I used to hate that PE lessons were a compulsory part of high school… Seriously, whose bright idea was that?! Luckily I have a great mama bear who didn’t mind writing her nerd burger daughter ‘sick’ notes which enabled me to do the minimal amount of lessons required in order to scrape a pass.
Fast forward more than a decade and we have met an age where nothing happens with diet alone. Which is rather annoying – there’s so much more id rather be doing, including stabbing myself in the eyeball with a fork. Which, I know wouldn’t be entirely helpful at all. Instead, here is what i know ( two short points, are you proud of me!)
1. Find out what works for you. And stick with it. No matter how many times people tried to convince me, or I tried to convince myself I am in no way a team sport player. I don’t like inflated balls being thrown around, expectations to be some sort of coordinated and on top of that run around for an hour straight.
The gym doesnt particularly work for me either. Too many other people around stresses me out – distracting distractions and everybody’s watching. What can I say, you’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you. You can’t even sit at the back of the class and hide with all the walls mirrored and the instructor lady with her too loud microphone and speaking of too loud what’s with the constant doof doof? I want to leave with endorphins, not a matching beating headache.
What does work? The park behind my house, my earphones and a podcast.
Whilst there are no flat surfaces in this suburb of ancient hills – ensuring any run is going to be challenging – the path in the park is long enough for one sprint interval and one walking interval. The C25K podcast takes the thinking out and I can just concentrate on my breathing, the fresh air and the sun. No one is watching, taking note of my beet root face or lack of breath.
DVD workouts also work. Grab a trainer you love and respect so you can laugh and yell back a them, grab some dumbbells and you, your lounge room and DVD player are set to G.O.
The final thing that works for me? Half hour workouts max. Quality is key…. And don’t fight me on it, cause I’ll get my mate Jillian Michaels on to you. It may also be a mental thing – tell me I’m going for a run for an hour, my mind goes ok I can find that time, it’s not too long. An hour? No way I’ll sit on the couch thanks!
2. Engage your cheerleaders. There is power and strength in your village, don’t underestimate it.
How did I find out about C25K? Some beautiful women blogged about it. Same with Jillian.
What about that Saturday morning when another amazing woman realised she hadn’t seen any tweets about workouts from me that week? She called me on it. I may or may not have been still in bed, and I can tell you right now I’ve never jumped out of bed so fast and straight into a workout.
Who reminds me when I’m feeling a bit down and out and can’t be bothered? My village.
Who celebrates any and every achievement with me because they are in the same boat? Are you getting my drift?
They give you accountability, motivation, encouragement, celebration not to mention things that are working for them that might for you too.
And honestly, I know we should be all self motivated and blah blah blah – but when it’s something that doesn’t come naturally to you and every step can sometimes feel like major hard work, these people are pure gold.
So. If you’ve read through this and you want to punch me because I’m telling you something so simple that you’ve heard before…. I agree! But you know what, sometimes it is SO simple, and it’s repeated because it IS true.
And you might have tried it before, about fifty million times. I also hear you on that one! But, what if this is the time that you decide to just try it again…. And it works?
I’m not going to lie and tell you that getting back into my sweat routine has been easy since I came home from holidays three weeks ago. Nope, in fact I can count my workouts on one hand. But tomorrow is a new day, with sunshine, and no work.
And I can fall, but I get back up… And I do what I can for that day – which is my best. And every week, I can darn well keep dong my best which in turn will keep getting better and pushing me forward.
Your best is enough.
One half hour block at a time.
< YAY for Team Friday! Another super awesome part of the village, so go spread some love!!)
Next week: Focus. Own YOUR goals.
