Pep Talk
Welcome to the brand-spankin'-new Girl Fight Mid-Week Pep Talk! These blog posts will replace the existing weekly "challenge workout" post. Don't worry, the challenge workouts aren't going anywhere; at the bottom of each of these posts, I will include a quick, no-excuses challenge workout that you can do anywhere in about 10 minutes.However, as a trainer, I hear many fitness lies being perpetuated in the media and (unfortunately) by other trainers. I want to give you all something a little extra -- a mid-week pep talk where I can talk to you about important things related to your fitness goals. Some of these things are things that you won't want to hear. But I'm not trying to coddle you. Many people live in denial of why they aren't getting to their goals rather than facing reality. And the reality might be something you don't even know, or it might be something you DO know but don't want to admit. My goal is to both educate and motivate you so that you are better equipped to take on whatever goal you would like to achieve.
I think an appropriate starting point for this week is to explain why I even bother posting the weekly challenge workouts in the first place. And it goes back to this question: what is your Plan B? It's okay if you say you don't know; many of us don't. Your Plan B is your fallback plan. On days when time gets away from you, or you can't get to the gym due to weather or the kids, or whatever reason...what are you going to do instead? Most times the answer is "nothing." Once in a while, this is fine. The problem exists when we let many "nothings" accumulate for days and even weeks on end. And then we find we're back to square one on our goals, or we've even taken steps backward from where we wanted to be.
Always have a Plan B as your backup plan. It could be the challenge workout I post each week, it could be walking around the block, or even walking up and down the staircase 10 times. No matter what it is, or how short, it is always better than blowing off your workout entirely -- if only for the simple truth that positive actions encourage other positive actions, and negative actions encourage other negative actions. Chances are if you do something positive for your health, you will make other healthy choices like eating better for the rest of the day. The opposite is also true; if you blow off all physical activity, you are probably more likely to eat horribly for the rest of the day because you already "blew it" that day.
So I challenge you to formulate your Plan B now. There are two key steps to implementing a successful Plan B (and by the way, this does not just have to be for exercise, but it can be for anything, including healthy eating and other personal goals):
- CREATE your Plan B option. This seems pretty obvious, but if you leave it to coming up with something on the spot, chances are you won't do it.
- ACCEPT that Plan B is just as good as Plan A. Something is always better than nothing. This is where a lot of the hangups can happen. You need to be willing to settle for the Plan B, even if it's only a fraction of the intensity or duration of your planned workout. Tell yourself that you are doing what you can do given the circumstances, and let that be just as satisfying as what you had originally planned.
Challenge Workout
Here is this week's challenge workout!Perform 5 rounds, taking breaks as needed, of:
- 20 Mountain Climbers (each leg = 1/2 rep; both legs = 1 rep)
- 20 Crunches
- 20 Russian Twists (click here for a demo video; each side = 1/2 rep; both sides = 1 rep)
