If you're like me, sometimes you need as much motivation as you can get to fit in a workout.  Let me share with you one of my secret weapons that works like a charm (most of the time).  Here it goes:

Super simple. I don't get to shower until I've gotten in my workout!  I don't know about you, but once I shower, there's no way I'm going to get in a workout. I sweat like a beast and would have to shower again! And who's got time for that?  So, if I'm going to workout, I do it before a shower. 

Let's say, for example, I have a meeting, or an event to attend, and I know I need to shower before it. I tell myself that I have to get in my workout BEFORE that shower! So, if showering for you is a daily ritual (I hope it is), then this is the opportunity to make exercise a daily ritual.  

If it's a rest day, I don't use this rule, as I embrace the rest and shower whenever I want. But on the other 5-6 days of the week, I absolutely schedule my workouts...

Let's chat for a moment today about why we should NEVER exercise to "work off" the food we eat.  I'm going to start right off by saying that the mindset of doing that is one of punishment.  You're using exercise as a punishment for eating the food.  No wonder exercise gets such a bad reputation and has such a bad PR problem! 

For years, I thought of exercise as simply a means to (try to) control my weight.  I would use the exercise machines and furiously watch the calorie counters on them to see if I burned enough to make up for the ice cream, or snack I ate.  Funnily enough, it never worked. (big surprise).  

Let's change our thinking from using exercise as a means to burn calories, to a tool that helps us feel better.  Exercise is medicine for our bodies, it's not a punishment for the food we eat.  Plus, when you stop exercising, you actually burn even more calories due to the post exercise "burn." So, calories from...

Have you ever been super low on energy? (trick question, because I already know that the answer is YES! OF COURSE!) So, I want to share with you just one way you can get out of a low energy funk, super fast!

For the past 3-4 days, I'd been super low on energy. I didn't have the drive to get anything that wasn't essential done.  I had no desire to exercise either.   So, for a few days, I honored that desire for rest, and let my body have it.  

But, when the low energy continued beyond 2-3 days, I knew something wasn't right. Was my body just totally fatigued? Was it sluggish from eating out while on vacation the previous week? Was the low energy psychological?   I knew my body needed exercise, because I usually start going crazy if I don't get exercise (aka: movement) in after a couple days. But I just had no desire to exercise.  

So, I reached back in my TBP wellness resource arsenal (in the Trainer In Your Back Pocket membership, there is...

It's the end of one season and the beginning of another for me. Today's paddle (and video above) marks a huge shift for me. It had been 2 years since I was able to do something I loved (paddleboard).

Some seasons suck. But remember, winter doesn’t last forever. Neither does spring, summer, fall, or any other season you can think of. 

So, no matter what season you find yourself in (season of injury, season of love, season of grief, season of pregnancy, season of fill in the blank), you have to honor the season that you are in, no matter how shitty or wonderful it may be.

Lots of love to you and your season!

-Abby

Ok, I'm keeping it real in today's Tuesday at 2 TBP Talk, simply because it's a topic that makes my blood boil!  Me and the conventional western medical "system" don't really get along, but THIS irks the heck out of me.  Listen in to this week's talk as I tell you about one of my clients who went for TWO YEARS before her doctor agreed to get her an MRI for a knee issue, which ended up being a torn meniscus.  

I also talk about how my daughters' pediatrician(s) never once mentioned to us that she has food intolerances!  It took ME digging deep and continuing to get referrals to finally figure things out for myself.  

The main lesson in all of this: NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH AS MUCH AS YOU EVER WILL.  YOU HAVE TO BE THE "PUSHY B**CH" AND LISTEN TO YOUR INTUITION UNTIL "THEY" FINALLY LISTEN TO YOU!

In the middle of my daughter's swim lesson, I began to think about how often I want to put her in classes so she can learn.  Kids learn things at such a fast speed, mostly because their brains are growing exponentially fast. (Way faster than adult brains).  Learning shouldn't stop when we become adults.  In fact, we should dive in even deeper when we become adults.

Check out my good friend (and fellow TBPer) Tami Hackbarth's podcast on Lifelong Learning.

Now, here's the sad truth about myself.  I haven't taken a class FOR MYSELF in a loooooong time! Even though I know the importance of learning new things, I haven't been heeding my own advice.  

So my lesson in this week's Tuesday @ 2 Talk, was to start learning again by taking a class!  Don't know where to start? Think about what you love to do, or something you wish you could do better.  Before having my daughter, I took a kickboxing class.  I loved it. But it's been...

If you've ever tried to lose weight (and I assume that almost everyone has), then you've probably experienced a weight loss plateau (or a stall in weight loss) at some point.  Weight loss plateaus can be a seriously frustrating experience, so let me tell you why I think weight loss plateaus are a GOOD thing, and why you need to honor them. 

Every body has a set point weight. The set point is your "happy weight," or the weight that your body fluctuates around give or take 4-5lbs.  Now, when you're trying to lose weight, you need to train your body to reset your set point to a new, lower one, and sometimes that happens during a plateau. 

Let's say you're 200lbs, trying to reach 150.  You get to 175, and all of a sudden, the weight loss stops.  What are you doing wrong? Nothing!  Some folks want to know every tip and trick to bypass a plateau like this and continue pressing on toward the end goal, but I caution you to not blow right past it, and...

"I ONLY ran a half marathon."  

I hear this all the time from newbie runners as well as marathon vets.   I mean, why bother running at all if it's "only" a half?  It's as if the value of 13.1 is "less than." 

In fact, I'm guilty of this myself. Having run 13 full marathons, I've said, oh it's no big deal, I'm "only" running a half.   Or walking around at race expos, hearing first time runners saying, I'm "only" running the half, as if they are less than or embarrassed, or scared of being judged for running 13.1 instead of 26.2 miles. 

I call BS on not only myself for saying this, but on everyone else who says it, and anyone who judges another person.  13.1 is not easy, I don't care how conditioned you are.  It's still a long ass time to be running.

Never say "I only" did or received ANYTHING!  Whether it's a race, a workout, a project, a class, an income, number of pounds lost, or anything at all, when you say "I...

Focus on the weight you lift.

Not the weight you lose.

"When I drop 10lbs, I will finally be happy."

"When I get an A on that test, I will treat myself to a pedicure."

"When I get that new job or promotion, I will go shopping for new clothes." 

"When I fit into those jeans, I will go out and celebrate."

Have you ever said any of those sentences (or something similar) to yourself? Today, my goal is to send you a little "mindset shift" to help you understand and realize that it's not about rewarding results. It's about rewarding BEHAVIORS.  

Often in life, we can't control results. In fact, we can only control as far as our fingertips can reach. Anything beyond our physical reach is simply out of our control. All we can do is influence it via our behavior. 

Want to lose 10lbs? How can you reframe that goal to focus on behaviors vs. the result of losing 10lbs?  Start by asking yourself what behaviors someone would need to perform, in order to accomplish...