Where Did My Motivation Go (aka I Have to Get into Bikini Shape)

You know what they say about the best laid plans, right?  Mine were to get back on my 5 am workout schedule after I finished physical therapy so that I could focus on teaching and personal training sessions in the evening.  How quickly things change.  The plan was to start last week and I managed to get up and exercise one day.  One measly day!  And to think I used to be up at 5am every day when I lived in Memphis.  I would like to blame the weather/snow/never-ending winter but I’m not going to lie.  That really has little to do with it.  It’s not like I’m going outside to run or that the weather impacts my ability to exercise indoors at all.  Nope.  It’s just sheer laziness on my part.  I mean who wants to get out of a warm, comfortable bed at the crack of dawn just to sweat?  Oh, that’s right.  I WANT to do that but that doesn’t mean I WILL do that. 

So all of this led me to coming up with ways of motivating myself to get out of bed in the mornings and thereby motivating YOU to get out of bed in the morning and workout!  I know, I know.  You would rather workout at night and there’s no possible way you could get up any earlier than you do.  Believe me, I feel the same way.  I’m so not a morning person.  If I hadn’t been able to make the transition myself a few years ago, I wouldn’t believe me either. 

However!  I will tell you that when I do manage to get up out of bed that early in the morning and get my workout out of the way, it really makes for a more stress-free day.  I’ve got those endorphins flowing.  I have more energy.  I can make plans at night and not stress out about fitting in a workout.  I mean there really isn’t any downside to working out in the morning.  Well, okay so maybe I go to bed a little earlier now.  But by maybe 30-45 minutes earlier.  I mean is there anything that you or I absolutely have to do during that 30-45 minutes late at night that can’t wait until the next day?  I’m guessing there probably isn’t. 

In the name of science (or perhaps this blog), I am going to commit to testing a few motivational tactics and report back my findings.  Then it’s your turn.  Try a few and see how they work, keeping in mind, of course, not every tactic will work for you.  That’s why we experiment.  I will admit to this not being a truly scientific experiment with controls groups, etc.  I don’t have patience for all that.  It’s just a try and see type experiment.  Here are the motivational tactics I am trying:

·         Sleep in my workout clothes – I have read/heard from numerous sources that this is a great way to motivate yourself when the alarm goes off.  You don’t have to worry about getting up and changing clothes.  You just roll out of bed and go down the hall/down the stairs/to the gym.  (I will post pictures of this and so should you!)

 

·         Set my alarm clock on the other side of the room – I know folks that do this every day anyway because they have such a difficult time getting out of bed at their normal time.  I’m not one of those people so I am guessing it will have the desired effect. 

·         Set up my workout equipment/cd player/yoga mat the night before – this may sound weird but it’s one less step I have to worry about in the morning.  I’m not 100% confident in this option but I am going to try it. 

 

·         Change my wake up tone on my alarm - I use my phone as my alarm so I have plenty of options here.  I think if I pick an upbeat song (may try Pharrell’s song “Happy”), I will spring out of bed ready to go.  Okay, maybe not spring out of bed but you get the picture. 

 

·         Post my plans on social media – I’m already doing that with posting here but I will also post on Facebook and Twitter.  If you follow me on one of those platforms, feel free to challenge me the next day and ask if I got up.  It holds my feet to the proverbial fire. 

 

·         Schedule the time – I schedule (and you probably schedule) everything else in my life, why wouldn’t I schedule my workouts?  I can even set the reminder to go off at a certain time so that will wake me up as well. 

 

·         Make a date – This one might be more difficult for me as I don’t really know anyone else that gets up early to workout.  If you do, though, I highly encourage this option.  That was one of the reasons I was able to get up at 5am in Memphis.  I had a running partner 3 days a week and a personal trainer the other 2.  So I was always accountable to someone.  Worked like a charm!

 

·         Reward myself – Okay this one is my favorite right now.  I mean I don’t generally need a reason to reward myself but this seems like a legitimate reason.  This will be the coup de grace if I successfully complete all 7 of the aforementioned tactics.  It’s a win/win really!

 

There you have it: my motivational tactics for waking up and working out for the next 7 work days.  I throw “work days” in there because I already know I won’t be getting up at 5am on a Saturday or Sunday.  But I will get workouts in as soon as I wake up!  That’s my other plan. 

Check back to see how I’m doing.  I will post daily updates if I can.  Otherwise I will post a summary of my experiment.  If you want to play along with me, I will be testing them in the order written. 

BE BOLD!  BE YOU!

Trying New Things (aka How I Fell On My Face at the Gym)

There’s something to be said for being a creature of habit.  I’m the first to admit that I am stuck in my ways.  Every weekday morning looks exactly the same.  Get up, shower, dress, brush teeth, makeup, eat breakfast and go to work.  It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.  It was that way even as a kid.  I often tell people the story of when I was younger and my mom was still making my lunch (man I miss those days!)  Every day she would ask me what I kind of sandwich I wanted and every day it was peanut butter and jelly.  All throughout grade school it was the same.  You would think I would get sick of PB&J but nope!  Not me!  And even when I started making my own lunches, I made PB&J every day.  Like I said, I’m a creature of habit. 

So what does this have to do with fitness?  Well, there are many ways in which being a creature of habit relates to fitness…eating habits, sleeping habits, workout habits, etc.  In an attempt to not let my creature of habit-ness sneak its way into my fitness classes and routines, I get different workouts and exercise moves from magazines like Self and Fitness.  Over the weekend, I went through my ever-mounting pile of mags and found a few new moves I wanted to incorporate into class.  They looked (relatively) easy in the pictures so how hard can they really be?  The first few were pretty good.  I managed to do them without looking like a complete buffoon. 

And then it got real.  Real ugly, real quickly.  “The Climb” happened.  I was foolish enough to believe that I have the core strength to do this.  And, sure, if I lead with my left hand I can do it with minimal foolishness.  However, if I lead with my right hand…THUNK right on the floor go my knees, hands and maybe even chin a little bit.  It wasn’t pretty.  I tried twice because I refuse to go down without a fight.  After the second time, I realized that is a good stretch goal for me to have!  Oh and when this happened?  I was in one of the fitness rooms at the Y with about 6 people in there.  I didn’t even bother looking around each time I fell.  I knew what I would find and it was best to just ignore them/their stares and keep on going. 

 

The Climb

Start in a plank, facing wall about 6 inches away. Walk left hand onto wall, then walk right hand onto wall to meet it (as shown). Reverse to return to plank for 1 rep. Do 20 reps.

As always, I share my self-deprecating story with you to remind you (and even myself) that sometimes you have to try new things to figure out what you need to work on.  If you just keep doing the same weight lifting, core workout, cardio workout or any other type of workout, you are going to hit a plateau and only work the same muscles in the same manner.  It really is important to switch things up.  Very rarely will I do the same workout more than twice in one week.  Prevent muscle memory where you really are not doing any work. 

I challenge you to try the workout (Self Wall Workout) and let me know how your “climb” goes!

BE BOLD! BE YOU!

 

Inspiration For Anyone

One of the frustrating parts of being a personal trainer/fitness professional is dealing with those who say "I can't..."  I fully understand that not everyone loves to workout.  Heck, I don't like doing it some days.  But I have yet to find someone who honestly "can't" workout. 

So when I started the Weigh To Go program as a coach, I learned I had a participant who was over 60 and had never worked out.  I don't mean never worked out in the past 10 years or anything like that.  I mean NEVER worked out in her entire 60+ years.  While she sounded gung-ho about working out and the program, every time we met and talked about what she eats and what types of workouts she should do, I was met with "I can't do that because I had 2 knee replacements"  or "I can't live without my Diet Coke" or even "I don't like drinking water."  Boy did I have a challenge in front of me.  I decided to take it one step at a time with her.  You know.  Rome wasn't built in a day and all.  The program has been going on now for about 5 weeks and each week she shows up for our meetings and with a more positive attitude than the week before.  The first change came with her not having 4 sausage McMuffins in a week and ending each night in bed with a 32 oz Diet Coke.  Then she started adding more veggies to her diet.  Last week, she told me she was up to 4 bottles of water a day.  Now, they aren't big bottles but it's 4 more than she had been doing previously so it is a HUGE step! 

Last night, though, she made me so proud to be her coach that I just have to share it with everyone.  We were having our meeting and talking about how far she had walked in the past week (proof is in the pedometer).  Then she tells me that she goes with her friend to the hospital in Milwaukee for her friend's checkups and when they went earlier this week, she was able to walk from the parking lot to the clinic without stopping at the cafeteria to rest.  Her friend even made a comment about her not having to stop to rest.  And the smile on her face while she told me this story was worth a thousand words.  She was so proud of herself and she realized that all her hard work was paying off.  Then she said that she wanted to go walk around the gym a few times!  WOW!!  I couldn't believe it and that's exactly what we did.  Not only was she able to do about 15 laps with just one quick break, she was walking at a faster pace than I'd seen her do before. 

The program ends in a few weeks but she has already told me she will stick with the walking because she is started to feel different/better.  What more could a coach possibly ask for?  I honestly am so proud of her! 

The point of sharing this with you is that you can do anything you set your mind to!  A 60+ year old woman has discovered the benefit of walking/moving and is surprising even herself so there is no excuse!  Get up and move!  Even if it's slow and just around the living room.  Take it one literal step at a time!  Who knows what you can do.

 

BE BOLD! BE YOU!