My mom was here today watching my 5 month old twins (thank God for mom's) and she was on the fence about going to workout. She had a couple legitimate excuses, 1) she had an allergy flare up and her nose was dripping, 2) it's nearly impossible to leave my two little angels...because they are so darn cute. In the end, she ended up going to workout with the words "well I guess we will just see how it goes". Not exactly the words of enthusiasm her workout crazed child would prefer, but the fact of the matter is that she DID go workout. She didn't let her excuses get in the way of her intention.
If you find yourself needing a little nudge to get your workout going and would be thrilled to love doing it- here's my 5 step how to guide:
1) Set your intentions. If you know why you are going to workout, and you do it for a higher purpose (my mom is planning on staying 49 forever so she can live it up as long as possible), then you will be more likely to stick to it.
2) Tell someone else what you plan to do. When you go public with your intentions you will be much more likely to follow through, because, lets face it, it's easier to let ourselves down than to let others down or to let them think with aren't keeping up.
3) Put on your workout clothes and commit to 10 minutes. Even if you are feeling like working out is the last thing you want to do, if you simply get started, your energy will likely change, and after 10 minutes you will find you can easily do another 10 or 20.
4) Get a clear feeling or picture of how you will feel when the workout is over. Or better yet, how awful it feels to skip the workout when your head hits the pillow at night. It's amazing how doing something for yourself that is hard to do will lift your spirits and empower you to do even more when the workout is over. I call this dropping your body baggage, or letting go of the negative feelings you have when you beat yourself up for not doing enough. You won't have to even go there if you just get started!
5) If all else fails to commit to what you had planned, do something else. Get creative. Do a few runs up and down your stairs, pop out a few push-ups, read a magazine article while you do your plank, play your favorite dance tune and get jiggy with it...whatever it takes to just do something that makes you feel alive through movement.
Ultimately moving your body will release endorphins that will help you feel the love of the moment. Don't believe me? Watch a runner after a race who has reached a runners high, or a dancer after she or he as expressed themselves with their movement. Don't worry about how long, how intense, or how precise your workout is...just move, and love yourself thought it.
This past week I have pondered the question of whether it is possible to think yourself out an emotional response. This is important to me as I examine my reaction to so many different things in my life, but specifically to how I react to stress. I tent to get anxious, overwhelmed, fearful and then completely disabled when stress mounts. After a chat with my pastor, he suggested I take a look at Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a means to change my self-talk and create a different response to my habitual negative one. I have been introduced to this type of therapy through the WellCoaches training I am taking right now, but when I thought about it on a more personal level, it occurred to me that this therapy could be used to help people overcome negative habits of any kind.
Relationship expert, Dr Alice Boyes, Psychologist suggests we list our negative thoughts or reactions and when they come up again we replace the thought for ourselves with a third person. It would look something like this..
Rather that hearing "You are a failure", you would replace the statement with an observation..."Oh there goes Susie again, she things I am a failure, but I know I am (replace with whatever positive truth you would like)." In this way we take out the emotion and allow ourselves to replace it with a thought is more rational and purposeful.
Estimates vary, but approximately 60% to 80% of us will get at least mild back pain at some time in our lives. The pain can range from a little achiness to severe pain from a fracture of the vertebra or a herniation of the disc between your vertebra that can cause radiating nerve pain known as sciatica. In any case, prevention is the best medicine, but if you are in need, here's our guide to reducing your back pain:
1) Stretch. This one seems obvious, but it is ridiculous how many people neglect simply stretching to be sure they aren't putting undue stress on their back. Here's some favorites:
Olympic hopefuls don't get to the games on accident. Ride their wave of success with these four lessons:
1) “Discipline is remembering what you want” – David Campbell
When I say "strategic" things like accounting, business development, or college planning come to mind. What doesn't come to mind is when I will work out, what I will do, and for how long will I commit to the workout. Still, most of us plan our vacations better than we plan the day to day things that could have more meaning and add more fun to our daily existence. Too often we drudge our way from one to do item to the next without stepping back and really thinking about what will make our lives more exciting and meaningful. We regress into a state of just getting by and letting life happen. Unfortunately, entropy will only ensure that if we allow ourselves to constantly go with the flow, our health may just flow right out the window.
Never in my life have I had to engage in so much planning to get anything done. That includes my workouts, or even just a quick stroll with my 4 month old twins. Last Friday I had the liberty of rejoining the morning