Skip Yoga, throw axes

Are you bullying yourself for “not working out enough?” If moving your body in some way/ exercise /fitness is something you enjoy (don’t worry - stay with me if it’s something you don’t as well). IT IS NEVER A BAD TIME TO “RESTART” 

When I say restart I never mean suddenly coming out full steam ahead and plan 5 - 6 days a week workouts. I mean start where you are and do what you want. Today. For 5 min. For 50. For 10. Dance in your kitchen, run a mile, garden, lift weights, do a 10 minute yoga video, draw with some chalk outside with a kid or solo, kick box, rollerskate, throw axes, go for a walk - there are no rules.

There is no wrong way to move your body. What will work for YOUR body is your own to know. What works for your best friend is not the same as you. You do not have to run if you hate running. You do not need to take HITT classes or yoga if you hate yoga. If you love them - yes! 

If you are someone that knows they want to move their body more but you don’t know how - what did you enjoy doing as a kid? What feels fun and sustainable?

If you are someone that likes to move but falls in/out of doing all the things and doing nothing cycles - what if you intentionally planned to do less? What is the worst that can happen? 

I love helping people with finding sustainable movement practices that work and building routines for real life. You can hit reply if you have a question or want to learn more or you can learn more about coaching here.

“There is a reason you see so many fat joggers” and other stupid comments

A few months ago I was at running based workout that I signed up for to challenge me to improve my running. I was super excited for it because I like to challenge myself do things I don’t normally do (both physically and otherwise). Running has completely changed my life and my views on my body and relationship with health (a blog for another time) so of course I was excited to try something different. Before we got started, the leader who happened to be a former male olympic athlete was sharing his experience with running/sprinting and then went on to say “There is a reason you see so many fat joggers” No, this is not taken out of context. That is what he said. He was explaining the benefit of sprinting on the body (fair enough) and the session was informative and challenging, BUT the issue I have with it is that it’s insensitive and stupid and not in any way helpful to the group of women that were there (some regular runners, some beginner runners, and some people that had never run, but were nervous about it and dealing with their own views about their bodies and fitness so this isn’t exactly a helpful or necessary thing to say). If someone asked a specific question about body weight and sprinting vs. jogging then sure go ahead share away, but that’s not what happened.

It implies that if you are “fat” you are somehow flawed. That fitness can only look one way.(Interesting because I have seen "fit" look a hell of a lot of different ways and come in so many shapes and sizes) It also implies there is something wrong in some way with jogging. You are only doing it right if YOU ARE SLIM, a weight that falls into this male’s preferred body weight and run at a certain speed. AWESOME!!! Guess that crosses off most people from the list that enjoy physical activity just to enjoy it because it makes them feel good about themselves. Fitness for the sake of feeling good/strong is overrated. Fitness so you can fit into society’s ideal of what it should be is the goal isn’t it!? (I missed that memo, my bad)

There are tons of athletes/people that would identify as being fat and prove that it does not equate with athletitic ability or worth. Here is a quick example: Say hello to Michelle Carter who took up a gold medal for team USA at the Olympics in shot put and another hello to Sarah Robles, a powerhouse weight lifter who recently said:“I have a bronze medal and I was able to be myself, embrace my body, do the things I’m naturally fitted to do to help make my dreams come true.... To challenge ‘normal’ ideals is an important thing....It’s cool to be me. I’m big and strong and putting it all for good use.”

These are my people. These women are my inspiration. Big, small, any size. I love the olympics because it truly shows that health and fitness comes in SO many different shapes and sizes.

Can you only be one size to be athletic? HELL NODo people think this?HELL YES. (though they probably won't admit it and will hide it)

It is wrong. I know plenty of people that are bigger or smaller than me and that are incredible. I know petite girls that can lift a ridiculous account of weight/crush any arm wresting challenge with most men/women but are often thought to be weak. I know larger girls that are thought to be slow or lazy, but can run 10 times faster then me and can get into yoga poses that I can only dream of (I’ve got shavasana on lockdown in case you were wondering).

There is no one right way to look or be fit. Some people want bigger musles and some people want to be slimmer. At the moment I am into arms. I want to walk around looking like a bad ass B with strong muscular ams. That’s a specific goal I am into at the moment. I’m also working on a bit of internval training with my JOGGING so I can go faster at certain parts (see: very end of a race when you see finish line and want your chocolate milk/free bananna) Does this make me better? No! Do you have to do it? NO! Might I change my mind tomorrow and make up new goals? Quite possibly!

We should support/respect and cheer people on no matter how they look or what they want to do. I personally think walking is amazing exercise and always get mad at clients that say they “JUST WALK.” You guys!! Walking for long periods (or short) is so good for you. You are moving your body. It’s amazing. Get that walk on, you powerhouse.

Cheers to me, cheers to you and cheers to all the other fat joggers out there. Let’s be fat and jog together. Let’s be thin and jog together. Let’s be whatever fucking size we want to be and jog/skip/do yoga/playtennis/dowhatever the hell we want to do that makes us feel good TOGETHER. And how about we stop judging people that do not fit a narrow-minded view of what health and fitness looks like!? 

Excuses I Make To Get Out of Exercising (and how to deal with them)

Do you find yourself always coming up with reasons of why you can't exercise even though knowing in the back of your head you do have time? Yea, I do it too. Let's get into it and figure out how to challenge those excuses shall we...

Excuse: "I’ll do it tomorrow."

Solution: No, no Kim you probably wont. If I say this I know it’s a 50/50 that I will do something. More often then not if I say tomorrow it will turn into 3 days from now. I will put my workout clothes on earlier than I am going to workout. Let’s say I don’t want to work out in the morning. I say later. If I just say later and don’t put them on, I won’t do it so I might put them on at 10AM but not actually work out until 6pm (yes -really) This only works if I am working from home.

Other things I have done that work: carrying workout clothes and shoes WITH me so that I have to change into them. The key is making sure you have what you need when you need it so you have less of a reason to come up with a reason of why you can’t. Maybe you don’t end up going for run, but because you packed your sneakers in your bag you can walk for 20 minutes on your lunch break and that’s brilliant.

Excuse: "I don’t have enough time."

Solution: Yes you do. Maybe you don’t have time to go for an hour run or go to a 45 spin class or do a 30 minute at home youtube video, but YOU DO HAVE TIME do to something for 10 minutes. What this looks like for me? I like Jillian Michaels work out DVDs which are 25-30 min. If I can only do 10 minute I will literally only do 10 min Or I’ll outside and run (ok….walk aggressively) up and down the stairs for 5 - 10 min. I’m serious. Maybe someone else would say “that’s not good enough, you won’t get in shape that way” but you know what? For me it is. It works. I think for you it will too. That way I am still getting *something* in, no matter how small and then I don’t go 3 days without any exercise.

Excuse: "I’m not fit enough"

Solution: I know this one. I’ve used it for AGES. You think, “I can’t go to that class. Everyone is thin and fit and I”m not yet” You will never be fit if you don’t go. You have to tell yourself that you are the badass that you are and it doesn’t matter if you first last, you just got to do it. I know this one is hard, but you have to start somewhere. Sure, maybe you want to just start up with going for walks in the neighborhood because you don’t feel ready to go to that class, but know that you might never feel ready. I go to a bootcamp where I am sure 80% (ok 90!) of the other women are in much better shape. Seriously they are AMAZING. I love being around it because I know that I will get there as well. Getting there is not going to start with me not going because “I’m not fit enough” I deal with this one by just doing it. When I”m there I don’t watch what other people do. I focus on my own progress. AKA me thinking "Can I get though this class without stopping?" For me, that’s good enough. I know you can do it too. *NOTE: Know yourself. Don't sign up for a super intense class just because you are feeling extra motivated and then go and feel bad because you are not on the same level and the instructor makes you feel bad about it. Trust yourself, know what you need and know a level that is good to challenge yourself without passing out/feeling like you are going to die. <3 

Excuse: "I don’t have money. It’s too expensive."

Solution: You don’t have to join a gym or a class. There are plenty of videos on Youtube. I mentioned above, but I paid 10 dollars for my Jillian Michaels workout so when I don’t have internet I can still do it. There are load of other YouTubers doing workouts. You can also walk outside. It is cold where you are? Go to a local mall or shopping center and walk there. Stairs? Find some. Walk up and down them. Go to Target and buy weights then go on Pinterest and find some simple workouts. Let me know if you need more quick and easy ideas. If you do like to workout with others instead of a gym, often local community centers will offer classes at a very cheap price. Check that out or go on meetup.com to see other options.

Excuse: "I don’t like to run, zumba, spin, do situps. I hate it all."

Solution: What do you like? DON’T do something you hate. I don’t like yoga. I want to be someone that likes yoga and is really into it- but that’s just not me. Maybe 6 months from now that will be me, but it’s not currently. If I do it and I don’t like the class then I won’t exercise because I just spent time doing something I didn’t want to do and I'll use that as an excuse. FIND WHAT YOU LIKE. Is it walking? GREAT! Make yourself a killer power walking playlist and set aside time during the week to make walking your go to fitness. What about roller derby? pilates? boxing? pole dance? There are so many things. Don’t knock something until you try and and if you try and it and you don’t like it - that is okay. Keep trying until you uncover something you do enjoy. I’m sure that there is SOMETHING out there. Maybe it’s table tennis, maybe it’s belly dancing. Try new workouts a few times then if you don’t like it - find something else. Here is a fun list of alternative workouts.

Do any of these excuses sound familiar? What else do you come up with? These excuses can apply to so many things in life so definitely think about what else you are making excuses for and how you can challenge those ideas.

How may times have you said: “I’ll do it tomorrow” “I’ll start monday” “I’ll start the first day of the month” “ugh I don’t have any time” “I’m so tired I just can’t” or “I won't be able to keep up” “I can’t do that” “I will look stupid”

How far has that taken you? As you read this - can you plan something you will do today? Run? go to a class? Go for a 10 minute walk? This is not me saying If you don’t exercise now,  go out and plan to work out 5x this week because I think that’s a bad idea. Going from 0 - 60 means you could be setting yourself up for failure or you succeed but then the next week you don’t do anything. It’s about consistency and figuring out what will work for you in your life the way it looks now whether that is 10 minutes working out 2x a week or daily workouts for an hour. There is no right or wrong. There is just doing it and stopping the excuses you make to tell other people and yourself of why you can’t. I know you can do it. It's not about being thin. It's not about losing weight. It's not about doing something because you think you should. It's about feeling good, feeling strong, and clearing your head. Find your own motivations and reasons and stick to what is going to work for you.

Need more support on this? Send me an email Kim@fuelthehappy.com and let me know or jump over to my FB page and let’s chat there.  I would love to hear from you. Tell me what you are going to commit to or try this week. I also post my some of my ridiculous workout selfies here and would love to see your snaps!

There is not such thing as too little in my book. If someone tells you otherwise well, they suck and let’s not invite them to our lunch table okay?