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.

Can I Just Get 5 Minutes by Myself PLEASE?

In fairness, most of the time I make this comment out loud to the dog who is my constant shadow, and not my human.

I mean I’m not complaining…but…GOOD LAWD #momlife is a lot.

I am an introvert by nature. Well a socialized introvert. I realize I can’t live my life by myself and I need to be around people to adult effectively. 

I knew when I became a mom that I would basically have someone on me all the time. I read all the articles about moms having over stimulated central nervous systems because someone was always touching them, and how that impacted their relationships because once that little person was asleep for the night, the last thing they wanted was to be touched.

I know my alone time would be going away.

What I didn’t anticipate was that it would be gone for much longer than I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I love being an active participant in my household. I get a lot of satisfaction out of taking care of my people, sometimes I just need to be by myself. 

Some people hide out in their bathroom or their closet, for me, it’s the garage gym. Every being in my house knows when Mommy is in the garage, if it’s not a life or death matter, leave me the F!CK alone.

I don’t feel guilty about taking those moments anymore. I know that even 10 minutes to fill my cup will leave me in a better mood and more effectively able to take care of the people around me.

Time to go hole up in my garage gym. 

✌️ Mama’s busy.

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Today’s Workout

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

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Half Assed Results

If you half ass your fitness🏋🏼‍♀️ routine, you can’t expect spectacular results. 

But how can you realistically fit a workout into days that are already jam packed?

Here’s my Top 3 Tips for Crushing Your Workouts 🏋️‍♂️ When You’re Busy AF:

1. Plan. Take time on a Sunday night to plan out your week, including when your workouts can fit into your schedule. Then book mark that time in your calendar 🗓 like you would an appointment to the doctor. You won’t cancel an important appointment, so don’t cancel on yourself.

2. Be realistic. How many days a week are you working out RN? How many days do you WANT to workout 🏋🏼‍♀️? Don’t jump to your most ideal goal, make incremental changes so you can adjust to the new normal without losing your sanity.

3. Have a back up. When you do Step 1, include what workouts you WANT to do during those times. It makes transitioning into the workout faster because it takes out the thinking. And then have a back up workout in case shit hits the fan and you don’t have as much time as you intended.

Make the Change

I had to make a change because I was over having to suck in my tummy ALL THE DAMN TIME. Seriously. My abs hurt 😔 .

I didn’t feel like I was asking a lot to feel comfortable in my own clothes. Much less my own skin.

But dang girl, how do you even take accountability for your health when you’re responsible for EVERYONE AROUND YOU and that To Do List isn’t getting any shorter?

Here’s my Top 3 Easy Changes to Start A Healthful Life NOW:

1. I was realistic with my time. We all have demands on our time that can’t be changed. Don’t put extra pressure on yourself to workout 🏋️‍♀️ on a day when you know it realistically won’t happen.

2. I checked my portions. I’m not one to cut out anything unless it’s due to a medical necessity like an allergy (I mean we only get one life, so I’m gonna eat the chocolate 🍫 and drink the wine 🍷), but life is best lived in moderation so I had to learn how to cut myself off of the things I adored. (Extra PRO TIP: portion out your snacks or meals and then put everything away. That extra level of effort to get more will have you thinking 🤔 twice before you do it).

3. I increased my water intake. Most of us live in a state of dehydration without even realizing it, making us feel sluggish or hungry when we’re truly not, so I invested in an awesome reusable water bottle that I could cover with stickers and I take it with me everywhere. That way I have no reason to NOT drink water.

Tell that Negative Voice to STFU

Why do we always go to the negative narrative when the workout gets hard?

I do realize we can be our own biggest critics. I feel like it’s just human nature, albeit a crappy one, but that’s our inclination. Shit gets hard and we automatically start telling ourselves how much we suck.

When really we don’t.

But when that negative narrative kicks in, all we end up doing is sabotaging ourselves. It creates this horrible cycle because we end up dreading the workout, knowing it’ll be “too hard”, thinking “we’re not strong enough”, and then we’ll find an excuse to avoid the workout. Then the cycle continues. Much to our own personal detriment.

So we gotta change that narrative.

Working out for me is a reminder of how strong I am, even though it wasn’t always that way. My workouts will always get hard, that’s intentional because I don’t have a lot of time in my day TO workout so I want to feel like every workout is worth my time.

When I get into that space where the workout is making me want to quit, when it’s THAT hard, I simply tell myself “yes I can”. I put that on repeat and I keep going. And even if the workout isn’t pretty or isn’t my best, I still proved to myself that I could do it.

You have to find that positive narrative for yourself. I found that space for myself by having some serious reflection about all the bad shit I’ve experienced in my life and how I overcame ALL of it. Which is just a testament to my own strength and resilient, but we’re all the same in that regard. We’ve all been through shit, be it positive or negative, and we’ve ALL gotten through it.

So yes YOU can do it. You can continue to prove to yourself that you’re strong, that you’re resilient and you’re more capable than what you think.

I Thought I Needed a New Job

Grab Your Dumbbells!

$0.00

The first time I tried to work out after I had Grace, I totally thought I would have to find a new line of work. I’m not even kidding. I went into the studio by myself and tried to do one exercise and completely failed. Bye bye being a fitness instructor.

My body felt like crap 💩, I couldn’t move the way I used to before, oh and needless to say, I was tired 😴 af. I never knew that I could feel so freaking uncomfortable in my own skin and it made me sad because I didn’t think I had the power to change it.

I could’ve accepted that reality, but I knew that wouldn’t work for me. It was more daunting for me to remain miserable than for me to figure out how to change it.

So I tried switching up my fitness game. I failed. I tried again. I failed again. I got frustrated AF and discouraged doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt on a daily basis. I kept trying until I finally found what worked the best for my post baby body and post partum schedule.

I kept adapting and overcoming until I figured out what would work the best for my life. But I had an upper hand in comparison to other moms around me because I had the education and experience to help guide me through my process.

Not everyone has that background in fitness and nutrition. 

That background gave me the tools I needed to be able to get back to a place where being in my own skin felt like home. My determination gave me the motivation I needed to get to that place.

But I am doing NOTHING with all of these tools and with my own journey if I don’t share my experience with the people around me. Not just so every single person can feel amazing in their own skin, but so they also have the tools to know how to maintain that transformation once they get it.

Discipline Carries You

Discipline carries you when motivation fails you. 

We all hit points in our workout when we would rather be doing anything else EXCEPT what we’re doing. Like peace ✌️ out, I’m gonna go work on my taxes because this workout is HARD. That’s not a bad thing though. Pushing yourself and expanding your comfort zone is a good thing.

But that distraction is to be expected. Maintaining that warrior motivation for a long duration on a workout that has you questioning your life choices is tough. It won’t always go smoothly and it takes a ton of time and practice. 

It’s those moments of sheer struggle where your discipline to show up for yourself kicks in. It doesn’t mean the workout will be the most kick ass thing on the face of the planet, but it does mean you’ll continue to do the work to the best of your ability.

Don’t doubt yourself, don’t doubt your process, rely on the habits you’re already creating to get you through. 

Stronger Today than Yesterday

I dare you to get stronger than yesterday. 

The first time I worked out after I had my daughter, I legit felt like I was going to have to get a new job. I felt so weak, I didn’t think I would ever be able to train people again.

It sent me into a straight panic.

I had no idea what I was going to do or how I should handle things. I felt weak and it made me feel so discouraged. I pride myself on being able to teach people the things that I put my own body through, and at that point in my life, I didn’t feel like my body could effectively do anything.

Then I realized that I wasn’t any different from the people around me. If I felt that way after having a kid, I probably wasn’t alone in that sentiment of feeling like I would never be strong again. 

I knew I could fix it though. I just knew it would take time.

I regained my strength. It took time and a whole lot of patience because I knew that in order to regain my strength and maintain my strength in a healthy manner, it wouldn’t be an overnight adventure. 

But then I took a deep breath, and I set small incremental goals so I could regain my strength and whenever I felt like I wasn’t getting there quickly enough, I reminded myself that consistently doing the work would get me the results I wanted.

Worth It

Aren’t you worth more than easy?

Choosing to live a healthy lifestyle isn’t easy in the beginning. Making those changes to ensure that you’re doing what’s best for Y O U R well being is actually scary AF at first and kinda difficult.

You’ve gotten used to the life that you have. Your normal is YOUR normal after all and it provides a space of comfort. It’s familiar to you, and familiarity is a hard thing to break through because change is scary. Even just the anticipation of changing can be scary.

Even though you’re living in this space of normal, you know that it’s not good for you. You know that you deserve better and that being healthy in the long run will be the best thing you can do for yourself. But even though you know that, the prospect of changing is scary af. You’re venturing into unchartered territory and since you don’t know what that will look like, the thought of venturing into that space is scary.

But you’re worth it. You’re worth the effort, you’re worth the frustration and you are definitely worth the result.

Don’t feel like this is a process you have to go through alone. Go through it with support, with guidance and it’ll make the process of changing that much easier.