Cori (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free work on and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. We all have those things that we feel we have to do to get results, but the more we can reframe these things as things we get to do, the better off we’re going to be. And that’s why I’m super excited to dive in today with my fabulous coach, Liz, into changing that mindset so that we’re doing things for us. So thank you Liz, for joining me today.

Liz (00:50):
Awesome to be here.

Cori (00:51):
So let’s talk about how can we shift this mindset from have to get to

Liz (00:58):
Well, I think the first thing is you have to sort of take a pause. You have to start to recognize that that is what you’re actually and how you’re actually viewing it. And once you bring that sort of to that frontal lobe, as I say, in terms of catching yourself, getting up in the morning and saying, I have to clean the bathrooms today, or I have to walk the dog or I have to do my workout. That can really set the tone for your entire day and sometimes your week, your month, your year. So the acknowledgement and sort of catching yourself in the act, if you will, can really be the first step to that big change. And once you recognize how you use your language, the words you use, how you sort of phrase that for yourself, and even the slightest shift in the way in which you’re saying it, the tone in which you’re saying it in your brain changes how powerful that can be to change the entire perspective of all those things, many of which we view as chores, but can quickly become things that we actually say, I get to get up and do those things because one, I’m strong enough, I’m privileged enough to be able to do those things and they’re going to lead me to be able to do other things that I even enjoy more.

(02:25):
And I think that shift can really set our day off in a way that really changes everything going to the grocery store and people getting in your way, someone’s stealing your parking spot, whatever it is, it all spills over in how we start with those things that are part of our regular routine.

Cori (02:44):
I love that you bring up that self-awareness because I think that’s often something that, well, it’s at the heart of every change that we’re going to make. We have to be aware of a pattern we’re repeating in the language we’re using before we can make that change. And when we start to see all of the times we say I have to, it’s not just the words, right? It is the words in that we’re saying have to versus get to, but it’s the attitude behind them and the mindsets behind them and not even recognizing the why behind why we’re doing those things. We say, oh, I have to clean the kitchen or I have to clean the bathroom. And while I don’t know if anybody will fully think that’s fun, and if you do think that’s fun, come over, please do mine. We can shift our mindset around the have to and the attitude behind that into, Hey, I love having a clean house. It makes me feel way less stressed. It makes me feel so much happier. It really changes my whole mindset. I know when my house gets cluttered, it does sort of pull me down and you can put it into the why behind it and sort of tie it back to something bigger in terms of that with some of the habits, especially around fitness and nutrition, how do you make sure that you are tying things back to your why so that it feels like something you get to do?

Liz (03:54):
Absolutely. And I think part of the changing the have to get to, I mean the words I have to actually trigger that stress response in us. And so when we start out with that stress response in our bodies, whether it’s first thing in the day that’s going to set the tone for the other things that we get to do. And so when we start looking at things such as I have to get up and do my workout, it becomes more, I get to do my workout and I get to do those other things too. And I love using the parallel of instead of using the word but using the word and I get to clean that kitchen and I get to work out because then it becomes inclusive and it becomes part of just our day-to-day routine, if you will. And it takes away that extra stress of I have to do that in order to do that.

(04:45):
So it doesn’t become mutually exclusive or an either or. It becomes an and I think when we start to view things with the way that we take care of ourselves, whether that’s self-care, that’s knowing that we get to go for a walk if we do these other things, it all adds up to the way in which we sort of approach every single day. And there’s a quote I love that is be that person you want to be that when your feet hit the floor, the rest of the world is going, oh no. Right? Because when you get up out of bed and you have that attitude of when my feet hit the floor, everybody else better be ready. That’s already where you’ve kind of made this awareness that you want to hit the floor and you want to be running and you want to be out there with a really positive attitude regardless.

(05:32):
And I think when we start to rationalize not being able to do things because of other things we have to do, it becomes that slippery slope of if I have to do that, then I can’t do that. Instead of it being I get to do this and I can do this. And that just changes our whole outlook on the way we take care of ourselves. It’s a little bit of putting on own mask before putting on somebody else’s. If we’re not putting our own mask on by getting to do the things that we want to do and need to do for ourselves, filling our buckets, putting deposits in our banks, then we will forever be trying to figure out how to get to that place, how to get to the get tos. We’ll always be thinking of it as the have-tos.

Cori (06:17):
It’s tying the habits back to the importance for you, but also connecting things that you already are inspired to do that you get to do to things that maybe you don’t necessarily yet feel that way about. And I love that use of and to do that because you are connecting things that maybe you are prioritizing in your life to things that you haven’t yet prioritized through that. And I even think it goes so far as to start your morning with something you already feel you get to do or you want to do. Because as you mentioned, that really does set the whole tone when you have this feeling of I have to do this, I have to get up and do this, I have to do things. I don’t necessarily yet prioritize or value as much as maybe I should because I haven’t seen that connection to my why or haven’t felt that connection to my why. The more you can even start the day with something you get to do that you are inspired to do, the more you set that tone then to even change your mindset towards other things that maybe you haven’t yet found that priority in or that value in potentially.

Liz (07:18):
No, and I agree and I think the why piece is so powerful and we’re all in different places on that. We all have whys that might start here but evolve into here. And as those whys become more clear or become stronger or even change, and that happens as we evolve through this journey is our whys potentially maybe get more clear and maybe they change, but at the end of the day, we all want to feel energized, we want to feel good. So we know intellectually those feelings that we want to experience, we’ve experienced them and sometimes we have to sort of prioritize that as I get to get up and do this because I know that I’m going to feel amazing, strong and energized when I am finished. And that becomes the why. And it also I think sometimes helps the prioritization. And when we try to prioritize the things that are most essential in our lives, there’s a lot of noise, there’s a lot of distractions, and we sometimes have to get right back to one, making sure that that’s something that is maybe not negotiable.

(08:27):
That’s sometimes a way in which to look at things that we get to do versus what we have to do. But also it ties back really to how we know we’re going to feel. And that gets back into the why I want to feel really good because I know that I’m a much better mom, I’m a much better spouse, I’m a much better whatever friend when I have that why fulfilled. And it comes down to I think the idea of feeling as if we have that worthiness to validate that that is really important to us and that we are so lucky to be able to get up and lift that heavier weight if that is in our workout today or we get to be able to go fill our plate with nutritious foods and those are things that just become part of our muscle memory over time it becomes more so the get to as opposed to the have to, the more we practice it, the more we get up and just say I get to as opposed to I have to.

Cori (09:26):
And sometimes even if the habit doesn’t feel like something you get to do and you’re mentally thinking, okay, I can repeat get to, but it feels like something I have to do, we can tie it back to something that makes it feel more like a get to even in overcoming some of the challenges. Because I can tell you the workout that feels the best is the one that you do when you feel like you have to over you get to. And so even in thinking that on a day where you’re like, oh gosh, my mindset is I have to do this, be like, Hey, I get to do this and I get to feel extra strong because I’m going to have done this when maybe my original mindset, my original thought was the have to. And in thinking that sometimes you can even shift the mindset of, oh yeah, I feel so much better when I do something at a time maybe I don’t want to do, it’s not like a glossing over everything or a Pollyanna in everything, but it is recognizing to the value in those things and even the things that you maybe don’t prioritize right away the and can be so valuable.

(10:24):
Because I know for me sometimes in the morning to do things that I will otherwise let slide from the day because they aren’t yet priorities for me. I will do them and say, I am doing these things and then I get to do this other thing that maybe I do really feel I get to do. That excites me. And by doing those things first I’ll make sure they get done. Ultimately they feel less have to because they’re tied to something even that’s positive and we forget that association sometimes between something we maybe don’t yet have that positive feeling toward. That feels like a have to and tying it back to that get to change the perception of it because it is that. And as you mentioned,

Liz (10:59):
Yeah, and I totally agree, Corey, to your point, it is really important to acknowledge that there are definitely have tos in our life. I mean, we tell our kids you have to brush your teeth otherwise you’re going to have issues when you get to be older. And so it’s not to say that there isn’t an important aspect of the things we have to do because I mean we all have things we have to do. It’s the way we look at it and even that have tos can be like I have to mow the lawn. Oh, that’s awesome, but maybe I get to, but that doesn’t really do it for me, but I have to mow that lawn. Okay, good. Just approach it with a great attitude because as you say, when I get done mowing that lawn, I’m going to get to go stand up paddling. So in some ways it is, yes, it is that habit linking I like to call it, it’s almost like those pairing of habits. I get to do this and then I get to do this and has a much louder sort of voice and calling to you. And sometimes it’s the motivator too. It’s the thing that motivates you to get through the first, get to the second get to.

(12:14):
I think it’s really important to distinguish between cheerleading and really supporting. It’s like I need to make sure that I approach this with the right mindset versus I’m just going to convince myself that this is good.

Cori (12:32):
Yes, we don’t do well at the fake it till you make it. It’s more the act as this. And in that with the get tos too, it’s doing it for you. And I bring this up because I think that’s an important thing that we also gloss over that we’re doing these things for us. But that’s also why so often we do let some of the get tos slide and we can even feel like they are have tos when we do enjoy them. We do enjoy our workout, but we feel like we get to do our workout and we feel a little guilty and then it becomes a have to because we want to prioritize other things for other people. How do you help clients sort of work through the feeling of potentially even guilt with saying, I am doing things for myself and I want to do things for myself, but I feel like I get to and then it becomes a have to because I feel like I shouldn’t be prioritizing myself.

Liz (13:23):
And that is huge for a lot of people. I mean people who are taking care of others a lot of their lives. And I think there comes a point in time when there then almost becomes this resentment to the other parts of their lives where they get so far down that road that it’s very hard to pull back to a place where they feel good. And the first thing that typically I’ll encourage a client to do is to sit down and really write down what are the things that fill their energy bank. And I use the bank or the ATM sort of analogy because I think it’s very visual for people to see. We have a bank and if we always have withdrawals of those have tos, we lose sight of one why we’re doing them. Our bank becomes overdrawn and we lose sight of what we need to make those deposits.

(14:19):
And I mean time is a resource. We have so much time, it’s finite. And how we use that time becomes a matter of priority but also desire. How do we want to use that time? And I always say that with your ATM, you have so much time in that ATM, right? So much money in that ATM, what are you going to do to make deposits to that, that’s going to fill that why? That’s going to give you a sense of purpose and fulfillment for some people that is working out, if we use working out as an example, for some people that is working out for other people not so much, but they know the benefits and they do it because they know that it is good for them, but they would much rather be out hiking. So I think that there’s an element of knowing, having awareness, acknowledgement over what are the things that you need to deposit into your bank because you got to be making deposits in some way, shape or form.

(15:17):
And some of those are get tos and a lot of those are get tos. And there are probably a few have toss in there too, but as long as there’s always more deposits than there are withdrawals on a regular basis, you’re always going to have some kind of balance in the bank. And I think that when a client starts to recognize what their deposits are, many times some of those have tos actually become get tos because they realize actually they are for them. And it’s not so much of a chore that it’s actually something that does fill their bucket. It does give them a deposit and it helps to minimize some of the withdrawals. For some people the deposit is also a withdrawal. So when we look at how do we constantly reframe some of these things that we are doing to change that attitude with ourselves, first of all, it’s okay to have a bad day.

(16:09):
I mean I would say that it’s okay to have a bad day. The most important thing is how do you respond the next day? How do you take that, what you’ve learned today, what was the challenge you had today and where’s your opportunity to change that for tomorrow? And when they start to think about, well, what is it that’s going to make me start my day off better tomorrow or maybe change something that happened today that I can do differently tomorrow, all of a sudden it becomes a much more mindful practice as opposed to a reaction. And the response starts to be much more proactive as opposed to reactive. And I think sometimes when we get in that I have to mode, it’s a lot of times because we lose sight of being proactive and seeing things that we know might be coming and coming up with a plan and a response that’s going to help us to keep that attitude sort of where we want it to be.

(17:04):
Not because somebody else wants us to change our attitude, but because we want to change the way we look at it so that it’s coming from internally and not the external constant noise of what we have to do or what other people expect us to do. How do we do these things for ourselves? And that’s I think a big shift for some people to even just quantify or articulate is a better word, articulate what that is, what are those things? And once you know that you can go back to those time and time again and they’re often tied back to why you’re doing those things. And it all comes back around to where we started of how do we start with the right attitude of we get to do these things.

Cori (17:54):
But I think you hit on it right there. It’s tying it back to that why and realizing that everything you do is your choice. Because so often we do act like all these things are acting on us and we are doing absolutely everything for ourselves, even taking care of other people. Yes, it’s for them, but we’re doing this because it makes us feel good as part of who we are. We get to even do those things. And that reframing of that mindset, it doesn’t happen overnight, but it is so key. And the more we recognize truly stepping back, we’ve set our why. This means that when you set your why, everything you’re doing for your why, you’re doing for you and not in a selfish way, in a good way. And the more you do, the more you do, as you mentioned, if we get into that haveto mode, everything becomes a haveto.

(18:37):
Even things we truly enjoy on a daily basis. I mean I’ve had those bad days where it’s like I have to do this and I have to do that and I have to do this, and half those things I even want to do slash put on my calendar to do because they were get tos. But because I got into that mode, it became a have to. And then we have to remember the more you do, the more you do. So the second you feel yourself getting into that mode saying, Hey, how can I flip this? How can I even pause in all the things I now feel I have to do and put in something I feel like I get to do? Because again, it goes back to the, and you can say, now I get to do this. I want to do this on this day despite everything else that has happened and after that, all of a sudden now I get to do this and this and this because of doing that. But it’s recognizing the direction of your momentum, so to speak.

Liz (19:22):
And I think that there’s so many ways to approach it. And one of the things that seems to be a common thread, I think for many people, myself included, is that we get this sense of busy equating to purpose. And I always say busy is a four letter word, but it took me 55 years to figure that out. And so when you get to that place where you recognize that being busy isn’t necessarily fulfilling a purpose or serving us in terms of doing things for ourselves, we stop and need to pause. And one of the things, another thing that I find really helpful with clients who come from a place of a lot of overwhelm where they might be involved in a million things and all of a sudden they wake up and they go, boy, I have really got to focus on myself, right?

(20:16):
Well, you can’t just flip the switch. You can’t just all of a sudden say, unless you’re going to move to an island, I am just not going to do any of that other stuff and all I’m going to do is take care of myself because that isn’t typically the way it works. And instead really sitting back and starting to take a look at again, just sitting back and bringing some clarity and articulating on the things that are most important to them. Again, the why. And I think when you can identify what are the things that are most important to you, and then identify what are the actions you need to take to align with that and start with the most simple step. So in other words, getting out of bed in the morning and then you first say, I have to go do X is the first step is stop, wait, I just heard myself.

(21:11):
I say I have to, right? That’s the first thing. And the more that you practice catching yourself and making that change, the more progress you’re going to make. And it really comes back to really taking a look at, there are a couple of things that I think are wonderful ways to look at our lives and the way all of this fits in this big puzzle as we call it. And part of it is, is that the pieces of our pie constantly shift. That’s just life. And we know there are times that we can prioritize certain things more and certain things less. And one of the visuals that I find really powerful is the visual of a dial. There are times when we need and want to dial up and there are times that we need and want to dial down. And how we do that really is up to us and how we choose to prioritize things.

(21:58):
And sometimes we don’t always get our way, that’s life. Sometimes we have to make choices, but at the same time, we also know that when we say I’m making the choice to get my workout in this morning because I can and I get to that, that’s a priority that you’re choosing. And it’s important because it is for you and it’s not because somebody else says you should because the other piece, we’re not listening to what we should be doing. But instead, because we know it’s a commitment we’ve made to ourselves and that we’ve identified, that is something that is really essential in our lives. And the most powerful thing that I think that we can recognize is when we need to say yes to less with all the other stuff and how we then can start to make space for these things we get to do to minimize or mitigate how they become the have tos. And we actually find that bandwidth to be able to enjoy and really engage in it.

Cori (23:05):
I love that phrase, say yes to less because I think that really is in the heart of the busy being a four letter word. We think of all the things we should do have to do, even the things we get to do are in there, but it’s all these things. And we often even turn to trying to do more when we want to hit our why, when we want to reach our goal, and then we get super frustrated because the effort doesn’t always equal the outcome. And a lot of times we feel like we’re giving so much more to get what we’ve gotten back in return. And a lot of it isn’t actually the changes we’ve made, the things we’ve done truly in direct progress towards our goal. It’s all these other things that we just feel like we should add in. And the more we do go back to that why, but even consider, what does your lifestyle truly look like right now?

(23:51):
What are your should feelings, your have to feelings, your get to feelings or things and looking at the person you want to become with the goal that you want to achieve, what are maybe the shoulds have to get to potentially there? And what does that lifestyle look like? Because I think in a lot of that reflection, we’ll realize a lot of the extra things we’re even doing that have absolutely no relevance to where we want to go. And we’re clogging up a lot of our mental space, our time with those things over saying, Hey, here’s one other thing that is part of the lifestyle that I want to lead part of the person I want to become. How can I add that in and shift my priorities? Because in doing that, something that was a should or a have to might get to become a get to or it might even completely fall off the list. But we’ve got to do that honest assessment of where we’re at and where we want to go because we do let busy become our excuse and it ultimately slightly holds us back.

Liz (24:50):
It’s true. And I think when we have that vision of who we want to become or in some ways it’s what do I want things to look like? And whether you use a week, a month, a year, three years, five years, wherever you are in your stage of life, if you will, for some people a week out is far enough for others, five years, it might be a certain benchmark in your life, a milestone in your life, but whatever it is is really taking a moment to step back and say, what do I want that to look like? And then reverse engineering and really taking it step by step backwards of what do I need to do starting today to move in that direction? What are the actions that I can do now that will move me in that direction starting now, not in two weeks, not in a month.

(25:53):
I’ll get to it next year when I don’t have to be the room parent for. So-and-so’s class, and it goes on and on and on. And I think this is the biggest shift that as people who are fully engaged in our lives, and I always say that a full life is a great life. It’s prioritizing what you want to fill your life with. And one of the things that is I think an evolution process for many people is getting to a place where we have the confidence to say, my plate is as full as I would like. Not my plate is full. My plate is as full as I would like. That’s my choice. And I may have said yes to, I may have not agreed to do some things that aren’t serving me as well, may have decided that these things that I’ve been doing forever aren’t serving me because I’m focusing on what I want to look like in five years or be light in five years, and that’s my north star, that is my guiding star that I am moving toward in that direction.

(27:07):
And I think when we have the power of that vision, now the first thing is sitting back and really starting to articulate it too. I mean that’s not easy, is that starts to align our decisions and it gives us the opportunity to do it with confidence and really lean into it, leaning into those get tos and saying it with confidence. I know I’ve got 50 other things to do, but I get to go do my workout right now and leaning into it with not letting those other things become the detractors and those pressures. And I think that’s a huge, huge movement that can change the trajectory of that long-term vision.

Cori (27:55):
It is that shift, and going back to even what you said of don’t do it in two weeks. If someday is going to be the day, why not make someday today? But in that you have to give yourself something actionable. And with you talking about doing more of less, saying yes to doing less and even thinking about what’s on your plate and making sure it’s only as full as you’d like, it really got me to thinking even about with trying to get started to find your get tos to know you’re doing it for you to really prioritize things. Even making a list of all the things you do in a day and saying, do I really need to be doing all of these things every single day or are there overlapping things? Are there things not serving me well? But even then, taking that list and crossing things off and prioritizing maybe a circle around three different things, it can really highlight some of the wasted energy that we’re spending on things or things that we’ve kept in because they fit a different part in our life, but we never really assessed what we need.

(28:51):
Now off of this, if you were to give someone a way to take action today versus saying someday, what would be three things you would have them do to recognize the get tos versus the have tos? Recognize that language and even potentially realize and own that they are doing these things for themselves. And that is a positive empowering thing, not a selfish thing.

Liz (29:14):
Yeah, it’s such a great question because everybody is so different. Everybody approaches things differently. Some people get up in the morning and they start the day great, and then within an hour and a half something goes south and it completely derails them for the rest of the day. But I think the overarching theme, if you will, or I should say effort that can really be turned into almost this momentum is what are the things that you want to get to do? What are those things? When we know when we can articulate and we know what are these things that we get to do and can do and we can articulate it and we can put it up on the refrigerator on a sticky note that we look at every single day multiple times, then we’re more likely to look at those and incorporate them into our day-to-Day lives, looking at priorities.

(30:05):
I would say that’s one of the biggest things. Like you say, what do you do in a day? Where are things that really and truly don’t align with your doing it for yourself, your get tos? Are they things that can be maybe dismissed or changed? And I think the final thing is, is know that every day is not going to be perfect. This is not about perfection. This is not about doing things for yourself and all of a sudden it being magically perfect. It’s this messy, imperfect lives that we live. We love them and we learn from them. And what can you learn from today if you got up and say, I get to do my workout, and then it still didn’t happen, what do you learn from that? It’s not a you thing, it’s a thing. It’s not a you thing. So what is it that needs to go maybe one step further on that?

(31:02):
Yes, you get to maybe it’s the wrong time of day. So those are the things I think strategically when you know what your get to list is, right? And I’ll be honest, sense of humor. Okay, so sense of humor about failing and getting back up again and all that. That can be really helpful when you have get tos that all of a sudden become half tos. But it really is, I think, articulating what it is that are your get tos, prioritizing those within the context of your lifestyle, not your next friend, your best friend or your neighbors or your sister-in-laws or somebody else’s, but within the context of your life of what is doing it for you. And understand that as much as sometimes those distractions that are all around us, the noise around us every day, all day, what’s most important is what’s important to you? What is essential for you? Is it friends? Is it family? Is it you’re lifting a heavier dumbbell for your bicep curls? Is it that you’re going to hit your macros within two grams? You name it, you decide it and then you go after it?

Cori (32:14):
Yes, that’s the perfect way to end it. Yes, go after it. But I have to add to that, with everything you were saying, it even made me think it’s not just the habits or the actual tasks that we’re doing that we get to do. It’s the learning from the failures. It’s the mindsets behind it. And I think we don’t even consider that sometimes when we’re thinking about get tos, but hey, I get to learn from doing something new and probably failing at it. And if we can think about the get tos behind even some of the actions, it can really help. Not to mention, I love that you brought up a slight change to our environment, seeing the things that you prioritize, seeing, the things that you value, because we don’t realize how much our habits are a product of our environment. And the more we put those things forefront, the more those visual reminders.

(33:02):
As silly as, I mean I sometimes think it’s silly to have a quote or whatever else, but I have my to-do list. And in a weird way, that’s the same thing. It’s creating the environment, putting out the clothes you go work out. All these things are visual reminders, changing your environment to remind you of the things you get to do. And we have a lot of visual reminders, often of the have tos. So why not use that in that positive direction to put us in a positive mindset? And again, still not every day is going to be perfect, but it can really help.

Liz (33:30):
And it really is the overall, it’s the way that we approach it overall. I mean, I look at the three pillars, vision, desire, action, and how we put that together for ourselves with the support of somebody else, with the support of a coach, with the support of experts. But it really is ours. And I think that’s one of the things that is really important for all of us to remember that this is our decision and choice as to how we want that to look and really making sure that it’s coming from our heart, it’s coming from what we see. And then behind all that is your strategy and plan. I call the nuts and bolts and the vision. So we can do nuts and bolts all day long, but if you don’t have the vision, we don’t know what we’re building.

(34:23):
I think even within those nuts and bolts comes that attitude. How am I approaching those nuts and bolts, right? Am I loving them or not? And the piece that I think can really be impactful from just an emotional change is from the learning perspective, is always remain curious, always have a curiosity about the why, whether it’s your why or a why that somebody else is trying to explain to you. But always remain curious about what can happen, what can occur, what can you do? Because when we remain open and we sit in some discomfort sometimes, and we get a little sticky and icky in some places, and we don’t necessarily know why, a lot of times if we remain open, I always say, you have to remain open to receive. If you sit there with clothes like it’s not working, I can’t do this, it’s all terrible, it’s all have toss, take me away.

(35:27):
And you’re not open to receive. You’ll never see it. It’ll go right by you. And I think one of the things that we can do for ourselves is always ask, are we open to receiving? Are we remaining curious? Are we allowing ourselves to shift the way we look at things, our attitude toward even the nuts and bolts of things, or are we letting those things just stew? And I think when we start to really look at that bigger picture, if you will, all of a sudden you start to see so much more, and not just what we’re capable of, but what we want to be capable of.

Cori (36:11):
We see the potential, and I think there is nothing better that we could do even today, is just to be open, be curious, sit down, and really think what are things I’m saying I have to do and how can I reframe them as things I get to do? Using that and as a powerful tool to even tie in things, to really inspire ourselves, not to get into that have to mode, but to get into that positive mindset of embracing our choice and our decisions to really reach our why and make our vision come true. Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free work, workout, nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating, review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript

Cori (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free work on and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone you know. So let’s jump right in Training at home and worried you won’t see as good a result as if you were at the gym. Well never fear. We’re going to discuss all the different training techniques, tools, ways you can get the most out of those body weight movements training at home. And here to join me is Michelle who told me selfishly she wanted do this one because she wanted to even find more ways to use her personal home gym to her advantage. So Michelle, thank you so much for joining me today.

Michelle (00:52):
Thank you for having me. I’m excited. I know I’m going to learn probably just as much as anyone else, so thank you.

Cori (00:58):
Well, and Michelle is a fabulous trainer herself, which she isn’t giving or telling you guys, but talking about the home gym. So Michelle, I want to go over a little bit first starting out, just like if someone doesn’t have any equipment, I know we can jump to what tools can I add to my arsenal, but I think that’s not valuing what we already have on hand enough because there are times where we might be traveling even or something comes up and we don’t have any tools and I think it’s really important that we still see the opportunity in this. So your go-to is when training without anything, what do you like to try and use that might be around the house?

Michelle (01:34):
Well, first and foremost, it’s going to be my body weight, right? That’s going to be your biggest tool. And a lot of people, I don’t think you can get a lot of results from just using your body, but that’s going to be a big one. And then for me, it’s really about having those everyday items because as you said, sometimes you are traveling, sometimes things come up, sometimes you’re not where you can get to a gym. And the more you can keep those excuses of like, oh, well I just wasn’t able to find some dumbbells or do anything like that and it’s not worth it, the better you’re going to be just not just with consistency, but actually seeing those gains. So things as simple as towels, chairs, cushions, all those can really make a good body workout even better.

Cori (02:19):
I love that you started with, you use your own body weight because I think we still undervalue just our own body weight in terms of a way to progress moves even. And we turn to fancy tools, we turn to loads because they are easy ways to create progression. And I 100% value lifting heavier. I love lifting heavier personally. However, I always return to body weight movements. Even when I’m at the gym, I’ll use them because there’s so many different ways that you can really learn to activate, establish that my body connection progress those moves through tempos, through ranges of motion, even through instability, going for a unilateral versus bilateral move. And if we don’t value those things, a lot of times we won’t even get more out of the tools that we do add. So not only do you want to think about the different training techniques you can use with just your own body weights and those other methods of progression, but then yes, there’s so many household items and I actually thought this was a really fun challenge personally when I would start out with clients of, they’d be like, well, I’ll get any tools.

(03:15):
You tell me. I’m like, nah, let’s use what you have around the house because as you mentioned, there are so many things from cushions of couches or chairs or whatever else, pillows that you can use for instability towels so that you can reduce the resistance. Even your kitchen is full of different weighted items and awkwardly weighted items that you can use. I mean if you think about farmer’s carries this activity, we do, and I know I always used them in Boston because I wanted to carry as many groceries back from the grocery store as possible. You could pretend that you’re doing, your farmer’s carries with your grocery bags and walk around a little extra. Your neighbors might laugh at you when you’re walking back and forth from your car extra times, but there’s so many different things that we can really use. What’s one of your favorite household items to use for different movements and what movements do you even like to do with it?

Michelle (04:00):
So I really do like the cushion because everyone has something, whether it’s, like you said, a couch cushion, a pillow because it creates that instability kind of like a basu ball would. So you’re standing on it and your muscles are having to contract, they’re having to help you balance, and because of that you’re actually activating more muscles than what you used to. So not only are we working on balance, but now all of a sudden we’re activating more muscles as we are just simply standing on a different surface. And I think that one is probably my most favorite because one, truthfully I suck at it. My balance is not always the best. So I find it really challenging, but it also just helps me stay engaged and in the moment in that move, I will be the first one to, I think MINDBODY connection can be so hard, and this is one, if I notice I’m kind of getting lazy or not quite paying attention to my form as well, I’ll actually stew the move on that pillow or that cushion because now all of a sudden I’m paying more attention.

Cori (05:05):
It helps you to focus in on what you feel working. And what we don’t recognize is that so much of strength, so much of power, so much of our reaction time in everyday life is about that neuromuscular control. And so when you add that instability in, all of a sudden you’re having to make your brain work harder to really recruit muscles to stabilize. And this is where that ability to recruit the correct muscles to the correct extent in the correct orders really pays off for functionality in everyday life. And then even when you do add in weights or other types of progression, you are able to recruit muscles more efficiently to be stronger, to be more powerful, to react more quickly. So I can’t say enough about that either. And it makes you take ego out of things sometimes where you’ve tried to progress moves too fast, and then even using the unilateral moves, you’re using another form of progression with that off of this, one of my favorite is using the towels or even paper plates on carpet because they act as sliders because you can buy sliders, you can buy furniture movers, but these things are great tools to have on hand that you can easily also I guess clean your floors potentially if you really want to during it.

(06:05):
But they can be used in so many different ways to reduce resistance from side lunges to doing fly pushups so that you can work your chest a little bit more to doing even side lying, side lying slides where you actually end up working your lot unilaterally. But there’s so much diversity you can do with towels in terms of progressing lower body, upper body, and even core movements that we don’t often recognize off of this. What other tools do you use? And I can think of a whole bunch with, as I mentioned, the grocery bags, the wall, the doorway. What other tool do you really like to use?

Michelle (06:40):
So I know I shared this in my post, but I have a long board. I’ve honestly had it since I was 16 and I probably have used that more for my ab roller and for lunges and things like that than I probably have actually written it in that amount of time. And it does, it stays in my gym because I use it so much for various moves and I know not everyone’s going to have that, but as you said, paper plates, even furniture movers, anything that’s going to help you kind of have that slide back and forth is going to be something that you can utilize in a lot of different ways. And so that’s probably a big one that I actually utilize a lot just in my own day-to-day activity. And a lot of times people have said, well, why aren’t you just going to go get one?

(07:25):
I was like, because this does the job. Like you said, if you can find items that are doing a good job at what your end goal is, it’s not necessary to go out and just get every single tool. And there’s a lot of tools for gyms and they can be exciting and make things fun, but you don’t have to have a lot. So that’s going to be a big one. And then one that I know everyone has is just a chair. Just being able to have a chair that’s sturdy that you can either step up on or do dips on or something along those lines. You all of a sudden have a lot of different moves that you can add to your workouts.

Cori (08:04):
It’s not only progressing moves, but also modifying moves, especially when we’re starting back where we might usually sit to a bench for our squat, you can use a chair for that. Even stairs if you don’t have a chair or a chair is too high, you can use stairs to create that deficit split squat. So increasing the range of motion or as a lower step up if the chair is too high. But all these different tools can be used to not only progress moves, but also modify moves to fit our needs. And I love the longboard because you can do extensions on there, you can do glute bridge and curl on there. It’s a fabulous tool. And the chair is something where you can do bent over rows on, you can do planks off of it or pushups off of it, or if you have a bench or table, all those things.

(08:40):
Again, it’s not only progressing moves, but sometimes modifying them or if you want to progress the pushup, right, instead of doing the incline, you maybe do the decline with your feet up on it. But it’s all these household items that can be used in so many different ways if we really see the opportunity in them and we even get creative with them like caustic squats where you’re trying to sink down deep into that side squat and it’s a very hard move, having that little hand assist on the chair might be what you need to do that movement versus you wrote it off as too hard for a little bit. There’s ways to even, as I said, modify moves. Then going off of this, I mentioned I like the wall and I like the doorway, or you can even use a banister, but this way you can work your back.

(09:20):
And I think that’s an often underworked area of our body when we’re thinking about home workouts. We do pushups for our chests and triceps. We can think about lunges and squats easily for our legs or single leg squats to the couch, the chair. So we have some of those things, but we’ll be like, well, how do I work my back? I don’t have a pull bar, I don’t have any of these things. A doorway row is a great option and I will even link out to that video in the comments. But the doorway row is a great option. Scapular wall holds are a great option. You can roll off a banister. There are so many different ways to even get in that back engagement. I even like doing lying moves where you’re doing some of those backies and really focusing on what you feel working.

(09:58):
You can add in soup cans if you want to add weights, right? There’s little ways that you can really modify and progress moves, but it’s also thinking about all the different muscle groups and how you can work them. And then even going back to your like, why would I get more tools if I have the longboard? It’s even using the tools that you have in ways that they’re not necessarily meant to be used. So going into some of the equipment we might want to get for our gym, I want to open it up to you and what you might use, but it made me think of the rower. Okay, so if you don’t have a suspension trainer, you don’t have the ability to use towels or paper plates for whatever reason. If you happen to have a rower in your workout space that can be used for AB extensions, putting your hand on it, that can be used for the side lunges that you might do on the slider because you’ve put your foot up on the seat and slide in and out. It could be used for the GL bridge and curl. So it’s also even getting really creative with some of the equipment you might have that you only use for one purpose. So in terms of what you have in your home gym that you bought that you found very valuable, what tools have you included?

Michelle (10:54):
So for me, some of the big things that I’ve used have been, I mean, I wish I would’ve bought one sooner, and I actually saw even someone put post in Facebook as well. They’re like, if I was to do one thing, this is what I wish I would’ve bought sooner. And it was probably the rack. And I’ll be honest, it does take, I mean it’s a bigger piece of equipment, but I use it. I do my pull-ups there, I do my dips there, my bench is there, so I can do all these certain different moves off of that. And then like you said, if I need a suspension thing, which I’ll be honest, I do have a suspension thing, but before, because it’s actually even broken at one point and I had to fix it, I did just use the rack with some Taos and that’s what I was using for kind of that TRX to be able to do those moves off of that. So just having, and it sounds so silly, but having a good solid rack that makes a big difference in your gym.

Cori (11:53):
And I love having the rigging, but I even go the other way of when someone asks me, what do you want in the space? As much as that, if you have that space that is everything can be contained. You can do back, you can do chest, you can do all the different moves. So it’s a great thing if you have the space. I even like clients to start with a mini band and resistance bands, and I’m not talking about even dumbbells or any of those other things. And I like those two things because the mini band we think of as glued activation type stuff, but there are single arm rows. You can do backies, you can do tricep, push downs, bicep curls, all these different things with even just the mini band. But on top of that, resistance bands, and I like resistance bands because you can use them in the doorway anchored.

(12:30):
You can use them not anchored around anything. You can anchor them around a railing or banister that you have, but you can anchor them in so many different ways to create tension from different angles to work your back in different ways, to work your legs in different ways. But those two tools to me are so easy to just throw in a corner, throw underneath something, and they add that resistance and apply resistance in a unique way that you can use whether you do have something sturdy, whether you do have any space, whether you are traveling and even want something that goes with you. So those are actually my go-tos. And I love the rigging and can’t say enough about it, especially if you do want to add some weight to your home gym. But I think that those other two things are often undervalued too.

(13:08):
As we see resistance bands is somehow less than weights, but they’re great. And then if you do get any weights, you can even do the two different types of resistances together. So if you’re limited on the dumbbells that you have, you can use resistance bands and dumbbells together to even create tension in two different ways, but progress moves without having to add more dumbbells to your space. And then I love that you use the towels off the rig when you didn’t have the option because I think that just shows how much we can get creative with what we really do have.

Michelle (13:37):
And I love what you were saying too because I think the most important thing is progression is you’re wanting see continual gains is that you do need to progress. And yes, mini bands, you are always going to add that extra level of difficulty to a move and even using them differently. So like you said, you may have one around your legs and you may be using some to even add resistance because you don’t want to be just purchasing more weights constantly. And I think that’s a big thing too. And it is so huge that people, like you said, people underestimate them and they think dumbbells are the key, but you can do a lot of work with just the bands.

Cori (14:20):
And it’s even remembering that the more advanced you are, the more ways you have to find to create progression because you aren’t just going to be able to add five pounds every single week, week after week. There is a point where you’re going to hit that max load where ego is going to start to take over and you’re going to start trying to add weight where you really can’t recruit muscles correctly. And at these points, it is time that we really find other forms of progression and there are three drivers of muscle growth. And when we’re only thinking about loads, we’re only really utilizing one of them, maybe two. But by using these other forms of progression, we’re establishing that my body connection, we’re using not only muscle tissue damage, but mechanical tension and metabolic stress to our advantage. So it is thinking creatively not only in the household items that we have, thinking creatively in the ways we use the tools that we might have, again, going back to even the rower and using that more than just a rower, but it’s also using different forms of progression with whatever we do have on hand.

(15:12):
And I brought this up a little bit when you were talking about the pillow, the cushion, but it’s thinking unilaterally, can I take a bilateral squat? So if the basic body weight squat is easy, can I take that and make it unilateral? Maybe I don’t have a chair I can sink down to on one leg or I can’t do the full pistol squat, but can I do an 80 20 variation where I’m putting 80% of my weight on one leg and sort of staggering just on the toe of the other foot to make it a little bit harder? Can I slow down the tempo? Can I change the tempo to be slowed down and quick up? Can I add in that jump? Well, we don’t necessarily want to make everything cardio, but that plyometric could be valuable at some point. Can I even twist and turn and move in different directions?

(15:49):
Can I add instability? Again, going back to the cushion, but how can I create progression in different ways? And I thought of this when you brought up the mini band because you might be using a mini band around your legs as you’re doing that goblet squat to help you activate your glutes better as you’re using two different forms of resistances to make sure that glute medias is working as you’re really working your legs, but you can combine different things in different ways to really see that full benefit. In terms of this, when you’re using, let’s just say you’re using your rig, what would be one of your favorite moves to do that might combine different training techniques that you’ve learned or implemented with clients?

Michelle (16:28):
I mean, I’ll go back. I do love using it kind of as the TRX system because I am one. We are adding that resistance, but they’re doing their body weight and sometimes just being able to see have them do moves that they’re like, oh, I didn’t realize I could move my body weight like that. It just gives a bigger win versus actually using it as, I mean, my favorites are going to be things like squats, which I say they’re my favorite, but I actually really don’t love squats, but I know they’re so good for you and I love seeing the gains that come off of that. But as you said, just having even those squats where they are using a band as they go down makes such a big difference. And I see that even in myself as well. So those are probably my two favorite ones to go to. But I mean, it’s kind of hard because I really do feel like the options are just so endless of what you can do.

Cori (17:25):
And that’s a great part, seeing the opportunity in it versus letting your brain come up against the heart of like, oh, well, I don’t have the traditional things I use. And I love that you brought up the suspension trainer system because I think so often we think about it as just adding instability or even sometimes in modifying moves, but it can help us work through even a bigger range of motion. And that range of motion being increased can be incredibly useful. Going back to when I mentioned the stair, if you put that front foot up, when you do that traditional split squat, so just sinking down and up in the lunge and you put your front foot up, all of a sudden you’re increasing the range of motion, which is going to make it harder. It’s going to improve your mobility. And I bring this up too, because even if you’re usually training the gym or you like training with loads and you’re not able to, some of these other things can help you get back to lifting more when you get back to the gym.

(18:08):
It can keep you moving forward instead of saying, eh, well what’s the point of doing anything? I can’t do my ideal progression. If you have that day where you’re short on time, you can do 15 minutes at home. And going off of this in terms of how you create the workouts, I know there’s lots of different training techniques we use because when you don’t have loads, you do have to think of progression in different ways. And so this is where using maybe a compound move followed by an isolation move or an isometric followed by a move with reps or even using intervals instead of just counting reps or using a little bit more training volume or those time circuits tweaking the way that you’re using workouts can be really key. Michelle, are there any training techniques specifically that you find more enjoyable when you are training at home?

Michelle (18:52):
I mean, it goes back to utilizing the stabilizers. And I’m going to kind of use this as a little bit of a tangent, so bear with me. But I find when people, like you mentioned are kind of like, oh, well I can’t get to the gym. I was only able to do this at home, and I was like, you were able to can get a good workout in 15 minutes at home. But one thing I do think people fail to recognize is oftentimes I find that there can be a lot of injury prevention that these move to allowed because when, like you said, for me it’s the stabilizing and I know I’m the hiker, the runner background, that was kind of what first introduced me into kind of the workout world. But because of that, I know how important those joints, those ankle, the ankle stability, and how many times have people just walked off the curb wrong and rolled that ankle or had something happen where their balance was just a little bit off.

(19:47):
But if you’re able to actually train with some of these stabilizing muscles because you’re using the cushion, because you’re using those bands, that’s going to force you to have to use your stabilizers more in your ankle and of course your core, you’re actually going to be able to prevent future injuries better. And that’s probably my favorite kind of, I guess, training technique for what I’m doing is actually utilizing that. But I don’t think we give it the recognition it deserves because we just think, oh, this is what I have, so this is all I’m able to do. When sometimes there’s some moves that you can actually get a little bit more out of by using some of these techniques at home.

Cori (20:27):
I couldn’t agree more. We do get ego in the loads in progressing in using fancy equipment over going back to those basics. And the basics are really what build results. And we have to remember the fundamental principle of if it challenges you, it will change you. And so often we only see challenge in one way, and we see it only in the way we’re honestly comfortable being uncomfortable, and that really limits us and seeing the full progress as fast and efficiently as we possibly could. I can tell you more and more as I’ve gone through even at the gym where I have gobs of tools, I will take things back to basics with body weight and constantly include them. I will drop heavier loads and go back to different forms of tools. So I’ll use cables over just dumbbells. I’ll use resistance bands over dumbbells.

(21:12):
I switch it up in that way because I’ve realized the value in progression in these different forms in different tempos and different stability. So I’ll do a single leg deadlift, one progression, and the next progression, I’ll do a bench single leg deadlift, and then I’ll do a cable single leg deadlift. Even though in some ways I have to sometimes go back in loads or I’ll add more instability to something, I’ll have to go back in load. So check my ego with that. And you can feel like, oh, well, I’m not lifting as heavy. How is that going to be beneficial? But it is because it’s not just about those weights that challenge our muscles to create progression. Again, we have all those different drivers of muscle growth and sometimes what is not a clear progression forward ultimately allows us to become stronger, to have that better mind body connection, to lift more and do more and do harder variations down the road, which is what then keeps us moving forward faster versus as you even brought up, if we’re out with injury, we can’t train hard.

(22:02):
If we don’t have those stabilizers strong, we aren’t going to be able to lift more. We aren’t going to be able to keep progressing. We’re going to end up putting ourselves out so that we can’t keep moving forward in the way that we’d like, and we’re going to hold ourselves back a lot longer than if we had taken that time to rebuild. Now, one thing we haven’t talked about and probably something that I think is the most important thing to have in a home gym. We talked about what tools we get, the rigging or the resistance bands, the mini band, what do you think I’m going to tell you everybody needs in their home gym no matter what, and I’m putting you on the spot here, but I realize we hadn’t covered it yet. I mean,

Michelle (22:35):
I would say the Cory response would be some foam rolling,

Cori (22:40):
Ding. Yes. Bingo. That is correct. I would say the one thing that I really do think is essential is that I think you get a great workout, which is your body weight. Anything you have around the house, you can make use of it. I make use of it all the time with clients. You can just do that, have a great result. But I do think if you do not have a lacrosse ball, a tennis ball, a dog toy to use an edge of a counter that you can foam roll out on a corner of a wall that you can foam roll out on and see, I’m even getting creative with that. I think having those foam rolling tools can be really beneficial because I do think it is an often overlooked part of that pre-app process that helps us even get more out of the body movements to then move through a full ranger motion. And Michelle, I know that you have a love hate relationship with foam rolling. What benefits have you seen with including some of the prehab work?

Michelle (23:23):
Yeah, so I’ll be honest, I was always the guilty party of like, oh no, I’m a mom. I’m busy. I have stuff to do. I’m going to skip that and I’m going to go straight to the workout. I need to get that workout in. And that was my mentality for a really long time. And honestly, it was you who kind of shifted my perspective on that because I was like, I’m going to do it all. I’m going to let me see what this program is about, let me actually do it how it’s attended. And I’m the type of person that when I jump into things, I am always like, oh yeah, I’m in good shape. I can just jump in. Which I would always tell people to take it slow. But what I found was the amount of, because I would always judge if I got a good workout in based on my level of soreness.

(24:09):
What I found was my soreness went way down, which meant I was more likely to get in more gym sessions. I was more likely to push and progress faster, and I could have those deeper ranges of movement like we’ve already talked about. But the biggest thing was I just felt a lot more energized for my workouts, which sounds weird, but I think it just prepped my body. So I was ready, but also warm up, cool down, definitely a step. Don’t be like me, learn from my mistakes and actually put it forth because you’re going to get so much more out of your workouts. And we always talk, and I talk to people about this on the nutrition side, part of being able to build muscle and break down fat is actually increasing. Even blood flow and foam rolling helps with that, which sounds silly, but it does. So you’re able to get those nutrients, Ashley, even better to the areas that you’re getting ready to activate.

Cori (25:08):
It’s all the little components, not just what we do in our workout that really yield the results. And we could go on and on about that forever. But I love that you’ve seen the benefit of foam rolling and that you brought all of that up. Because I think too, when we’re training at home, when we think about heavy loads, we think a little bit more about prepping our body, whether or not it’s using lighter loads to build up body weight moves to then build up. But when we’re doing more body weight based training, we often take for granted that we still need to warm up because we think, oh, well, I’m not really challenging myself, but you are. And you can challenge yourself more if you’re warm from that very first rep of the moves that you’re going to do. Versus so often when we skip our warmup, we’re wasting time in our workouts warming up, increasing that range of motion, not getting as much out of it, and not necessarily utilizing muscles to the fullest. So even if you’re training at home, do not skip your warmup, get in that foam rolling, make sure you’re doing that stretching and activation. You’ll be surprised by how much more you truly get out of these moves, and you can even progress ’em in ways using tools around your house. So Michelle, any closing thoughts for someone training at home looking to get in their best workout?

Michelle (26:07):
So I think the biggest thing is, as you’ve already mentioned it, is get creative, look around and share what you’re doing because there’s been so many times where I was like, oh, I never even thought to use it like that. I’ve been known to even use my treadmill just before I had my rigging to even use that as dips and things like that. I use the arm rails. So actually utilize and look around and be like, Hey, this is something that I can use as you put it in even multiple ways and share, because I guarantee you if you share something, someone else is going to be like, oh, I never thought of that. Or you’ll even get more of that from someone else as well. So that’s something I really want to say just even in Facebook. Please comment, what are you doing now and read other people’s comments. You probably are going to pick up a few tips in there as well.

Cori (26:55):
I love that challenge. What tools around your house are you using as equipment that aren’t really technically equipment? And what equipment do you even have in your house that you’re using in creative ways that it wasn’t truly meant for? Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack Podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free work, workout in nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating review or share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone I.

(00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free work on and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. You will not always be motivated, plain and simple. Motivation is fairly fleeting, but we need to capitalize on it when we can, and there are things we can do to ultimately create motivation. And I want you to hear me out with this because I think it’s really key that we understand that we have some control over how motivated we feel.

(00:52):
Now, motivation relates back to the pain of staying stuck. We are motivated when we have a lot of pain, so to speak, in where we’re at right now. We don’t like how our clothes fit. We don’t like how we can perform in the gym. We don’t like our health markers when we get some sort of bad news or have that sort of our face pushed in, something we don’t like, we are motivated to want to make a change, usually after the holidays and some weight gain from the cookies, those different things in January, we’re like, yes, let’s kickstart things. So that’s what motivation is. The pain of staying stuck is pushing us forward. And when we start to make changes, a lot of times because we have more motivation, we are willing to make more sacrifices, endure more pain of change, we’re willing to do more habits.

(01:39):
We go on that 30 day kickstart that’s really intensive, doing six days a week of training, cutting out all the foods we love and we’re motivated to do it. The pain of staying stuck outweighs the pain of change. However, after 30 days, after six weeks, depending on the results we’ve seen to keep the motivation going, depending on how much habit overload we are suffering, at some point the pain of change starts to outweigh the pain of staying stuck. Maybe we’ve even sort of hit our goals. And so the motivation fades and we don’t think about what the next steps are to really maintain our results, but that motivation fades because we are no longer in as much pain, and often the pain of the changes we’re making starts to outweigh it. So you think, oh, well, I’m not motivated. And the habits that you built maybe that have become more second nature you’ll keep doing and that can help you sustain the results for a little bit.

(02:30):
But a lot of times, because we went so all in and we did all these restrictive things, we tried to create schedules that weren’t even realistic, that pain of the change completely sabotages us. And we end up repeating that yo-yo dieting cycle thinking, well, I don’t have the willpower, I don’t have the discipline, I can’t do this. All the other excuses, not enough time schedule, genetics, all these things start popping up. And so we think, okay, well I just have to wait until I’m motivated again to move forward. But we can control the motivation we feel. And part of this isn’t that we necessarily can create more pain of staying stuck. At least we don’t necessarily want to, don’t go gain more weight on the scale. We don’t want to injure ourselves so that we’re more motivated to train in the way we should, right?

(03:09):
We don’t want to do those things, but what we can control to help create motivation is the pain of change. We can control how we are making habit changes and the environment that we’re creating and all of this can impact how we move forward. So if you’re really motivated, as tempting as it is to make all the changes all at once, embrace more sacrifices. If you don’t have a game plan to shift back towards sustainable or if you don’t assess that you’ve always done this pattern and this is always what sabotages you and makes you run out of willpower and self-control, you are going to end up in this repeating the same pattern and losing motivation and feeling like you don’t have discipline and willpower again. So this time and with the shift in seasons, whether or not it’s going in the holiday season, whether or not it’s going fall, summer, whatever else it is, you always have an opportunity to reassess what you need right now because results are built off of meeting ourselves where we are at right now.

(04:02):
And so if you’re motivated, great, you’re going to be willing to embrace a few more sacrifices. However, if you’re not as motivated, you can still make changes. You just have to own that. The pain of staying stuck is only going to outweigh a certain amount, and this is where you control what you can control. So you need to adjust the pain of change. And what I mean by this is the fact that we always have that all or nothing attitude. Doing all the different changes at once, going to the six days a week of working out, going to intensive macro breakdowns of making more sacrifices, cutting out foods we love. But instead of doing this, we have to say, Hey, what habit seems almost so silly, simple. What workout schedule seems so manageable that I can do no matter what? And when we start with this, we reduce the pain of change.

(04:48):
I call it setting the minimum, doing the minimum because when we do this, we’re meeting ourselves where we’re at. If we’re right now not even tracking the food we’re eating, maybe we just start by tracking our food. No, this is not a change that’s going to result in overnight weight loss. It might lead to some because we become more conscious, but it’s one habit change that we can build off of. Maybe we just start by adding in more vegetables instead of cutting out the dessert. We really like if we’re not training at all, instead of going to six days a week, maybe we start with five minutes a day or three times a week. But the key is meeting ourself more where we’re at because this will allow that change to not give as much pushback. I think it’s like Newton’s third law, right? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

(05:29):
And so if we are thinking about this in terms of the pain of change, when we’re motivated, we are more motivated, so we’re going to do more, but in doing more, we’re going to get more pushback against it. And so we have to see if we can handle the pushback with the motivation we have. And when we don’t have motivation, if we can create less pain of change, we’re going to get less pushback against that. And in this less pushback, we’re going to be more able to maintain the routines and habits. And through maintaining these routines and habits, we’re going to feel better about what we’re doing. And this is where we can create motivation through the success mindset. Think about your ideal schedule, your six days a week. If you only do three days of the six days that you plan, you feel unsuccessful with that and you are way more likely to then fall off that routine, not keep doing those things.

(06:11):
However, if you set it at doing three days and you did those three days, all of a sudden it’s a completely different mindset. You’re successful with what you set out to do. And even though you did three days, both times a design probably for the time you have, so the three days design for three days is going to be better. But B, you also now feel successful. Like you’ve accomplished what you set out to accomplish versus feeling like you didn’t do what you were supposed to do, that you didn’t hit that ideal. And that success mindset that we build with hitting what we were supposed to hit helps us want to do more and continue forward faster. So we have to realize that that’s what creates the motivation, meeting ourselves where we’re at, doing what we can and seeing that build from that because we feel successful.

(06:51):
The more you do, the more you do. And this can be in a positive direction or in a negative. Again, if we do three days when we plan six, all of a sudden we’re feeling like we don’t have the willpower, we can’t do what we should, and we start doing more of less and we snowball the other way. So with creating motivation, a lot of it is owning how motivated am I actually? How much pain am I in to make a change? How can I capitalize on this to start making changes but also not do too much so that the pain of change doesn’t start to outweigh it? And when my motivation does start to fade, that initial pain I felt, how can I then adjust the pain of the changes to make sure that I keep moving forward? And it’s going to those minimums, it’s saying, Hey, what schedule is realistic for me right now that I know I can for sure do?

(07:33):
Maybe it’s not my ideal, but what do I know? I can for sure do. Hey, I have been tracking intensive macro breakdowns, but I’m feeling really demotivated and I don’t want to do anything. Okay, well what’s something I can still maintain? The more we can back off and take it back to those basics, because in making changes we add on, I’ll call it a lot of fluff, a lot of fancy shiny decoration that yes is beneficial, yes, is those 1% improvements. But at the same time, if we strip some of that away and take away some of those things that are taking our attention and go back to those basics, we can keep moving forward. We can maintain our results and in that, see our motivation build again. So sometimes you have to strip things back to those basics and do the minimum you have to go say, Hey, I’m only going to track protein and calories and not worry about where my carbs and fat fall.

(08:15):
Hey, I’m going to do three days a week over six. Hey, I’m going to do 30 minutes over an hour. You have to strip back some of those things in order to keep moving forward because this is really how discipline is built because in making these changes, we’re unlearning old habits, habits that are almost, or often even unconscious as we’re sort of bringing them to light, we’re making them conscious, so we have this control over them, and then we’re consciously trying to put in new habits over them. That’s a lot of willpower, a lot of self-control, a lot of attention focus that we are using, which is why we can see that motivation fade with doing all these changes at once. But in this process you have to say, Hey, what’s a small habit? I can focus on unlearning this? How can I replace that behavior?

(08:57):
And this is where changing your environment can be so helpful to creating that motivation because our environment influences the actions that we take when we think about it. What do you do when you get home? You put your purse down, you put your backpack down, you put whatever down, and you might go and do whatever habits you normally do, which might be going to the cabinet. If you struggle to go to the gym, you might look over at the tv, you might get caught up looking at the mail, you might do all these other things. How could you change your environment to help you go to the gym and not just go to the cabinet and snack and read your mail and get caught up doing other things, and all of a sudden it’s late at night and you’re like, okay, now I’m not going to work out.

(09:33):
You could change your environment by putting out your gym clothes, the first thing that you see, or by even bringing them in your car so you don’t go home in the first place. That’s changing your environment. So you instantly go to the gym instead of going home. But if you can’t, you put ’em out at home. But the point is, you’re changing the environment. You’re changing that routine or pattern so that you can trigger new actions, and that can help make it easier to bring those unconscious patterns to light while implementing a new learning process of new habits that you want to do. But it takes less willpower, less control. The more we try and rely on discipline. We say, I’m in this habit of going to the gym and then we don’t put out our clothes for the first time. The more you’re going to see those habits slide because you don’t have that visual reminder.

(10:12):
So as silly as it can seem, make changes to your environment that will help trigger those new habits because that will make you have to rely on discipline, on motivation a little bit less because it’s something that will hold you accountable. That’s a visual, even as silly as it might seem putting on the cabinet, Hey, I have these habits. These are my macros. This is the day that I planned out already in my tracker to eat. That’s that reminder and that little extra accountability so that you aren’t so much saying, well, I could do it or I couldn’t do it. It’s adding to that motivation. It’s creating that motivation. So again, going back to sort of summarize, when we’re trying to create that motivation, it’s recognizing that the pain of staying stuck has to outweigh the pain of change. But we can’t change staying stuck, so we have to change the pain of change.

(10:56):
That means sometimes going to the minimum, it means embracing changing our environment and it means creating that success mindset because the more we do, the more we do. And all of this comes back to you guys always assessing where we’re at right now because things don’t stay constant. Our priorities shift, our schedule shifts, and we need to own this. So at points we need to step back and say, Hey, why am I feeling demotivated? What’s going on in my life right now that has shifted my priorities or made me feel burnt out with some of the habits? And again, this is where we can strip away some of those things. It’s where we can change our schedule. It’s where we can change our environment. Or even in doing that assessment, you might just say, Hey, I need a new focus. I need a new goal to work towards.

(11:38):
And that can help you refine the motivation. But as much as we can’t necessarily just magically make motivation appear, we can create it by addressing what we need right now and by changing the habits to create that success mindset. Because again, the more we do, the more we do. So I really hope that helped. And if you’re finding that you are a senior motivation fade as you’re even going into the holidays, and I bring this up to going into a holiday season or even a summer where I mean honestly, it can be anytime of year, but where we might have some vacations coming up or holiday parties we’re going to go to, we start to worry about doing the thing we should be doing on the day that we should actually be enjoying. And we have to remember that if every day is legendary, no day is legendary, but we can make more legendary days by embracing on other days, we can make sacrifices.

(12:31):
So whether it’s the fall, whether or not it’s the spring before or summer vacations, do it now. Make the changes. Now use the motivation of making those days legendary and not depriving yourself on the days that you really care about and want to enjoy. Use that motivation to motivate you to do something. Now we can create motivation even by reminding ourselves of what we really want out of things. And having that long-term focus isn’t always easy. But I also think recognizing that we sabotage ourselves by worrying about dieting on vacation, worrying about dieting on the holidays, over focusing on the 300 some odd other days of the year that we can make changes. So sometimes saying, Hey, I’m going to do this. Now, to have those other days be legendary can be really helpful and it can help us embrace sacrifices because that could be even the change in your environment that you need.

(13:14):
Having that calendar with the days that you truly care about that you don’t want to have to worry about the habits that you’re doing. You don’t want to have to worry about a missed workout on focusing then on those days that you want to make legendary over depriving on those days, you can use all the other days to your advantage and even sometimes create that motivation to move forward now over waiting. So off of that, I did want to see if there were any questions, comments, or concerns in the group. And if you are watching the replay, do not hesitate to comment afterwards. I will go back through and try and help out with anything that I can or link to any other helpful tips and tricks. It doesn’t look like there is anything. But guys, I really hope this did help because I know it can be very frustrating when it feels like we’re motivated, we make all these changes and then we can’t sustain them, but we have to recognize that motivation is fleeting and we can only create it through adjusting our habits to keep moving forward.

(14:03):
And as tempting as it is to do that all or nothing, go all in, make all these sacrifices. That’s also what keeps us stuck. It might give us fast results and it make us really good at dieting down, but it doesn’t make us good at maintaining the things that we need. So we need to really recognize how we’re making habit changes because if you go in saying, well, I’m cutting out dessert, and then all you’re thinking about is how much you can’t wait to have dessert again, you are basically telling yourself, Hey, I’m making all these changes, but ultimately I’m not going to maintain them because I want to add that back in later. So recognize when you’re going all in to try and see fast results and try it out exercise and out diet time, which is also what’s kept you stuck and depleted your motivation even faster to make smaller changes that can really build, so that you can see those results be maintained.

(14:46):
And yes, it really frees you up to accept the normal human dips and live life because you need to. And I think so often we don’t recognize how much in trying not to live life, we ultimately sabotage our own consistency. Because if you were to really look at your year and how many days you do all the habits you’re fighting against, it’s going to be a lot more the more you resist because you’re going to feel deprived. You’re going to think you can’t have something. And I can tell you a lot of times we’re like, oh, I can’t diet. I have to diet on Thanksgiving. I have to eat. Well, I can’t, whatever. And then ultimately we don’t. And yet we have this feeling that we were deprived on this day when we weren’t really deprived, and then we feel guilty for that day and then we do more things off track, and then it takes us longer to get back on track because we felt so deprived with it when we didn’t even deprive in the first place.

(15:30):
So we’ve created this whole negative association and mindset when we didn’t even necessarily do anything that was moving us forward in the first place. And so the more we embrace that, we can have those legendary days and dial in at everything around it, the more we really strike that balance, the less we try and strive for someone else’s ideal, someone else’s version of Eat Clean. We find our own balance, and that really is what the habit build is all about and moves us forward towards our goals in a way that we can maintain and maintaining our results is really what we want. We don’t want to look great for a day. We don’t feel great for a day. We want to feel great for years. And that’s about meeting ourselves where we’re at and realizing that we can create the success mindset that leads to us feeling more motivated overall and even when we’re not motivated, relying on the discipline that we’ve actually built through changes in our environment, doing the minimum, assessing what we need right now. Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack Podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free work, workout, nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change life of someone.