Girl Meets Fitness

Greta Kent, Holistic Health Coach

I heard Michelle Kwan talking on a radio commercial yesterday as I was driving to the grocery store and it got me thinking about Olympic and professional athletes. These pros and Olympians that we look up to, they devote their lives to being the best they can possibly be in their identified sport. Why don’t we all do this?

Olympians don’t train and push their bodies for the money, they do it because they love it. We all have bills to pay, food to put on the table, etc. but these responsibilities shouldn’t make us set our passions aside. What skills or talents come naturally to you?

We live in a pretty cool time where we have endless possibilities to live a life that lights us up. Turn inward and follow your intuition. The things you did as a child can usually give you a clue. Consider the following:

What am I good at? What do I enjoy? What excites me?

Visualize what you want, who you want to be, what you want to do.

Start doing it.

As I dive into my personal fitness journey and current workout schedule, ask yourself:

“Are you doing something you absolutely love regardless of whether it can make you a living?”

The Beginning

I began my true “fitness” journey after high school.

In school, I wasn’t considered a jock by any means. I was on the swim team, danced (hip hop and ballet), and ran track. I didn’t do every sport, but I grew up in an overall active family; we were always hiking, biking, skiing, etc. But I didn’t start going to the gym to work out until junior or senior year of high school. But even still, I primarily stuck to the cardio machines and group fitness classes.

The gym at the start, and I imagine this true for many others, was foreign and awkward and some days only a place to go for social sorts.

After high school, I continued running until I ventured off traveling Southeast Asia for my gap year. There was little-to-no exercise in those months. I struggled severely with depression and homesickness. Running was my headspace and mindfulness practice, with this time off, I felt like I was losing myself.

Running allowed me to process my thoughts, and I needed it especially during this time. When I got home, I was more eager than ever to hit the ground running, literally. My body felt and looked puffy from the difference in food. I was bloated. I had gained weight, that was noticeable, in my stomach and face. I hadn’t had my period for about five months.

I had been eating whole foods, but also things like rice and other starches that my body wasn’t used to eating or processing on the daily. So I was back to running and putting in the miles each day, and I was more strict on what I ate. I was getting back to my old body, but at the same time I wanted more. Insert Kayla Itsines and her Bikini Body Guide (aka BBG).

I’m sure you’ve heard of this Aussie fitness queen. I started doing her first guide with a friend, and then just ended up doing it on my own. I got super into it. I liked the idea of having pre-set workouts on top of my running. It became a routine for me. Knowing that (for example): Monday = Legs, Wednesday = Arms, Friday = Abs/Full Body. As well as LISS (mainly running for me) and HIIT sessions.

I kept up with BBG and running for about a year and a half. Then I decided to train for a half marathon. So, at this point, I was working out every day, twice a day. I loved it. But what I have now reflected back on, is that at that time I was struggling with orthorexia.

Orthorexia refers to having an obsession with eating healthy foods and feeling guilt over skipping training, and overall health anxiety.

I was mad at myself if I skipped a workout or felt tired and didn’t give it my all. I rarely took rest days. I was stressed if I made plans with friends and it interfered with my training schedule. I thought I was healthy, but turns out it was more of an obsession.

Once I finished my Associates Degree, I decided to continue my studies and become a holistic health coach. It was through my studies with IIN that I really came to terms with my obsessive habits and realized I needed to take a step back from my health approach and re-evaluate my actions.

In the last year or two, I’ve since toned down my obsession of needing to run 5k every day, and instead I’ve learned to listen to my body. I’ve incorporated strength training, I still do some HIIT, and I’ve gotten better about encouraging my body to take rest and active rest days.

Despite my beginning, and repeating BBG over and over because it was all I thought I needed to do for the rest of my life, my biggest take away was learning that isolating muscles and focusing on certain areas of the body on set days, was very important for any goal.

I still love finding workout eBooks online and supporting girls who have created them and promote a fun, accountable, healthy goal-driven community. I’m such a control and goal-oriented person myself, so following an eBook and mapping out or writing down or planning each day’s workout is key for me to stay on track.

MY PRESENT TRAINING SCHEDULE

I try to train each muscle group at least 1-2x/week. Each workout is no longer than 60 minutes. And then I dial it back every few weeks or so for a short recovery period. Out of my weekly plan I do about 5 days of weight training and 1-2 days of cardio.

These workouts focus on muscle hypertrophy to build muscle while also reducing overall body fat. Each day I’ll focus on just two muscle groups, which I’m learning is an efficient way to achieve definition. The workouts are a mix of circuits and traditional weight sets.

These training sets contain strength movements such as: presses, squats, deadlifts, etc. All of which are proven exercises for promoting muscle hypertrophy. I like these movements because I’m familiar with them, but I can make it more challenging because of the weight. The key here is to increase the weight with each set and to push myself.

The “anatomy” of a workout:

The first is engagement, the focus here is to activate and engage the targeted muscles and get the heart pumping.
The second are the weight training sets, usually it’s four exercises, each completed for three sets, and the focus is on form and using challenging weights.
The third is the finishing, where the focus is to fatigue the muscles.

The weekly breakdown: 3 upper body days involving weights (shoulders, back, arms); HIIT (sometimes one of these days is an at-home style workout); 1-2 lower body days involving weights and bodyweight movements (legs and glutes).

I utilize core every.single.day. so I usually throw in “only core” circuits at the end of a workout when I feel like I want more. Then my 1-2 cardio days can be whatever my body is feeling up to: running, yoga, cycling, walking, skiing, etc.

MY RECOMMENDATION

Get a plan together.

Plans are good. They hold us accountable. Maybe a half hour is all you’ve got – use it! Maybe you don’t have access to a gym but you have weights at home – use them!

But also remember: some days you’re going to choose slow mornings with your fam/friends over the gym; sometimes you’ll feel like yoga over weights; sometimes you had a crappy night’s sleep, and that’s ALL okay!

So in the back of your mind, at the start of each workout, tell yourself be flexible. When I say flexible I’m talking about forgiveness; do what you can, the best you can, and when you can!

WORKOUT MOTIVATION TIPS

01 – The Five Second Rule (from Mel Robbins). Works like a charm when I consciously decide to do it. How To: when your phone alarm goes off, you count down slowly from five, when you get to “1”, you jump out of bed. I know it sounds crazy, but it works!

02 – Have a plan and write it down. Whether you find an eBook or mesh together workouts you found on Pinterest or take classes at a gym. . . set a time today to sit down and plan out your weekly schedule.

03 – Listen to inspiring / motivational music and podcasts. Give this a try! It’s amazing how music or pods can quickly change your mentality throughout the day. If you exercise in the morning turn on your favorite song and just get moving!

04 – Reach out to a friend to hold you accountable. Today, tell someone you know about your plan or your goals and have them hold you accountable this week. Whether that’s texting them after your workout to let them know you’ve completed it, or doing it with someone, this works super well for me!

I’m a goal setter. I always have been. Always will be. I like to know the end result, and map out my actions to get there so I can see my progress. It’s fun to set goals.

I have two fitness goals right now:

Muscle definition, and
Just move my body every single day.

Right now, I am waking up and asking what my body needs, and I listen. It’s been amazing. Although the schedule I mentioned above is ideal, sometimes I think we can (I know I can for sure) get such a structured plan that we feel guilty when we miss our “leg day” or when we don’t “measure up” to our rigid schedule. This was my daily mindset at the beginning of my journey.

I’ve stopped allowing my mind to go back there. It’s a choice. I don’t believe in strict, rigid, and all-or-nothing exercise plans for anyone, so why would I hold myself to that standard? I choose to celebrate moving my body, whether it’s a walk in the sunshine with a friend, or an hour-long-kick-butt sweaty workout!

references

Kiss-Leizer M, Tóth-Király I, Rigó A. (2019). How the obsession to eat healthy food meets with the willingness to do sports: the motivational background of orthorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord. doi: 10.1007/s40519-019-00642-7. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30726547

Robbins, M. (n.d.) The 5 second rule. Retrieved from https://melrobbins.com/blog/the-5-second-rule/

Gigi is a certified holistic health coach. You can find her at Gigi Kent Wellness where she is wellness, fitness, and positivity obsessed, and focuses on nourishing from within. She is consistently learning and currently continuing her education to complete her personal training certification.