Category Archives: Mindset
Have we talked about CONSISTENCY before?!?
Just like one bad day of eating or one missed workout isn’t going to hurt you, one good day of eating or one great workout isn’t going to make the difference either.
If you are inconsistent, you aren’t going to achieve great results.
It’s as simple as that.
Success comes with consistency!
It doesn’t matter how “good” your diet was this past week, if you don’t keep it up.
Honestly, I would rather someone made small changes they could stick with long-term, than huge changes that only lasted a couple of weeks.
Because, even though the drastic changes will yield quicker changes and more instant gratification, they won’t yield long-term results.
Results comes from consistency.
Especially TRUE RESULTS.
Yea if you want to lose weight on the scale, you can really deprive yourself for a week and get “results.”
Yea your weight will go down, but you won’t really have changed your body composition or have improved your health.
Just like a couple of weeks of working out won’t really improve your strength or mobility. They may make you sore, but they won’t create LASTING CHANGE.
And while programing is an important piece of this, even the best laid plans and the best prepared programs won’t do you any good if you aren’t CONSISTENT.
But consistency is the hard part because life always wants to get in the way.
There will be hundreds of thousands of excuses you can come up with to slack on your program.
That’s life.
So you’ve got to find something that keeps you on track. That keeps you honest with yourself about whether or not you are actually truly following the program you set out to do.
I’ve found that ACCOUNTABILITY is key to CONSISTENCY.
Whether you hold yourself accountable by setting up a food log and writing down your workouts or by hiring a trainer and getting friends involved (or maybe even all of the above), you’ve got to find a way to hold yourself accountable.
So stop letting yourself off the hook because you did a few good days OR beating yourself up because you “slipped up” one day.
CONSISTENCY is key! And it is most easily achieved when we hold ourselves ACCOUNTABLE.
Happy Friday! Go out and work toward what you want today! Don’t wait till Monday!
Monday Motivation – Be Greater Than Your Excuses
Life – It is truly one big excuse.
Something can and will always be getting in the way, making your goals more complicated and difficult to accomplish.
Basically what I’m telling you is there will always be excuses and reasons NOT to do something.
The question then is…How bad do you want it?
Because if you really want it bad enough, nothing will hold you back and you will find a way to accomplish your goals.
If you aren’t dedicated to your goals, any excuse will cause you to fail.
And I’m sure right now a few of you are shaking your head and telling yourself…”But I really don’t have time/money/resources/knowledge…whatever to accomplish my goals and I really REALLY want to.”
Uh sorry…But you are LYING TO YOURSELF and making excuses.
And to some extent all of those excuses are valid. They all are reasons why you can’t accomplish your goals. They are all barriers and hurdles that you have to overcome if you want to succeed.
The point is, if your desire is strong enough, if your plan is good enough, then those excuses are just that – merely hurdles that you can overcome.
Notice that I said DESIRE and PLAN.
Because motivation will only keep you going for so long that you need to create a plan to help keep you on track when the excuses build and you want to stop moving forward.
Wait…So I said if you want it bad enough you won’t give into your goals yet I also said that motivation isn’t enough and that you need to have a PLAN.
YUP!
If you want it bad enough, you will create a PLAN that will not allow excuses to derail your progress.
You will create a meal prep plan that doesn’t allow you to give the excuse that you are too busy or stressed to cook. And you will create a workout program that is convenient and quick that fits your crazy, busy schedule.
You will create a plan that address your excuses instead of using your excuses as a way to get out of doing what you know you truly want to be doing!
Because when you really want something, you PLAN for success!
So what’s your plan for this week? How are you going to be greater than your excuses?
P.S. A huge thanks to everyone that came out to celebrate our Grand Opening on Saturday! Had so much fun! Here are some pictures from the event…
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Most of us do not like trying new things or changing up our routine.
We like things the way they are EVEN if we don’t truly like things the way they are because we are, to some extent, COMFORTABLE.
But if you want to reach your goals, you’ve got to do things you aren’t comfortable with. You’ve got to do things DIFFERENTLY!
You’ve got to be willing to TRULY try new things. You’ve got to stop making excuses as to why you can’t do something or why something doesn’t work when it is really just that you don’t want to change or do things differently.
You don’t want to sacrifice or be uncomfortable. But you’ve got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and putting yourself outside your comfort zone if you want success.
You’ve got to do things you don’t want to do.
And sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Because getting a different result than you’ve been getting means you have to do things differently – it means CHANGE.
So how do you change when we are so resistant to change? How do you get comfortable being uncomfortable?
You have to take a step in a different direction.
It may be a big step or a small step, but you’ve got to do something you know is good even if you don’t want to.
Sometimes it means jumping in head first and just sucking it up. Other times it means making the smallest, least scary, change first.
In situations where you have lots of support and accountability, it may be easier to jump in head first. If you are going it alone, you may find that any drastic changes create backlash so taking a small step and adjusting to that first works better.
Either way though, you must first recognize that part of the reason it is hard to move forward is because it is uncomfortable.
Once you accept that you will need to be uncomfortable, you can general force yourself to do new things – whether it is a big step or small step forward, it is still a step forward.
And the best part is, when you get over that initial fear and JUST DO IT, new things become way less scary and uncomfortable.
So get comfortable being uncomfortable and take that step forward toward your goals!
Plan to be lazy
I am a very hard worker….But I’m also extremely lazy.
Yup. The two can go hand in hand.
I know myself.
I know what I will work hard for and what I’ll be lazy about. Because let’s face it, there are things in our life that we are just too lazy to put forth effort for even if we have a desire to achieve.
And cooking for me is one of those things that I’m super lazy about.
When I get on a roll working at home, I don’t want to stop what I’m doing and cook. Or when I get home at 8 or 9 at night, the last thing I want to have to do is make dinner.
Is it that I don’t have time or even the energy? No.
It’s just that I’m lazy.
And I know I’m going to be lazy.
Anytime I don’t have food just lying around on a busier or longer day, I will be lazy and eat out or munch on snacks that won’t really give me the nutritional balance I need.
So I PLAN for my laziness. I plan so that I can be lazy instead of trying to force myself to not be lazy.
Sort of sounds like the opposite of what you are usually told, right? Aren’t we supposed to change bad habits?
Well yes. But you also have to KNOW YOURSELF.
And I know that I get lazy about cooking on busy days or even simply days when I get in a groove doing work.
Even when I try to change that fact, I find it doesn’t take much for me to fall back into bad habits.
So instead of even risking being lazy, I PLAN AHEAD.
I cook for a number of days when I’m not busy – When I know I’ll have the energy to cook. And that way, I always have food on had even when I’m too lazy to cook.
I even go so far as to chop up vegetables (or at Trader Joe’s even buy their pre-cut organic broccoli) when I cook for the week knowing that I may not eat them if they aren’t already cut.
Yup…Lazy…Super lazy.
But as I said…I KNOW MYSELF.
For me, meal prep is essential. Having food prepared and ready to go that I can throw together makes things so easy that I don’t struggle to stick to my routine.
For me, spending a couple of hours cooking up everything for the week is way more efficient, and allows me to be way lazier, than having to cook a new meal every time I eat.
So if you are lazy like me, instead of trying to force yourself not to be lazy, why not plan for it? Why not cook so that you don’t have to stress about eating well when you are busy or tired?
Making new healthy lifestyle changes EASY to stick to really help you be consistent and achieve results!
MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE
I’ve harped on this before, but it is worth discussing again.
If you don’t measure, you will never know if you are progressing.
Because often we are too close to see results.
You see yourself every day and may overlook the subtle changes that are occurring.
You see the bad workouts where you don’t have any energy and don’t make any progress and therefore you forget the 6 days before where you did lift more or run faster.
You feel yourself still getting so exhausted by that same workout, but you don’t realize that you are actually pushing harder and doing more.
You DON’T see all the good things, all the progress, because you are so caught in the day to day.
That is why you have to take measurements…Not every day or even week, but every few weeks or months.
Those measurements will help show you all the small forward progress you are making each day. Even on days when you don’t feel like things are going right.
And when you take measurements, don’t measure in only one way.
Choose a few different things to measure to show your success. Because even though your scale weight doesn’t budge that doesn’t mean you haven’t lost fat!
For instance, if you want to lose weight, don’t just weigh on the scale and use that as your only measurement. Take circumference measurements as well.
And I even like to set a few performance as well as “habit” goals as well. These goals let you celebrate other successes that LEAD to you achieving your ultimate goal of weight loss.
For instance, if you set a goal to do more pull ups, you will be working out hard to achieve it. And those workouts to help you do more pull ups will also help you lose weight.
So even if you don’t see huge weight loss one measurement period, if you see yourself getting stronger, you know you are doing all the right things.
Same goes for “habit” goals. Habit goals are goals that you set based on simply DOING the right things. If you do the meal prep you set out to do or workout the number of times you plan to, you record it and even celebrate your success.
Because DOING the right things WILL ADD UP.
Plus it lets you know that you are truly following through with your program. (Often we “think” we are doing the right things when actually we aren’t truly sticking to our program. And then we wonder why we aren’t achieving results. These habit goals make sure we are ACTUALLY doing the right things!)
So if you want to succeed and SEE that success, make sure to start measuring!
What To Do When You Don’t Want To Do ANYTHING
There are going to be days when you just don’t care. When you just don’t feel like working out or eating well.
When you are completely stressed out, busy and unmotivated.
The question is, “How do you keep moving forward toward your goals when you just don’t care or have the time?”
Because the thing is, this lack of motivation…life getting in the way…it happens to everyone.
EVERYONE!
The thing that makes the biggest difference is how you handle it.
You can either give in and let the stress and bad mood derail all of your hard work or you can force yourself to push through. And when I say “push through” I don’t always mean going to the gym and getting in an intense hour-long workout.
Sometimes pushing through means picking one thing to focus on OR it means doing just a little of each.
Maybe it means you stick to your clean eating program but just don’t make it to the gym that night.
Or maybe it means doing an unscheduled short workout or even less intense workout because that is all you have the motivation for.
The point is to do something and not just allow excuses to derail your progress.
SOMETHING. Not the best thing or exactly what you planned to do or…Just SOMETHING.
Walk around the block. Eat that healthy dinner but have that cookie you wanted.
Find a balance.
There are going to be days when you are stressed out and life gets in the way. And you can’t control or even plan for them most of the time.
All you can do is take them in stride and make the most of them. Do little things to keep yourself on track.
And those little things may just get you motivated enough so that you do exactly what you are supposed to do.
For example, if you tell yourself you are even just going to stretch out and do a quick little workout, you may find that once you are dressed and moving, you want to do the longer workout you had planned.
Or maybe the 10 minute walk you set out as the compromise, since you didn’t want to do your workout, turns into a 20 or 30 minute walk.
The point is, if you can make yourself do something, that something will keep you on track and even help you find motivation to continue pushing forward.
Anyway, the point is MAKE YOURSELF DO SOMETHING….Because every little something really does add up!
It’s Better Together
You can work toward your goals alone. You can rely only on yourself for motivation.
You CAN go it alone.
BUT the question is why would you want to do that when there are so many amazing people out there to encourage and support you?
A bit ago I wrote about cutting out the crabs from your life – about cutting out the people who don’t support you and try to hold you back.
That post wasn’t about cutting out everyone and going it alone. It was actually about finding a new SUPPORTIVE community.
You should be selective about who you have around you and value the people who lift you up and make you better.
But you SHOULD find people to surround yourself with that will support you.
Because the journey is better together.
When you need advice or feel like you don’t know your next step, it’s nice to have someone to turn to.
When you don’t feel like sticking to your plan or have a rough day and need motivation, it’s nice to have someone to turn to.
When you’ve had setback and hit obstacles, it is nice to have someone to turn to.
Someone to turn to who’s gone through what you’ve gone through. Someone who understands the difficulties and can help you stay motivated and moving forward. Someone who supports your goals and will try to push you forward.
Someone who wants to share in your highs and your lows and BELIEVES IN YOU AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
Find people who support you unconditionally.
And by “unconditionally,” I don’t mean they won’t ever question or push or force you to think. Because unconditional support doesn’t mean they believe everything you do is perfect. It doesn’t mean they don’t tell you when you are being stupid.
Actually unconditional support means they care about you enough to help set you right!
It means they are going to question and challenge. They are going to make you think. But they are doing it to make you better, not to drag you down.
And this unconditional support network can come from anywhere. It can be a group we join, a community on an app we use. It can be a blog, our family, our friends.
It can be online or offline…Heck you can have numerous support groups for different things!
The thing is…It’s better together!
Get the support you deserve to help you move forward with your journey!
Now the question is, who is in your support network? What online/offline communities are you a part of? How has this community helped push you forward?
Taking It Slow – Why not going all out may lead to better results
It can be very hard to hold yourself back when you feel like you could do more….when you have done more before.
But just because you CAN do something, just because you’ve even done it in the past, doesn’t mean your body is ready to handle it right now.
For instance, I was gym-less for about a month and, on top of that, I’d been focusing on breathing squats and upping my weights with that. I hadn’t done any type of deadlift but supplemental single leg deadlifts for numerous months.
While I’d been working on leg and glute strength, I hadn’t done any conventional deadlifts for a very long time.
So yesterday when I decided to do conventional barbell deadlifts for the first time in many months, I knew I had to take my time and start with less weight than I wanted.
Even when the weight felt easy, I knew I had to take things slowly.
Because while my muscles may have been strong enough and I had even lifted double the weight I was using for double the reps, it really won’t benefit me to just drastic increase the weight after not having done much weight or even that specific movement for a few months.
My body needed time to readjust to the movement. (Plus what would be the point of making myself so sore I threw off my other workouts that week and then couldn’t go harder the next week?!?)
And I considered all of this and chose to use lighter weight even though I’d been doing heavy lifts so my connective tissue was prepared to handle heavy loads.
I took it slow. Because there is no point to push too far too fast.
So just imagine if you hadn’t ever lifted before and you jumped straight into heavy weight.
While your muscles may be able to lift the weight, your body, your connective tissues, may not be ready to handle the load.
And pushing too far too fast will only lead to injury.
So why not take it slow and be able to build up with no setbacks!?!
Is being able to think you are gnarly cause you lifted a ton on your first attempt really worth it?
Or is it more worth it to remain injury free and end up being able to lift even heavier weights in the long run?
I think lifting more weight in the long run and remaining injury free is worth the wait. I think it is worth taking things slowly and not giving into pride.
But maybe that is just me…..
Next time you feel the urge to do more, think about why you really want to do more.
Is it because of pride? Is it because you don’t feel tired enough right then and there and have to “feel” like you did enough?
Is it because you are more focused on being sore than on progression?
Because the thing is…Small incremental changes over time will lead to bigger and better LASTING RESULTS.
Do you find you struggle with being patient and taking things slow?
Stop Judging YOURSELF
So I’ve eaten meals with a number of clients recently and all of them have said basically the same thing to me:
“Don’t look at what I’m eating!!”
My answer is usually, “I don’t care! I’m not judging.”
Because it’s true. I’m NOT JUDGING.
You can eat whatever you want.
The only time I’m going to care or comment is if you ask me a question or ask me for help reaching a specific goal. (And yes, if you ask for my help and then complain that you aren’t reaching your goal when you aren’t truly following my advice…Then yes…I may be judging you…)
Otherwise it is your life and lots of different things work for lots of different people!
They say it in a joking manner…But there is an insecurity behind it. And, all of these clients who think they are worried about what I’m thinking are actually more insecure because of how they are judging THEMSELVES.
How much of that fear of judgement comes from the fact that we are judging ourselves and not happy with the verdict?
We often make excuses for our behavior if we think those around us won’t approve instead of just going about our business because it is how we do things and how we want to live our lives.
We don’t want them to judge us because that would only reinforce what we are thinking.
By excusing our behavior, we think that, to some extent, we will prevent judgement.
But while we “think” we are trying to prevent judgement from others, we are actually trying to quiet down our own internal judge.
Because let’s face it most people don’t care about anyone but themselves….And I don’t mean this in a negative narcissistic way…I just mean that the little flaws we see, the judgements we are making about ourselves, no one else even cares about because they are more focused on themselves and their life!
So the question then is….Why are you judging yourself?
If you don’t like your decisions, why are you making them?
We should feel confident and support our own decisions.
If I want to eat bad, even if no one else is, I’m going to eat bad! And I’m not going to excuse it or feel guilty about it.
I’m going to enjoy it!
And if I’m going to feel guilty about it, why would I do it?!
Because my guilt is truly what I’m excusing…I’m trying to make myself feel ‘ok’ about the decision almost by getting support from those around me and reassurance that they aren’t judging.
If they aren’t judging, maybe I don’t need to judge myself, right?!?
WRONG!
No one can reassure you but you.
And when you start realizing that the judgement of others isn’t what you truly fear, you can start to analyze why you are judging yourself.
So next time you feel like you need to excuse your behavior to someone, think about it first.
Do you really need their approval?
Why are you excusing the behavior? Do you fear judgement? Or do feel guilty and are truly judging yourself?
And if you are judging yourself, how are you going to change your behaviors so you don’t feel guilty…So that you can love yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin?
The Share Something Inspiring Challenge
At the end of May, I got an email from Fit Approach about a challenging they were doing with Lorna Jane as part of their Sweat Pink Movement – The Share Something Inspiring Challenge.
I figured why not join! I already try to share motivating and inspiring things so why not just try to do it even more often. And it will make me seek out even more amazing, motivational and funny quotes to share!
I thought, “Oh this is great…Offering even more motivation to my clients! A challenge that makes me an even better motivator for the people I care about…HECK YES!”
HOWEVER, the one thing I didn’t expect was that finding all of these extra motivational things to share would affect my own attitude.
I consider myself, in general, to be a very happy, energetic and optimistic person…sarcastic and realistic also but truly optimistic. And driven…most definitely driven….
But I felt myself perk up every time I looked for motivational things to share. There was something about the added extra “positiveness” in my daily routine that made me feel even more upbeat and even more determined to reach my goals.
And it wasn’t that every quote I used resonated with how I was feeling….It was the fact that the extra positive thoughts made me think even more positively.
Which makes sense…Positive thoughts (aka thinking about motivational stuff) mean a positive attitude. And a positive attitude and thoughts mean positive actions.
What that means is every NEGATIVE thought we indulge in about ourselves, our looks, our lives, our goals…..Negatively affects our attitude and, more importantly, our actions.
Even though it wasn’t me consciously thinking positively, the positive environment and positive “thinking” affected my attitude.
That led me to what I wanted to write about today, which is the fact that every time we put ourselves down, every time we read negative things or say negative things, it affects our attitude and our thoughts.
And those thoughts and attitudes, be they positive or negative, are what shape our actions.
So whether you realize it or not, whether you are being “serious” or not, whether you are consciously or unconsciously thinking it, your brain hears everything that you say and think, good or bad.
And those thoughts affect our attitudes even if we don’t realize they are there.
So as obvious as this may sound, you need to surround yourself with the attitude you want to have. Because that attitude will affect every other aspect of your life.
And the more you can immerse yourself in those surroundings, the better off you are going to be.
Because positivity breeds more positivity EVEN if you don’t think those positive things are affecting you, THEY ARE!
Don’t let your attitude hold you back from accomplishing great things!
Man Bicep 