“Way to go!” she said to herself with a quick high five as she completed her last squat on the living room floor. “It was slog, but you got it done, like you said you would.  Nice job!!” Those are the words of a personal coach named You! Are you in the practice of being your own best cheerleader? Cheering for ourselves with real care and appreciation for our efforts can be a key practice to living a life infused with joy. When the going gets tough who better to be able to rely on in times of need but yourself.   Advice is often given to get an accountability partner to help you stick to your goals.  The premise is that not wanting to let another person down will give you the extra drive to show up and do what is required. But what happens if your partner isn’t available?  Are you prepared to carry the torch solo? Helping hands are truly the best, but if they’re absent, knowing you’ve got your own back to see you through will pay dividends.

You know you are looking out for you when not following through on a task you’ve set for yourself causes you enough upset that getting it done seems a small price to pay!  In otherwords, you are not prepared to let yourself off the hook. So how do we strengthen our cheering muscles?  One way is to identify one small thing you wish to accomplish in a day.  Do it and heartily congratulate yourself.  Do it again. And again.  This practice also helps us to get unhooked from needing the approval of others or putting too much pressure on ourselves to complete a goal in order to feel good about ourselves.  When we wait for approval from other people or the accomplishment of specific goals or the development of idealized circumstances to make us feel good we can find ourselves living in a place of dissatisfaction, unable to appreciate what is,as it get overshadowed by what is not.  Let’s celebrate the daily victories on our paths instead!

“You’ve got this,” said the little voice in her head as she walked to the gym.  If you follow Mel Robbins, you will know thaat every time she sees her reflection in the bathroom mirror she gives it a high five and tells herself some variation of “You are awesome.”  The mind believes what the mind hears on a regular basis.  Sounds like a good confidence building strategy to me.  Especially, if you are in an injured state or not feeling 100% give yourself a boost when you walk by that vision.  Also, by hook or by crook come into the gym or hop on Zoom and take an easy approach to the workout at hand.  And the truth is, when I’ve been really stuck in a rut, I’ve hired a trainer and shown up until I’ve been able to get going on my own again.  High fives all around for making that call and showing up. Remember!  You can do what you set out to do. I have full faith!

4pm Athletics 2.12.21

Warm Up: 

20 Banded Pull-Overs

20 Banded Pull-Apart

20 Step-Ups

200 m row

WOD: 

2 Rounds:

20 Pull-Ups

30 Weighted Box Step Ups

40 Shoulder-Tap Burpees

50 Calorie Row

Midline: 

2 Rounds:

40 4 count flutter kicks, 30 weighted glute bridges, 20 weighted sit-ups

Home Gym:  Subs to consider: odd object row for pull-ups (increase reps to 30 if better challenge), weighted lunges/squats for step-ups, 4:30 minute running/marching/skipping cardio effort for row

In Gym:  Alternate movement for pull-ups if needed = Ground to Over-head/Push-Press/Ring Rows.  Row = 800m run/1000m ski.

Nice work this week everyone!  It was a cold challenge.  Note: Athletics is moved to 4pm on Family Day.