Redefining Strength Podcast

Whether we succeed or we fail, ultimately?

Well ultimately we are to blame.

However, it isn’t easy to accept that we are at fault.

It’s way easier to blame outside factors…

We didn’t have enough time.

The plan was flawed.

Work or life obligations got in the way.

But guess what?

It’s still your fault no matter how “real” or valid the excuses are.

And that should actually be a positive thing if we truly want to make a change.

Because it then means that ultimately YOU are in CONTROL.

When we blame outside forces, we give them the power.

We give them power, because we don’t want to be at fault.

It sucks admitting you failed.

It’s hard to realize we sucked at something. Or didn’t stick to the plan.

It’s suck to admit we have a weakness.

But when you admit it’s your own flaw?

You also gain control of your future.

You then have the power to CHANGE your situation.

That control, and the acceptance of your failures, is what ultimately leads to your success.

Those that succeed honestly often don’t really have a better plan. They didn’t have perfect timing.

Shit got in the way and they had countless setbacks.

But they owned their failures. Blamed themselves and not things outside of their control.

And they put in the work to make the changes.

Stop blaming everything but yourself.

Because ultimately YOU are in control.

Ultimately only you can choose how to react to a situation. Only you can choose to move forward.

When we’re first starting out with a new training routine, first getting into exercise or even starting out after injury, it can be so hard to know exactly where to start and how hard to push.

We often also are super motivated and end up pushing too hard too fast.

We have to remember that the most important key to getting started and truly creating a routine is CONSISTENCY.

And that means building a strong foundation and focusing on sustainable habits we can repeat week after week!

That’s why I want to share these 3 common training mistakes I see when someone is first starting out and what you can do to avoid them!

3 Secrets I’ve Learned That Make The Difference

1. Your Pain Tolerance will dictate how far you can go.
2. When you want to stop? You need to KEEP GOING.
3. You are selling yourself short if you pride yourself on being a lone wolf. 

Dooming yourself with doubt.

We question the change and try to pick apart the ways it won’t work because….let’s face it…we’re scared and it’s a change.

But when you start to instill doubt before you’ve even tested something?

Well you’re dooming yourself to fail.

Because so much of our success is because of our MINDSET. 

Our willingness to trust the process.

Our willingness to try.

And when we doubt something? We doom it because our mindset won’t support the change. 

Here are some tips to help you avoid dooming yourself to fail by doubting…

1. Learn the WHY behind the programming. Often when we see the reasons WHY something is being implemented, we are willing to give it a shot. So if there are workout designs or moves you are “afraid of?” Learn why they are being used. Often that reasoning and seeing the purpose can help us trust to test them out even when things feel strange.
2. Set a plan in place with an end date. I think often when we give ourselves an end date to reassess, we are more willing to give something a 100% effort. It makes it seem like a set experiment over potentially wasting time. Because often part of our doubting something will work, is our fear of failing and wasting time!
3. Implement small changes to build off of what has worked. When something has worked, don’t just stop doing it. Make small tweaks to build off of it. When we can build off of the familiar or use something similar, we allow ourselves to feel more comfortable with the change. We trust the change because it is connected to something that has worked in the past. So realize that, even when you want better results, often it is small tweaks to what we are currently doing that add up most AND make the changes mentally easier!

Just remember if you decide to commit to a change, actually COMMIT TO IT.

Decide to trust the process. Because doubting it? Well that’s setting yourself up to fail before you’ve even made a change.

So much of our success is based on the mindset we have going into things!

I think we’ve all been guilty of this - getting close to our goals, wanting to celebrate, see how far we can push things.

Heck sometimes we are just tired of being diligent. We only have a set amount of willpower and self control.

So even if we’ve enjoyed something, it doesn’t mean at times we don’t want to “buck” the system. Sleep in late. Skip the workout. Not track our food.

So what do you do when you’re finding that you’re SOOOO close to your goal yet oddly wanting to sabotage your own results by doing things you know you…well…shouldn’t?!

Here are a few tips to help you through the self sabotage.

1. Realize it happens. We are only human. We do have other stressors. There will be ups and downs. And at those times, recognize that even if we are close, sometimes we do need a break. Do a de-load workout week. Set a diet break. Do a calculated “rest” period to reset physically and mentally.
2. Assess what triggers you to plan better even for the future when it happens. Is it that you start to feel restricted? Is it that you’re bored? Is it that your goal is no longer exciting? The more we recognize the WHY behind it, the more we can adjust our plan or even recognize that we do really want to keep pushing.
3. Set new goals. Often when we start to let up it’s because we don’t feel the pressure, or excitement, to keep driving forward. Set some new performance goals if you’re finding you’re close to your weight loss goals. Give yourself a new focus. 
4. Have fun with experimenting. Sometimes we just need a change. Even in maintaining our results, we should constantly be having fun tweaking and adjusting. Try some new workouts. Or maybe some new recipes. But try something a little new in your habits to spice things up.
5. Don’t feel guilty when it happens. There will just be days mentally you can’t seem to make yourself care. And even though you shouldn’t, you well, do it anyway. Don’t focus on these days. Don’t feel guilty. MOVE FORWARD. Learn from them!

We always need to take time to assess why a mindset happens. We shouldn’t just write it off as a lack of self control. The more we can learn about ourselves the more we can adjust over time.

And the key is also BEING FORGIVING. We may be amazing, but we are also human! There will be ups and downs and times we are less motivated and more motivated.

All we can do is learn and feel better.

The best way to really improve at something?

Well it starts by first admitting you suck at it haha

I think often we are scared to truly admit we aren't good at something.

It's hard recognizing our own flaws.

And we often even try to AVOID the tasks and that we aren't good at.

We put them off. Try to find ways around doing them.

We even make EXCUSES to get out of doing them.

But the simple fact is, often if we want better results?

We've got to own up to what we are sucky at and learn to improve.

We may never enjoy those tasks.

But often they get more tolerable when we face them and improve at them.

We have to check our ego and realize that we are only as strong as our weakest link.

And there is nothing wrong with being bad at something. Most of us stink at something we've never done before!!!

The expert in anything was once the beginner and we are NEVER above learning and improving.

So if there are things you're finding you aren't good at - exercises that feel awkward, logging and measuring your food that seems challenging and weird - stop avoiding those tasks.

Face them head on, admit you suck at them and then work to improve.

We get good at the things we do consistently. 

And the stronger our weakest links are? Well the stronger and more able we are as a whole.

1. Admit you suck at it
2. Make one small change to build off of.
3. Make one change at a time.
4. Track progress to see that growth and celebrate it
5. Include it with other things you enjoy - "guilty by association"

Weights are not the only way to progress movements and create challenging workouts.

We can play around with other techniques to keep challenging our body to get results!

We have to remember that even doing the same but different can be progression.

Here are 5 Tips To Create Challenging Workouts Without Adding Weights:

1. Increase Your Training Density.
2. Use Different Movement Tempos.
3. Change The Range Of Motion And Create Hybrid Movements.
4. Create More Instability And Use Unilateral Moves
5. Tweak Your Workout Design.

Learning To Trust The Process

It’s incredibly difficult to trust the process. It’s like you’re telling yourself to just commit 100% and “wait and see” if it is going to work. 

And that’s hard because we don’t like the idea that we may be wasting time.

But the simple fact is, results take time to build. 

One week? Two weeks? Sure we can see results.

But committing for 6, 10, 12 or even 16 weeks?! Holy crap will those results add up!

So here are 4 Tips To Help You Trust The Process so you can actually see the results you want!

1. Track. If you can see what you are doing you can see if it TRULY works. This holds us accountable and paints a clear picture of what is going on.
2. Commit 100% to a program and don’t adjust it! If you don’t actually truly test something, you won’t know if it will work. And when you take a plan and then tweak it, you don’t know if it was the adjustments that actually helped you or held you back.
3. Ask WHY! Do your research. Don’t just blindly follow! Understand why things are programmed. Try to break things down as you go through. That can even help you adjust if you you aren't seeing the results you'd like.
4. Commit to an end date. Even when trying to build a lifestyle, I think end dates are key. I set end dates for progressions and ratios even when maintaining. It gives us a point at which to assess and make changes or tweaks as needed. It gives you security that you aren’t just committing to something forever blindly. 

"The world is full of educated fools.”

We seek out all of this knowledge, but then we do nothing with it.

We don’t ever IMPLEMENT.

And I get it…Positive things are still scary - even if it means stepping into a better version of yourself.

That’s why I wanted to share 5 tips to help you get moving.

5 Tips To Help You Implement Your Knowledge:

1. Focus on behavioral changes over end results. Set goals that celebrate those habits.
2. Stop seeking some perfect schedule or plan. The program that will work best is one that is realistic!
3. Recognize your self control isn’t infinite.
4. Focus on just one change at a time. And make it something ridiculously easy at times.
5. Have something outside of yourself to hold you accountable!