A New Thing

I’m going to start a new class this evening. At the moment, I’m sitting outside the gym writing this blog. Super nervous, but excited. I love being an assistant. I know one day I will need to take the lead, but for now, I’m going to enjoy assisting.

What kind of class? Power Lifting, adaptive fitness style.

I am so blessed to learn and work in the field of fitness. Even more so to be in the adaptive side of the fitness industry. Learning regressions is a great way to really understand the exercises. It isn’t just getting back to the basics, but breaking it down and then breaking it down even further.

An example would be pushups. Beginning with wall pushups, followed by counter pushups, then bench-level pushups, then pit pushups (where you lay on the floor and push up and then return to the floor), once you master the pit pushups you’re ready to do toe pushups. Once that is mastered you can progress to the more advanced varieties of the exercise.

Do you have any exercises you would like to regress or progress? Let me know in the comments.

Remember to stay…

Fit for FUN + Fit for LIFE

It Depends On Your Perspective

Is this good or bad? It depends on your perspective.

I have imbalances. Any single-leg exercise I do is a huge struggle. Even my lunges are not pretty. Knowing I’m a CPT, lunges should be no problem, right? Well, as I just shared, they are a bit of a problem.

Is this really a bad thing? It depends on my perspective. I have an exercise that I know needs focus. When putting together my nine-week challenge I knew I needed to include lunges. They feel time-consuming, physically awkward, and way too humbling. There is a lot of room for improvement. Yet I choose to see this as a good thing.

I am horrible at videography. However, because I need to periodically video my lunges, to check form and measure improvement, I will also get more experience videoing. That too is a good thing. Admittedly, that wasn’t my very first thought, but I changed how I looked at it, my perspective, and realized it is a good thing.

Another positive perspective from my struggle with imbalances is, when I train other people I definitely empathize. I understand the awkwardness and self-conscious feelings of discovering (or admitting) the areas where a little more help is needed.

What are some areas where you have changed your perspective?

Here’s to being Fit for FUN + Fit for LIFE

Cindy

New Nine-Week Challenge

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your Monday is going well. I’m starting a new chapter in my life and thought a new nine-week challenge would be helpful in keeping me focused.

I used to live my life with the self-proclaimed title of Queen of Excuses. (The only time I would ever refer to myself as a queen.) I would think up excuses for future mistakes, lateness, incomplete work, etc. Excuses were just my way of life.

I typed out my challenge, inputting the dates very carefully. I was impressed with the way the program automatically added the year as I typed in the dates. Once it was done, I sent it to print. I didn’t look at it again until after I completed today’s challenge. It was dated for yesterday. Every single daily entry is dated for yesterday.

There was a time I would have thrown it away and started all over again. And if it would have done the same thing again? I probably would have tossed the whole idea of doing the challenge. Maybe it’s a sign, I’d say to myself? But no more.

I will keep it as is and just alter the dates each day. I will continue the challenge, marking off the boxes as they are completed.

Is this going to be a difficult challenge? No, not really. The most difficult aspect will be the dailiness of it. The daily discipline.

If you would like to join in, here you go…

The challenge: 30 pushups, 30 situps, 30 biceps curls, and 30 lunges (each side).

It isn’t progressive. It isn’t hugely challenging. But it is daily. And that’s a good thing. (Even if the dates are incorrect!)

Get Fit for FUN + Fit for LIFE

Cindy

Progression & Regression

Progression just sounds good, doesn’t it? Progressing, moving forward, meeting challenges and making new ones. Regression? That doesn’t sound so good, does it? Regressing, going backward. In what circumstance is that a good thing?

When I studied for my Personal Training certification I’m sure there was information regarding both progression and regression, however, for some reason I didn’t have a good understanding of either, but I especially didn’t understand regression.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been studying for certification in Adaptive Special Needs Personal Training and Group Instructing. These courses went into a bit more detail about regression. Regression is not a bad thing. It is a good thing. A very good thing.

As I’ve shared before, I have been dealing with psoas (soh-as) syndrome. It has greatly improved with home therapy. However, during the downtime I experienced for several weeks, I both gained weight and lost a significant amount of strength and endurance. Pushups have become difficult. Way more difficult than I care to admit to myself. So, this week, I decided to regress to pit pushups. It is likely I will progress to toe-pushups sooner than I did when I first learned and practiced pit pushups back in August 2021.

Another example of regression is doing five sets of 8 reps rather than four sets of 10. Still accomplishing the same number of overall reps, but resting after 8 instead of 10. This type of regression is not so hard on the ego. Perhaps that’s a sign the ego needed a bit of stretching. And that’s okay too.

I’m pretty happy with what I’ve been learning. Regression can be just a fine-tuning of an exercise or a way to keep going and not giving up when we aren’t able to do what we were able to do in the past.

Regression is giving me hope.

How about you? Have you had to experience regression in your workouts or other areas of your life?

Comparison vs Inspiration

We all have wants and desires. We all have dreams and goals. Sometimes they can be difficult to define.

We look at others and, depending on our current frame of mind, we can either be inspired or envious. Inspired, obviously, is good. Envy, uhh, not so good. However, recognizing this envy or jealousy, we are quite capable of rejecting that emotion and changing our thoughts and using what we see as inspiration.

That woman in the tank top with the defined upper arms or that dude at the gym with the quads that catch your eye as he sets himself in position to do kettlebell deadlifts. Anyone doing a handstand or box jumps, no matter what they look like, they are awesome. That coworker who has never been late or that friend who never has to apologize for a messy car.

Sometimes these things really are dreams, not because they are completely out of reach but because we know ourselves and realize we won’t put forth the daily effort it takes to have those arms, that clean car, or brave that handstand. But sometimes, on the right day it may just become a goal.

I used to dream of doing a handstand. A few months ago my granddaughter came over. My dream morphed into a goal. I must say psoas syndrome has definitely put nick in that goal; but I’m getting stronger and working on my balance. I may just lasso that dream once again and turn it right back into a goal.

Reject that emotional envy. Be happy for other people’s accomplishments. Be inspired. Turn that dream into a goal.

Life Happens, Make Plans Anyway

Unexpected things happen every day. Someone doesn’t show up for work. A client forgets to call and cancel the appointment. Your special ingredient is sold out at both locations. There is absolutely no parking space anywhere at your favorite gym.

How do you handle these things? Life is frustrating. Plans don’t work out the way we expected–or hoped.

When coworkers don’t show, we generally have to get creative and figure out how to either get both jobs done or connect with others to see that the other person’s workload is divvied up or cancelled.

When someone no-shows for a meeting? We can use that time to rework our plans, study something we are learning, or go for a walk for the remainder of the original meeting time.

The missing ingredient. Ugh! Irritating beyond rational thinking sometimes. Reasonable people likely find a similar replacement. I’m more likely to scrap the whole planned meal and try something completely different.

The “no place to park” happens more often than I imagined it would. Fortunately, my gym membership is with a chain gym, so I just go to a different location. If I didn’t belong to a chain gym, I do have equipment at home to use.

Working out at home requires you have a workout plan. Winging it may keep you active, but that doesn’t necessarily help you meet your training goals. Have a few written workouts for home–total body strength, conditioning, and upper/lower body options.

You don’t need to have Plan B where you settle for less than your goal, but you do need to have flexible options in place for those days when life happens. Because it does happen. In fact, sometimes those obstacles can actually cause us to expand our goals.

Our outlook needs to be as flexible as our schedules and our bodies so we can be …

Fit for FUN + Fit for LIFE

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