For our first episode, I want to talk about my physical health journey, and hopefully bring you some value in the process.
For the last six weeks, with that we’ve been in this Coronavirus, I’ve been working hard to include some physical activity. But it’s been harder than ever because I wake up, work from home and everything is just at home. I’m sure that definitely you’re facing the same thing. Gyms are closed and everything is closed. But what I really want to talk about is why did I want to start working on it in the first place?
You see, there was a bunch of nights and days where the body I was waking up to just wasn’t something I was proud of. When I would wake up, I would look in the mirror and I wouldn’t be happy with what I saw. When I would be dancing, I’d be out of breath a lot. In the smallest decisions like between the escalator or stairs, I would pick the escalator I started to become more and more unhappy with the vehicle (my body) I was waking up into and traveling in.
So I tried doing the massive thing of going into intensive workouts and making these big promises, like a 30-day challenge and 20-day challenge. Sometimes I’d hit it especially in the days if I posted it all publicly for accountability. But I kept falling back and I was trying to understand why.
The deeper thing for all of us why we keep coming back to the place that we don’t want to be at is that we haven’t really made the decision deep down. I was looking for quick fixes and I think that’s the thing. I keep coming to the conclusion that there is no quick fix. That maybe I could be even stronger at 55 than I am at 33. That it is just the way of life. When I used to think like that, that overwhelmed me. I’m like “Well how do I get everything fixed?” “How do I do that?”
So where do we really start?
So before I give you any tips on how you can have more physical activity in your life right now. First, what I really want to say is the bigger why. Why is this important? You just want to have a stronger body and then really hone in on that.
Second, what’s really important is don’t push yourself down on all the moments that you’ve dropped the ball. That doesn’t have to define you.
Three, because I’m trying to learn to build trust with my own word instead of saying I’m going to do 30 pushups for 30 days, and then as soon as I imagine it, I don’t want to do it. And just handing it, I’ve noticed that I won’t make it to 30 days and maybe I will and then I’ll just not care about it.
You want to create a life, a schedule, and discipline especially at the beginning that you can look forward to. That you don’t HOPE you’re going to hit but KNOW you will.
So if you’re going into it already just HOPING… it’s done, it’s not going to work. It’s just not going to work because it’s never worked for me. It doesn’t. What we really need to do is build a reputation with ourselves. Trust that when we say something is actually important. We believe in it, we follow through and hit it consistently.
I would make excuses like “I can’t do it consistently because I’m not motivated” “Motivation is my problem.” “Gyms are closed” but those are all excuses.
Inspiration and motivation can help just get us out to start it. Inspiration doesn’t last because there’s the grind, there’s the work. So you want to start to build trust by having grind that you can, on some level look forward to honestly to yourself.
That may mean just once a day doing three pushups and that’s it. But just doing it consistently in a way that you’re not going to massively grow one on the easy days you’ll look forward to. And on the hard days, you can push yourself through. But if you’re already creating whatever schedule or whatever app you get, whatever it is, and you’re dreading it already, you hate it on such a massive level.
Your petition so far has been you’ve picked something up and you drop it. If you dropped it like I have, it’s a losing battle and then we’are back in the same place. So with that said, if you know your why and if you can be forgiving of yourself all the times that you haven’t hit it, that you’re not there yet.
Realize that it’s not a lack of motivation. It’s picking something that you look forward to, biting off and then you can always raise the bar.
Here are some ways to have more activity:
One, follow me on Instagram. I do a 10-minute dance challenge. I do Salsa and Bachata. If at least you know your basics then you can follow. That’s a consistent thing. I have 50 videos up, so it’s a quick thing with low commitment. You can just put it on first thing you do when you wake up. At lunchtime, put a 10 mins before you eat lunch. Just have a consistently a 10-minute commitment and it’s fun and it’s dancing.
Two, there are a lot of apps out there and you want the simplest one with the smallest commitment. There is a six-pack in 60 days, that’s one of the apps that I use. There are three modes and what it does for you is it gives you your workout. They’re about eight to nine minutes and you just do them. You have three days you’re working and one day rest. You just knock it off. What you want is easy consistency. There’s a ton of apps but you want something that you’d look forward to doing on some level. It could be legs, doesn’t matter, just want to build that reputation with yourself.
Three, accountability is great. Accountability with others whether it’s reaching out to a friend, a family member or maybe just posting online. It definitely helped me. I’ve been posting my weight on Instagram every single day, the worst or the best. It’s been great in that way. It’s a small part, it’s not everything.
Ultimately, you got to focus on your why. You gotta be forgiving yourself when you slip up. You got to build trust with yourself. That has helped me and that can help you on your fitness journey.
So if you pick five-minute pushups, if you pick dancing with Aleks or whatever it is, do it consistently and that little bit helps.
Just the only thing I’ll give you a kind of an asterisk about is, make sure that whoever you pick, the standards of these people should be higher than yours for fitness if that’s what you want to get better at. Because if you go to someone whose standards are lower and you’re trying to prove when you slip up, what those people do unconsciously is they’ll tell you to drop it and then you believe them which is not great. So definitely pick someone who’s just has a higher standard for fitness or whatever you care about.
So those are my three tips. One, join me for the dance videos. Two, there’s a ton of apps. Pick a basic app that you don’t have to spend money and something you could do daily that you’d look forward to. And three, accountability whether posting online or whatever consistently. But what you’re looking for is consistency. Then on day five or on day 20 you just start to see this transformation. Because the magic was you kept your word to yourself and now you respect yourself more.
If you want me to answer another question or you want me to give you advice on something you’re struggling with, please leave it in the comments below. I love you and I’ll see you soon. 🙂
