Remember when you had an old school cork board and you pinned pictures of celeb crushes and letters from your friends on it? Go back to that place and think about how you gazed on it and how it made you feel. Even now, in our old age (haha!), we can use a pin board to build ourselves up - I mean Pinterest is popular for a reason. However you want to do it, creating a visual board can serve as a great motivator. You can post words, people, places. Whatever it is that inspires you to pursue your goals and be a better you! Here's a glance at my motivation board:
We call it a journey for a reason. It's not a singular destination. It is life. It is living today. Living tomorrow. Exercise and nutrition are just a small part of your wellness. Your wellness should be a lifelong goal. Let's face it, each stage of life looks different in regards to what we perceive our fitness level to be. When you're twenty you assume you should be doing certain activities and this idea changes as you progress through the stages of life. Just the other day I found myself sliding into the category "fit for a mom of three." Our perceptions change. This is ok. What we most want is to maintain a healthy perspective, an appropriate value of our wellness. This is viewing our life through a wellness spectrum. We all fall somewhere on the spectrum between sickness, wellness, and fitness. Minimally our goal should be wellness, but ultimately we aim for fitness. We find we can actually prevent sickness - improving blood pressure, controlling our cholesterol, reducing body fat, increasing bone density, and slew of other health markers by maintaining a healthy diet and participating in appropriate exercise. This means we can move into wellness and the more healthy you become, into fitness. What we must remember is that this is true for everyone - the elite athlete and your grandmother (as the CrossFit saying goes). No excuses. We each have the opportunity to control where we fall on the spectrum.
How is this possible? We address each individual by changing the degree of work, to a greater or lesser extent, not the kind of work. Everyone needs to be able to move heavy things - do you garden or do you move 500 pound metal tubs for work? Everyone needs to be able to squat - do you use the bathroom or sit on the couch? Everyone needs to be able to get from one place to another - do you shop at the store or go to the zoo with kiddos? The answer is "yes" in one way or another. We all need to be able to move well, even into the later years of our life. So we address this truth by changing the individual's load and/or intensity of work, not the kind of work. The movements themselves are functional movements that we all use on a daily basis, its the degree that differs from person to person. This is the beauty of our journey. We can deadlift as a 20 year old, a 40 year old, a 60 year old, and even an 80 year old. Picture what that would look like. Sure, when you're 20 your numbers are going to look a lot different than when you're 80, but you are still maintaining your wellness - your quality of life. You're still able to pick things up off the floor at 80 because you have maintained your body over time, changing the degree of work as appropriate to insure wellness. For me, I want to work now so I can work later. I want my load to reflect life-long wellness. I'm not trying to smash my body for the sake of my pride now. I'm making conscious decisions to know I will be able to function well way down the road. This is true wellness, which will equate to long-term fitness. Think about this as you journey along. Stay focused on what's ahead and how you want to live 5, 10, 20 years from now. Then take the steps to make that your reality. Have you ever had one of those tough workouts where you get to the end and feel good? Then, after the post workout fog has passed and you're working through some mobility you start to assess your numbers. Upon assessment, what initially felt like a good workout has you a little disappointed. This is where the spiral begins. And while we should anticipate these moments - the struggle with our perceived growth, this discontentment with our progress - we need to have a plan for not getting stuck in those feelings. I experienced this, once again, just a few weeks back. The week before I had wrapped up a solid back squat cycle, so I was rolling into a front squat cycle. I hadn't tested at the end of my last front squat cycle and I wanted to start with a better grasp on where I was, so I tested. This was the beginning of the end. I tested, felt good, hit a conditioning piece, and then followed up with my girls for accountability. These are two ladies I became friends with way back in Quinn's garage. Over the years our friendship has grown and we share . . . a lot! Even as miles have parted our paths we are constantly in touch. We're each on different paths but we continue to hold each other accountable in our workouts and nutrition. So when I sent them a very routine text to account for my workout I didn't think anything of it. However, once I hit send the number jumped off the phone at me and I felt struck by what I perceived as its mediocrity and this is what I said: "To some degree." This is where accountability is huge - and it doesn't just apply to our workouts or nutrition, but truly in life. When we are our only lens it is easy to miss the big picture. It's easy to not look at all sides, but to dwell on that moment. However, when you have friends that you are open and transparent with you will get a more level perspective. Let's face it, nobody's growing by hiding and keeping the not-so-fun parts covered up. I am where I am in the front squat and I can't change what the numbers say, end of story. However, it doesn't change the disappointment and the fact that I want to wallow over not progressing as I'd like. Yet because I have people keeping tabs on me they force me to look outside this singular moment and weigh it in light of my entire journey. This keeps me balanced and, honestly, motivated. It helps me to see my progress in a panoramic picture instead of a standard frame. Think about that for a moment. Ponder the comparison. Want to see it from a different angle? Check this out: Think about that. Your view is all within that white box. Inside the box is today's lift - today's conditioning session - the injury you're rehabbing - the sleep you're lacking - the weariness of your week. When you share that information with your buddy they don't see the box, they see so much more. They see everything in your life that is outside of your box. They see your lift, your conditioning session, your injury, your tiredness, your weariness within the context of a much broader view. They are, dare I say, essential to your health because they bring necessary perspective to your journey. We can only be so introspective, and so many of us just aren't introspective to begin with. We need outside eyes and minds.
So the question is, which picture would you prefer to work from? Do you want to live in that little box? Let me tell you, you don't. Not if you want chase your dreams and hopes and make gains. You don't. Which begs the question, who is it that you are accountable to? I'm not talking about your workouts, your nutrition. I'm talking about life. Who knows it all, or if not all, a lot? Who's standing beside you? Who's got your back and wants you to be your best? Who's going to talk you off the ledge when you feel all is lost? Who's going to run and hug you when you smash your goals? And maybe, a better question, who are you doing that for? Here's to my crew . . . all the love! We believe and speak so many lies in a day it is useless to keep track of. I'm too busy. I'm too tired. I'm not strong enough. I can't do that. I don't want to. I have to do this first. I will when . . .
You get the picture. They're the lies we tell ourselves to get ourselves off the hook. To keep ourselves comfortable. To stay right where we are. Ironically right where we are is often not right where we want to be. So, why my sweet friends, do we keep feeding ourselves the lies? Why do we perpetuate the idea that we are who we are and are where we are and that's that? Who cares if we don't want to be that person anymore? Who cares if we'd prefer to be in a different place 3 months, 6 months, a year from now? Why? Why? Why? I literally just busted myself doing this very thing. Making excuses for something I was proud of, but downplaying it just in case it wasn't really enough. And who's telling me what is enough anyway? The truth is we are where we are because of the choices we make day in and day out. The truth is we are who we are because of how we choose to respond day in and day out. Who we are and where we are is a culmination of all those seemingly insignificant choices we've made throughout the day over the course of the months and years. The lies we've spoken and believed day in and day out. Do you believe this? Do you believe you are trapped in your body? You're trapped in your circumstances? There is nothing that can change? Here's the thing. You are made for so much more. You are made for greatness. Here's what greatness is . . . showing kindness to a stranger with a smile instead of a blank stare; helping the person in the parking lot next to you load their groceries (even though they don't need help); eating for wellness instead of illness; being active with your family; laughing . . . a lot; speaking life to your friends; telling the lie to shut up (and we don't use that word in my house). Greatness is you living well, living with joy, living with hope, living with grace toward yourself and those around you. So what do you say, start to recognize and hear that little voice inside whispering lies over you and tell it to stop. You decide who you will be. You decide what makes you enough - not the world around you. Rest in that. Be comfortable with it. Hey, maybe you could even enjoy being you. When I throw around the term functional fitness it usually leads to blank stares, which is why I refrain from saying it often. The thing is I am all about functional fitness. It's really just a fancy way to say you are exercising in such a way that it successfully translates into your everyday living. Which means we're getting a good bang for our buck by exercising in such a way that it aids our wellness day in and day out.
What do I mean by this? The fact is that everyday we move and we lift things. Not in the gym, but at work or in our home. So we practice these things at the gym so that we get stronger at moving things. Or better at how we move. It makes the rest of life (like the other 96% of it) better. It's easier for us to get the dog food from the store, to the car, and into the house. It is not as challenging to go upstairs . . . for the fifth time . . . because you forgot something else. It is more enjoyable to play tag with your kids because you're not stiff and sucking wind! These are the reasons functional fitness is important to me. It is the movement in the gym that translates into the movement in your life. It is the practice of balance, flexibility, agility. The use of power, speed, stamina, endurance. These pieces that we spend time honing in the garage make for a better life outside the garage. So, essentially, functional fitness is of great value because of its practical application in life. We do functional fitness to make the rest of life better. We do it to move well and prevent injury. We practice safely in the garage so we are less likely to be injured outside of the garage. It's really that simple and beautiful. |
AuthorMy name is Tiffany and I am the owner and trainer at Frank Fitness, a garage gym. I provide workouts to increase/maintain cardiovascular wellness and build strength. My goal is to help athletes maintain life-long wellness. Archives
January 2018
Categories
All
|