The Courage to Show Up

I walked into a large meeting room in the convention center which was already buzzing with my fellow fitness professionals preparing for a seminar on partner workouts. My heart started racing, I felt nervous and intimidated. I looked around the room and there were already more than 50 people and everyone seemed paired off. We were going to learn and perform partner programming. Who would be my partner? Would he/she be fitter than me? Could I keep up? My fight or flight response kicked in and I really wanted to run. What was I thinking? Why did I sign up for this? There were a lot of people in the room. Would I embarrass myself? How would I measure up against other fitness professionals? It felt downright scary. 

Then it hit me. This is how the new people that show up at my bootcamp must feel. I teach a beginner bootcamp on Tuesday nights. When a new person walks in that door for the first time, I can sometimes sense the apprehension. I go out of my way to make them feel welcome and encourage them that we are going to have a great class. But I somehow forgot what it was like to feel that fear because I already know the Tuesday night workout will be fun and we'll maybe even have a few laughs. I know for a fact they'll be able to keep up (we do modifications, if necessary). I know they'll push themselves more than usual and it will feel hard, but I also know that they will likely walk out of those studio doors feeling like they accomplished something great. It was easy for me to forget the courage it takes to just show up, how much they might have had to overcome just to walk through those doors. 

I know it can be a challenge to pick yourself up off the couch after a long day at work or school when a glass of wine or a Netflix marathon seems more enticing. It takes strength to ignore those butterflies in your stomach as you enter the new studio address into your GPS, avoiding the feeling of wanting to turn around at the next red light. It takes a certain level of determination to join a group of strangers in a room to sweat together. I forgot about the fear that other people might be judging or critiquing you. 

But it all came back. That day in the conference room, I remembered it all. And it all felt real scary. Then a friendly girl tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to be her partner. The instructor began his lesson/workout and the next hour and a half flew by. All my fears were unfounded. The workouts were challenging and fun. I finished the session with some fresh ideas and a sense of accomplishment for learning something new and not letting a feeling of uncertainty stop me from trying something great.

The lesson I learned at that seminar was less about partner programming and more about understanding and having compassion for my new students in class. 

I get that it is hard. It can be scary and intimidating, but most of the time the hardest part is just showing up (except burpees. hah). Just get yourself out there with the expectation of having fun. Have the courage to show up and see what happens. You may be rewarded with new friends, a sense of community, and a kick-ass workout (not to mention healthy body & mind). 

Like this post? Please consider sharing. 

Tweet

Coach Lea

5 Exercise Excuses Debunked

There are a lot of legitimate reasons not to workout. Maybe your doctor told you not to, maybe you needed your sleep, maybe you have an injury or you're sick. The key is to be honest with yourself so you can determine when you miss a workout if you are making excuses or you legitimately need to rest. As the saying goes, "The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bull$hit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it." Maybe a nicer way of saying that is that sometimes we need to get out of our own way. We make these excuses why we can't workout, then we believe them. It all starts in our heads. Believe you can do it first. Then do it. 

"I don't have time"

This one is easy to debunk because it really doesn't take a lot of time to fit in exercise in your life. Maybe you legitimately don't have an hour a day to workout but fitting in 20-30 minutes a day is all you need. Try getting up 30 minutes earlier in the morning or squeezing in three separate ten minutes workouts through out the day. Yes, that counts. Take your dog for a walk. Do pushups during commercials of Game of Thrones or lunges while you're waiting for the microwave to ding. It doesn't have to be structured and scheduled. Move your body. Check out my workout archive for plenty of quick workouts that are 4-15 minutes long. Something is always better than nothing. 

"I can't afford a gym membership"

A gym membership may sound like the ideal workout environment with a 24 hour schedule, a pool, sauna and treadmills for all. But a gym can also be crowded, expensive and intimidating. While it may be nice to have the convenience of gym, it simply is not necessary to get in shape. If you can't afford a gym membership you can do workouts at home with DVDs, look up free workouts on You-Tube or follow my workouts every Wednesday for #workoutwednesday. There a ton of free resources on the internet and you can get an effective full body workout with no equipment except your own bodyweight. No gym membership needed.

"I'm too Old or OVERWEIGHT"

I recommend speaking with your doctor before beginning any new exercise program, but using your age or current weight as an excuse not to exercise is just a cop out. Once your doctor gives you clearance to workout this excuse is debunked. A fitness professional can help develop a safe and effective program for any age or fitness level. Not everyone needs to join CrossFit to get in shape, there are plenty of low-impact workout plans that will be effective for you at your current fitness level. If you are not sure where to start, work with a professional to help you reach your goals. 

"I hate to exercise"

Exercise is physical movement with the purpose to improve health and fitness. Maybe you hate running. Maybe someone dragged you to a fitness boot camp once and you almost died (jokes!). That's OK. There are plenty of ways to move your body. The key is to find the thing that you enjoy and stick with it. Some people like walking, some people like tennis. My dog loves to run so I indulge him. There are many paths to fitness. There is no need to follow the traditional route. It may take some experimenting, but try some fitness classes, round up some friends for a hike or jump on a bike with your kids. There is something out there for everyone. 

"I don't have child care." "My kids keep interrupting me." "I have to drive my kids to...."

I get it. No matter what their age, kids keep you busy. Sometimes (OK most of the time) they need your attention. You can barely use the bathroom without them pounding down the door, let alone get away for an hour to workout. But kids can be a great motivator to exercise. You want to be healthy so you can keep up with them and be around for them for years to come. Whether they are 5 or 15, getting them involved in exercise is a great way to lead by example and be a role model for a healthy lifestyle. Maybe it's a family bike ride, hike or tag football in backyard. Teaching your kids that exercise can be fun, is a good way to remind yourself. 

There's one thing that always sticks with me when I catch myself making excuses as to why I can't do something. I think it's human nature, we rationalize our bad decisions. I once told my sister that I can't get myself out of bed to workout in the morning anymore and she said, "It's not that you can't, it's that you choose not to." It's true, if I turn off the alarm and roll over to go back to bed instead of working out, I made a choice. Works towards making the choices that bring you closer to your goals, rather than making excuses that set you further behind.

Like this article? Please consider sharing.

Tweet

Need help with motivation? Maybe I can help!

Coach Lea

7 Fitness Mistakes that Can Kill Your Results

You've been working out and eating healthfully but not seeing the results that you expected. What's going on? It can be frustrating when you've been working hard but feeling like it's not getting you closer to achieving your goals. Are you making one of these seven fitness mistakes?

Rushing the Process 

The truth is that fitness progress takes time. Any program that promises results in nine weeks or 90 days is using a marketing ploy to entice you with a quick fix. Yes, you can make progress in that amount of time, but fitness is a life-long commitment, not a three month challenge. 

A lot of people start a new workout program, remain consistent for three or four weeks and then get frustrated and quit when the results aren't there as quickly as they hoped or expected. It took you much longer to get out of shape, so you can't expect to turn everything around in a few short weeks. The good news is that after three weeks you are on the right track to building a fitness habit. It is a great start. The difference between those who fail and those who succeed is that the successful people don't quit.

Consistency is the key. Put in the work. Give it time. Make it a habit. You will get there. 

Focusing on scale weight

The scale doesn't tell the whole story. It is important to remember that when looking to lose weight, you should be focusing solely on fat loss, not weight loss. 

A scale can show weight loss that is mostly water or muscle (bad) instead of fat, but you still may walk away feeling happy that you "lost" three pounds. Losing three pounds of muscle is not good, but the scale can't tell you that.

On the other hand, the scale may not budge a lot when you are losing fat and gaining muscle because muscle is more dense than fat and takes up less space in your body. That is why your clothes may fit looser but your body weight stays the same.

Focus on non-scale victories. How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? How are your energy levels? A scale is one tool to use in your fitness journey, not the end-all-be-all. Don't give it too much power, as it doesn't tell you the whole story.

Skipping Strength Training

It can be easy to fall into a all-cardio-all-the-time routine when on a mission to lose fat. While cardio plays an important role in fat loss and heart health, it shouldn't be the only thing you do to improve your fitness. 

Strength training or resistance training can be the missing link to successful fat loss. It helps you maintain and build lean muscle. You want to make sure you are preserving your muscle mass while you lose weight. The more muscle you have on your body the more calories you burn, even at rest.

Some women don't want to lift weights because they worry about getting too bulky or masculine looking, but this fear is unfounded. The women that look like that work extremely hard to achieve that look over years of dedicated training for that specific goal. Unless you are specifically training and eating to look like a bodybuilder over a long period of time, you won't look like one. I promise.  

You don't need to spend hours in the gym. Carve out 30 minutes three times a week for strength training to build lean muscle for a well-rounded fitness routine.

Eating too much or too little

Nutrition is tricky. Some people think that because they are working hard at the gym that gives them a free pass to eat whatever they want. While I am a big proponent of balance, eating fast food after your daily workouts isn't going to get you the results that you desire. I limit my indulgence meals to once or twice a week. What you do occasionally does not impact what you do consistently. I make healthy choices most of the time so that when I want to eat pizza, sushi or drink wine, I have room for it in my diet. It's an occasional treat, not an everyday occurrence.

On the other end of the spectrum is the problem of eating too little. We know that in order to lose weight we need to create a calorie deficit, which means to eat fewer calories than we burn. Seems simple enough, eat less to lose weight, eat even less to lose more weight, right? Not so fast. Everyone's calories needs are different so I can't put an exact calorie count on it, but when a very active adult woman is not eating and wondering why she is not getting the results she desires, the answer is probably in her calorie intake. You can't thrive on kale and tuna.

Under eating can sabotage your results as much as over eating. Without proper fuel you won't have the energy to give your workout the intensity you need for results. Under eating can damage your metabolism, cause you to lose muscle, kill your results and put you at risk for malnutrition, resulting in unhealthy weight loss and possible nutrient deficiencies.

A person with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating may be suffering from a disorder called orthorexia nervosa, a term which means fixation on righteous eating. 

The key is to be like Goldilocks, not too much, not too little. If you need help determining what that means for you, I recommend working with a registered Dietitian for professional guidance. 

Working out too much

Sometimes working out is like make up, less is more. When working out becomes an unhealthy obsession it can be harmful. Some people think that doubling or tripling their time in the gym will double or triple their results, but this is simply not true. Spending needless hours in the gym can increase your chance of injury, cause burnout, fatigue, irritability, possibly raise cortisol levels (the stress hormone) to unhealthy levels and hurt your metabolism. Overtraining causes the benefits of exercise to diminish. 

Moderate amounts of exercise of 30-60 minutes most days of the week is best way to go. Remember Goldilocks? 

Not resting

This goes hand in hand with working out too much, but even when exercising a moderate amount of 30-60 minutes a day, we still need our rest and recovery in between workouts. It is during rest that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and rebuilds. If you never rest, you won't see the results because you never give your muscles a chance to repair. Continuous workouts without rest will make you weaker, not stronger. Allow yourself one or two full rest days a week and never work the same muscle groups two days in a row. 

Not getting enough Sleep

If it came down to the choice of one hour of working out or one hour of sleep, how do you think the experts would advise you to spend your time? If you are not getting the 7-9 hours a sleep that your body needs, the answer would be sleep, every single time. Going to bed at midnight and setting your alarm for 5am to workout is not doing your body any favors. 

Not getting enough sleep, less than seven hours of sleep per night, can reduce the benefits of healthy eating and exercise. Lack of sleep can cause you feel unfocused, hungry and, despite efforts in the gym, not achieve results. When you don't get enough sleep, your cortisol (stress hormone) levels can rise, which can be associated with fat gain. 

Aim for 7-9 hours a sleep a night to maximize your efforts with nutrition and in the gym.

Have you ever made any of these fitness mistakes? I can write with confidence about these, because I personally have made most of them myself. Over the last decade on my fitness journey, I have grown by making a lot of mistakes and then learning from them. My aim is to help you not make the same mistakes I did, so you can be healthy, strong and see amazing results from your fitness efforts. 

Like this post? Please consider sharing.

Tweet

Coach Lea

What Should I Do First: Strength Training or Running?

What Should I do First? Strength Training or Running? 

First of all, congratulations for incorporating both running and strength training into your weekly routine. As a running coach and a personal trainer, I believe the strongest runners are the ones who make time for strength training.

What comes first? Running or Strength Training?

I understand that it can be tricky fitting it all in, it is something I have to work at in my own training. I want to put in enough miles to stay consistent and improve in my running, but I also want to make sure I am doing at least the basic strength, balance and stability exercises to stay strong and healthy. Not to mention I still need build scheduled rest days into my weekly training schedule. How do I make it all fit?

One great way to do this is to perform some strength training moves on the same day as you run. Then the question arises, what should you do first, run or strength train? You should do whatever one is most important to you. Think about your goals and which activity will bring you closer to achieving your goals.

If your main goal is to run a marathon, then running should come first, since running is your primary goal. You could then choose to do some strengthening moves after you run and allow for a full rest day after this hard workout. Remember that rest is essential in order to improve.

If your main goal is to build strength, then strength training should come before you run. You will have the most energy for the activity you choose to do first, so it should be the most important to you based on your goals. 

If your main goal is fat loss, I think that both running and strength training are equally important. Cardio exercises that gets your heart rate up (like running) will help you lose fat, but you want to make sure you are not also losing muscle, so strength training is important. I usually recommend to my fat loss clients that they do their cardio work first, so they have the energy to raise the intensity enough for fat loss. 

If I am training for a race then running will be my priority, but in my off-season (aka hot summers), strength training takes the front seat. There is no right or wrong answer. It's up to you to decide what is best for you, based on your current goals. 

What do you do first? Running or strength training? 

Coach Lea

Like this post? Please consider sharing.

Tweet