Keeping up!

Like all things in life, workout routines get boring! Especially once they become repetitive or the program is coming to an end. Yet, that feeling for me never seems to quite stick and its not because of my FITNESS addiction. I’d like to share how this happened for me because it changed my approach to exercise and may help you too. 

In recent years all I wanted to do is follow a program to get shredded and rest for a little afterwards. Since I knew my body builds and leans out quickly. (One of the only good things about a hyperactive metabolism)
 The mindset was simple, work my butt off for a couple months to reap the rewards, but this got old quickly. Hitting a fitness peak and then slowly declining because the 8 week program finished or some other made up reason. Once I noticed how repetitive this was becoming a slight panic started to happen and no, not the anxiety freakout type panic. It was one of those slight ringing feelings that you just want to get rid of by yawning or equalizing the ears. Not sure about you but that is something that I rather live without especially towards something as important as exercise. A simple fix came to mind which was to turn to social media for motivation but even that started to get old!

Thus, I decided to build my own workout plan from an abundance of programs found on  bodybuilding.com. Oh man this worked for almost a year, even made me eager for my three pm alarm everyday! All of my friends and even a few randoms at the gym began to ask me about my routine because of the smile on my face. No matter the weather outside I was always in the gym on time, headphones on and a big smile. After telling them my secret they started doing it to and it started spreading like wildfire across the various groups. The gym even had new energy to it during the hours we were all there together.  However, closing in on the year mark that panic feeling came back again with vengeance which caused me to question myself. At the time, questions such as why am I doing this? Can’t I just skip a few days? aren’t I fit enough to just eat clean? Kept flowing in an out of my head with no concrete answer. 

One day those questions swirled around so much that I had to leave the gym because the focus was just not there. My sets were taking longer, lifting lighter weights etc That is when I said to myself E you have to figure out what’s going on! 

The only option was to find a spot to mediate and clear my head. Sitting down mediating, it hit me like a brick to the face. I exercise because it makes me feel great and on rest days I feel sluggish as well as lazy. Furthermore, building my body is not an exterior thing at all but a mixture of interior as well due to the fact that it takes a lot to push through hard workouts. Thus, a mantra was made … “This is for me, not to look good but to feel good, move well and stay healthy!” The day I made that mantra not only did a rush of energy surge through me, but a sense of purpose did as well. No longer was it just about being shredded or bulky, it was about feeling good, personal growth and health. 

Keeping up with fitness has become second nature due to the inward thinking and creation of my mantra. The competition moved from others to myself and being better than I was the day before. Some people see it as an addiction because missing a day is not an option unless it is a rest day but in my opinion they just do not understand. In all honesty, no one will fully understand it but I hope you will be able to find a mantra or a purpose in terms of fitness and health. It truly changes everything.  (You can comment below if you’d like some tips on making the change)

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