behaviors.

Maybe that’s why I like serial killer documentaries on Netflix…

When I moved into training people full time, my curiosity expanded into learning why someone would workout. I know why I workout. I know that on a superficial level, I’m working out to keep my weight in check and my chronic pain in check so I don’t need further intervention on any of my previous injuries, specifically my food. On a deeper level, I know I workout because I want to show myself that even though I suffered this life changing tragedy, I’m still strong and still capable.

We all have a reason WHY we workout 🏋️‍♀️. Why we take time out of our busy days, with all things our families, our work, our friends need from us.

Your reasons are most likely not the same as my reasons, but you still have them. You still have your reasons, superficial or not, that bring you back to what you’re doing time and time again. Those reasons are obviously insanely valid, otherwise you wouldn’t keep coming back.

I’ve heard so many of your why’s over the years. I’ve been so fortunate to be in a place of confidence with you that you’ve even shared some of those deep, dark, don’t share them with anyone else why’s. You’ve confided things in me that you’ve never told a single soul, and I’m grateful for that level of trust. Not just because it shows me how valuable I am to you, but because that understanding helps me HELP YOU.

But I want you to have 200 reasons WHY. Ranging from the superficial reasons to the deep, dark reasons that no one else knows.

You know when you get into an intense workout, it’s going to start to suck. You know you’re going to hit a point where you can very easily justify cutting an interval off early or stepping away from a workout early. Because really, if you leave 2 minutes early on a 30 minute workout and you’re by yourself, who’s going to know besides you?

It’s in those moments you’re going to need all the reasons in the world to keep coming back.

So when your workout gets to the point when you start to question your life choices and the first 20 reasons why you show up aren’t good enough, I want you to fall back on all the other reasons.

Think about those why’s, maybe even write them down so you have a direct reminder in those workouts for why you’re doing what you’re doing.

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grab the free workouts!

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You Know You'll Feel Better

You KNOW you’re gonna feel better after you do this. 

Sometimes it takes everything you have in you to workout. Making the time, having the energy, actually showing up, I truly believe is the majority of the battle we have when it comes to taking care of ourselves. We know it’s good for us, we know it’s a necessity to having a long and healthy life, but the practicality of making it happen is daunting.

When you get to that point, where you have the time available to workout and can’t bring yourself to do it, I want you to focus on the aftermath.

You know that even if the workout is the worst workout of all time, if you have a busted face while you do it, or could absolutely kick your instructor in the face (don’t worry we can take it) while you’re doing it, you know after you’re going to feel better.

That little endorphin rush is gonna kick in and you’ll have all the energy 💡 you need to conquer your day. That uplifted feeling, that lighter feeling is something we all need and something we can all take into the rest of our day to give us strength to get through our day.

Sometimes we need to push ourselves a little harder to get that stress relief, but it’s always worth it. Push yourself, call your accountability buddy and have them push you when you feel that way because you know at the end of the workout, it’ll be worth it.

IDGAF

I don’t give af what anyone else thinks.

Are you proud?

At the end of your workout 🏋️‍♀️, that’s ☝️ all that matters. After all, you’re the one doing the work so your feelings about it matter the most. 

I’ll let you in on a little secret too: anyone around you who matters, who’s opinion you value, will ALWAYS be proud of you. 

But I know even if the workout wasn’t your best, if you’re proud, you’ll keep showing up.

That’s what matters to me. I know if you keep showing up, if you keep doing the work, even on the days when you would rather do anything else, you’ll establish the habits you need to be healthy. That consistency and forward progress won’t only get you the results you want but it’ll ensure you KEEP those results. 

My Biggest Fear

My biggest current fear: I’ll leave my kid’s computer off of mute and her class will hear my MOM voice and not my zoom mom voice.

Distance learning has been an unwanted challenge for everyone involved. Teachers, parents, administrators, and mostly the kids. In my own reflection, I truly don’t feel that distance learning is something that any of us want, but we’re also super smart and understand the complicated, and complex situation we’re all in.

Speaking as a parent, because that’s my personal perspective, I never wanted to be a teacher. Yet here we are, so I’m riding the waves of distance learning along with many other parents right now. Like we all do when tough times come across our path, we’re figuring it out and persevering as best we can. Really that’s all anyone can ask of us at this point.

I know for me, when I hit those points of no return, when I know I have to check myself because my patience is wearing thin, I need to step away. I need to find a way to relieve some of that stress so that my kid’s teacher doesn’t hear my actual mom voice. I have to give myself the space to give to myself so I can continue to help her on her journey in learning.

For me, the fastest way to burn off that energy is to workout. There’s not faster way for me to get distracted from the chaos and stressors of the day than by getting knee deep in a workout that’s difficult enough that nothing else matters.

Join me on that journey and grab the workout below!

3 Rounds

15 Reps each exercise

Crunches

Bicycle crunches

Toe touches

Mountain climbers

My Couch is Calling Me

You wanna know the hardest part about working out at home?

Motivating yourself. 

Because your couch is calling you, that pile of laundry that’s been sitting there for two weeks is calling you, and so are all the other things you need to get done. 

Our gym access is a mess right now so you don’t have the energy and the competition of a class to thrive off of, it’s just you and your workout 🏋️‍♀️.

Ultimately, it’s you and whatever that singular goal is that will push you through a workout. That goal that you don’t tell anyone about because you feel like it’s too embarrassing or too overwhelming or too unattainable. 

That goal can drive you, that goal can create your intrinsic sense of motivation or that goal can be completely ignored. It’s totally up to you. 

I want you to use that goal to push you through your workout regardless of where you’re doing said workout. So you can know that it’s not the person next to you or the energy of a class that’s giving you the vibe to create the change but just you and the goal you deserve to become a reality. 

Grab Your Dumbbells!

$0.00

Fail Bigger

I want you to fail.

Just wait a second. I know it sounds crazy so just hear me out. 

I want you to have those moments when you tell yourself you can’t do it, when you quit, when you get so frustrated you don’t know how you’ll do this again tomorrow. 

There’s power in those moments. 

Because failing is a frame of mind. 

I tell my clients all the time the phrase “I can’t do it” isn’t allowed in my class. I know you can do it, maybe not today but you will. 

I also know that failing gives you a baseline. It shows you where you’re starting from, and where you’re going to grow. It gives you a foundation. A launching pad for continued strength and transformation. 

It also shows you that you’re more resilient and more of a badass than what you may have previously thought. Because after the moment of failure, you’re going to keep showing up and keep putting in the work. 

I know you’ll succeed and your fitness goals will become your reality, your healthy changes will become your lifestyle, but you need a safe space to figure out your starting point.

From there you’ll see your growth and ultimately get your transformation. 

Whatcha Gonna Do?

I’m not insensitive. 

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 never looked at being healthy in that light until I got hurt and the opportunity was taken from me. 

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. 

I Just Need 5 Minutes

Can I just get 5 minutes by myself PLEASE?

I mean I’m not complaining…but…🤯 

Time to go hole up in my garage gym. 

✌️ Mama’s busy.

Grab the workout below for a little break from the stress that is adulting.

3 Rounds

25 reps each exercise

Toe touches

Bridge hip taps

Side leg lifts

Bicycle crunches