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From EXCUSES to RESULTS – 4 Ways to Overcome Workout Roadblocks

by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 12, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Functional Fitness, Workouts

Do I really need to workout today? I have been pretty busy. And it is a little cold outside. And I think I did enough last week. And there will probably be traffic on the way to gym and it will probably be busy…

We’ve all done it…made those excuses not to workout. And one day becomes two, becomes 3 becomes 10….

But in this video I’ll share how you can STOP making these 4 excuses not to exercise and instead create a sustainable routine you not only enjoy but that helps you get results while fitting your lifestyle!

I’ll even share a 10 minute full body workout at the end you can do anywhere with no equipment.

Hey guys, it’s Cori from Redefining Strength where we help you move, feel and look your best at any and every age.

So let’s talk about excuses because we’ve all made them at one point or another.

The thing about excuses is….they’re VALID…at least to some extent.

They stem from what we value and therefore prioritize in our lives.

But if we want a new and better result, not only do our priorities potentially need to shift, BUT we also have to OWN the priorities we aren’t willing to adjust so we can work around them.

Because many of our priorities, like our job or family life, are probably never going to change and we don’t necessarily want them to.

So we’re not just going to magically have more time or energy tomorrow.

Which means we have to own those priorities and plan around them.

And that’s why in this video, I wanted to share 4 common exercise excuses and how you can overcome them to see the amazing results you want with a plan realistic for your lifestyle!

Excuse #1: I’m too old.

The stinky but simple truth of the matter is…Being alive means getting older by the second.

You can’t stop it.

Therefore you’ve got to accept it and do what you can to keep moving forward.

Our age doesn’t really dictate what we can or cannot do.

And the more we stop doing things, the quicker we actually feel and move and look older.

While you may be thinking, “But I have all of these aches and pains! I don’t recover as fast as when I was younger…”

The simple fact is so many of these things aren’t actually due to age.

Yes, they’ve accumulated over time and the older we are, often the more we’ve allowed them to build up.

But they are often tied to improper diet and exercise practices or accidents we’ve had earlier on.

Things that could add up at any age if we don’t address.

So while age may feel like an excuse, it is actually an excuse to focus even more on how you’re training.

There is no time like the present to start training to move and feel your best.

Don’t skip the prehab work. Learn to control those movement patterns so you don’t get injured.

Regress to progress and build up starting with the moves you can do without any aches and pains.

But realize that using age as an excuse will only cause you to age faster over doing what you can to build muscle, look lean and improve your movement patterns to avoid injury!

Excuse #2: I don’t have enough time because of (insert anything here).

Family, work, school, life…

You probably will NEVER have enough time to do everything you want to do.

That’s life.

This isn’t a bad thing.

But we need to take ownership of our priorities and plan around them.

If with family life and work and travel and everything else going on….you have 10 minutes to train? Use that 10 minutes.

Design a workout that matches the time you realistically have.

As much as you may be thinking, “What can 10 minutes do?”

That’s 10 more minutes you took than you would have otherwise.

Something is better than nothing not only because of that 10 minutes but because of the momentum it can build.

Plus, 10 minutes adds up over the weeks and months.

And often, it leads to us WANTING to do more over finding an excuse not to train. It gets us in the habit and mindset. So 10 minutes becomes 15 or even 20. And 1 or 2 days becomes 3 or 4.

Stop sabotaging yourself by trying to force some ideal schedule you saw a fitness competitor doing and instead design for the time YOU have. That’s what will lead to consistency and results.

And if you need that quick 10 minute burner, you’ll love the one I’ll share that even addresses excuse #4!

Excuse #3: I’ve got aches and pains and injuries!

Injuries are the worst.

And often we do need to adapt our training around them.

But they aren’t an excuse to not move or exercise at all.

Often there are so many ways to modify around aches and pains.

And your exact injury may dictate which modifications you need.

For some a shoulder injury may mean no push ups or pressing at all.

For others, it may mean just modifying off an incline for push ups or using lighter bands to do a chest press.

Even if you have an ankle injury and can’t stand to train, you can do so many seated upper body exercises and even mini band moves to target parts or your lower body.

It may not be your ideal, but it will keep you in the habit and routine and can even help you recover quicker because of the anabolic hormonal environment you are creating by continuing to train.

You can even do some unilateral exercises on the unaffected side to help you retain lean muscle even while your training intensity may be lower.

Plus, resting an injury, while it may be necessary, doesn’t correct the movement compensations and overload that resulted in the issue.

Using this time you have to take the step back to address those mobility restrictions and areas of weakness can help you come back stronger.

While you don’t want to push through the pain and ultimately make things worse through even compensating, having an injury shouldn’t hold you back from staying active in some way, shape or form!

Even walking may be meeting yourself where you are at to stay in the routine!

The more you do, the more you do and we don’t want to lose that momentum forward.

Excuse #4: I can’t go to the gym.

But I have to train at home.

I don’t have time to make it to the gym.

I travel and only have a hotel room with very little space.

I don’t have any equipment…

Not having access to a gym is not a reason not to train.

Honestly, especially if you’re just starting out or starting back, you may be better off training at home using just your own bodyweight!

This can help you dial in and master those fundamentals and even save you the time of a drive to a gym so you can spend it on training instead.

Do not underestimate how amazing bodyweight workouts can be no matter our fitness level.

Even if you’re more advanced, you can create progression by changing the range of motion on moves, adjusting tempos, creating more instability through unilateral exercises and even through how you design your workouts and the volume you include.

Use what you’ve got because something is better than nothing and can help you build that solid foundation!

And if you’ve said “I can’t go to the gym” because you’re embarrassed or nervous about going to the gym?

Don’t be!

I know that is easier said than done, BUT hiring a coach can help you have that security to learn with direction. They can be your guide to a new place.

(SHAMELESS PLUG for my coaching…Schedule A Consult!)

Also just recognize that change and a new environment can be intimidating so find ways to help yourself ease in even if you start by training at home to gain more confidence in your movements and get in a routine first!

If you’ve found yourself making these excuses, here’s a great workout you can try this week.

No equipment is required and I’ll share one modification although there are so many little variations you can make to tweak it to fit your needs and goals

The Bodyweight Burner

Set a timer for 10 minutes and complete as many rounds through the circuit as you can. Rest only as needed and try to beat the number of reps or the variations of moves you used next time through!

Circuit:
5-10 reps per side Airborne Lunge
5-10 reps per side Single Arm Doorway Row
5-10 reps per side Side Lunge With Pulse
5-10 reps per side Side Lunge With Pulse

If you have weights or bands, you can always swap in moves using those!

Workouts don’t have to be long or complicated to produce results and create those healthy sustainable routines.

Especially starting out, to overcome those excuses, recognize that less is more! You can always add as you feel comfortable!

And if you’re looking to prove that age is just a number and that fitness is about ability, check out my How To Build Muscle At Any Age (7 Tips) video next!

–> How To Build Muscle At Any Age (7 Tips)

And another helpful video on building muscle with bodyweight training:

–> How To Build Muscle Faster WITHOUT Weights

FHP 509 – Can You Lose Body Fat From Specific Body Parts? Living Boldly with Kelsea Hellyar

by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 7, 2023 | podcast

In today’s episode…

I want to talk about sacrifice and why it’s needed to reach any goal
I’m excited to then share an interview I did with Kelsea from Constantly Varied Gear to talk about living boldly and loving the journey
I’ll also share my favorite macro hack for quickly being able to hit your macros with go-to meals you can tweak as you need
Can you lose body fat from specific body parts? We’ll cover stubborn fat, such as the menopause belly, and spot reduction and some of the science behind fat loss and spot lipolysis.
And finally a must have foam rolling tool you can easily make at home that will improve your spinal mobility and help you prevent and alleviate neck, shoulder, back and even SI joint aches and pains

Check out Kelsea and Constantly Varied Gear:

CVGWebsite: https://www.constantlyvariedgear.com/

CVG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/constantly_varied_gear/

How To Build Strength At Any Age (4 TIPS!)

by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 6, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness

Being strong can mean so many different things. And our strength goals change as we get older. Our priorities can shift.

But if you’re looking for the best way to build strength as you get older so you can move, feel and look your best then this video and the 3 tips I’ll go over are key.

At the end of the video, I’ll also share one of my favorite ways of loading down moves to improve your stability, balance and core strength!

Hey guys it’s Cori from Redefining Strength where we help you feel, look and move your best at any and every age.

While we may want to increase our deadlift weights, learn to rep out those pull ups or master specific movements, building strength as we get older is also about maintaining our mobility and being able to conquer any challenges life throws at us.

We want to be able to vacation and hike, kayak, paddle board or enjoy the activities we love.

We want to avoid aches and pains and feel and move our best while also looking fabulous.

That’s why I wanted to share the best way to build strength at any age and 3 tips to help you improve your workouts.

At the end of the video I’ll also talk about an underutilized way of increasing the resistance you use on moves to improve your stability, balance and core strength!

When we’re working to build strength, often we get focused on lifting heavier. Or doing a harder variation.

But we have to remember that strength comes from the ability to recruit the correct muscles at the correct times in the correct order to the correct extent.

You can lift more because you’re able to recruit muscles faster and more efficiently.

It’s why if you want to build strength at any age, you can’t ignore the importance of improving your mind-body connection.

And especially as we get older, often we see our balance decline and reactions slow because our mind-body connection isn’t as strong.

It’s why we need to be intentional with our training and focus on what we feel working.

It’s why it is key, during our workouts, we constantly ask ourselves, “What do I feel working?”

Because what we feel involved in the movement is what is benefiting from the exercise.

If you perform a deadlift and only feel your lower back, you won’t see the results from that hip hinge movement that you want.

You may even end up with lower back aches and pains.

It’s why you need to constantly assess what muscles are powering the movements to modify the exercises, change your cues and form or even try a different variation until you can make sure you’re recruiting the correct muscles.

Because no matter how amazing the move supposedly is, you won’t get the benefits and strengthen the muscles you want to strengthen if you don’t feel them working.

Strength isn’t built by performing an exercise while mimicking proper form – it’s built by using the correct muscles to do the movement.

If you focus on improving your mind-body connection so you can feel the correct muscles working, you’ll ultimately get stronger and be able to lift more and tackle those harder exercise variations while putting yourself at less risk for injury!

As you focus on what you feel working during exercises, earning those harder variations as you go, you want to dial in your training implementing these tips….

Tip #1: Focus on unilateral moves.

Unilateral or one sided moves can be awkward.

They can be uncomfortable.

They can make us feel off balance and force us to use lighter weights than we could lift with a bilateral or two-sided variation.

But they truly are essential if we want to stay functionally strong as we get older.

They help improve our balance, stability and core strength.

Unilateral moves also isolate each side to help us correct imbalances to be able to lift more while avoiding future injury.

While ideally we’d never be injured the simple fact is that often, as we get older, injuries and aches and pains tend to add up.

Because of these previous injuries, and just the fact that in everyday life we tend to have a dominant side we favor, we often have strength imbalances between both sides.

Including unilateral moves can not only help us correct these imbalances, but they can prevent our stronger side from taking over and working harder.

This can lead to us ultimately seeing gains even in those bilateral lifts because each side is pulling its weight!

So include variations like the single arm bench press or a single leg squat to bench even.

They will challenge your body in new ways to improve your mind-body connection and help you build that functional strength you need to take on any challenge that comes your way as you get older!

They can even help you improve your mobility by allowing you to truly strengthen through a full range of motion!

Tip #2: Move in every direction.

Staying functionally strong and mobile means moving in every direction. We need to learn how to control all of the joint actions our body can perform.

That’s why it is key we include anti-rotational but also rotational moves.

It’s also why it is key we include pushing, pulling, hinging and squatting movements that address the different planes of motion.

For example, consider the lunge.

So often we just lunge forward or backward.

We progress the move by adding loads or by increasing the range of motion.

But there are so many other angles we can lunge in to improve our hip and knee stability, not to mention target different muscles to different extents.

The side lunge is a great way to target your glutes and adductors more.

The curtsy lunge can be a great lunge variation to work your glutes more.

While the front angled lunge can be a great way to target your quads and adductors to a greater extent.

And lunging in all of these different directions can help you keep your legs strong and knees and hips healthy.

If you do have previous knee issues, you can do many of these lunges still by lunging shorter or by reducing active knee flexion as you do the other mobility work you need.

But moving in every direction to strengthen muscles using all of the joint actions they control is so key to staying strong as we get older!

Tip #3: Focus on compound movements, especially ones that challenge your coordination.

As we get older we tend to want to shy away from uncomfortable and more complicated movements.

But challenging our coordination keeps not only our body but also our mind strong.

So including compound and hybrid movements that challenge our coordination improves our mind-body connection to help us build strength.

I’ve had many clients get frustrated by the bodyweight sit thru. It’s an awkward movement pattern many of us haven’t done before.

But by learning to control this rotational move, they improve their rotational core strength as well as their shoulder and hip stability.

And by learning to perform this new movement pattern, they improve their ability to recruit muscles quickly in a new way.

The more we are able to call on whatever muscles we need whenever we need them the stronger we will be. And the more able to tackle new challenges and avoid falls and injury.

So that climber push up or deadlift to row exercise you’ve been avoiding, stop avoiding it.

You may have to modify. You may have to reset or correct yourself. But by conquering this new challenge you’ll ultimately build strength.

Progression doesn’t just come through adding loads.

The challenge of new movement patterns and combinations pays off!

The final tip, and a great way to add loads and build functional strength while creating instability and an anti-rotational core challenge is with offset weights or offset loading.

With offset loading you will use a weight that has a heavier load on one side.

This may mean using two dumbbells of different weights or even a barbell loaded unevenly.

You will want to start light with this as it is deceptively hard.

But you will use the uneven load to challenge your body to fight against wanting to rotate or lean because of the difference in loads.

This is super key as often, in every day life, we are carrying awkward objects or things that are a different weight on each side.

And with this offset loading, remember you can even change the loading placement.

Often we get very used to just loading in one way, like with dumbbells held down by our sides.

But you can also hold dumbbells up at your shoulders or even front load with kettlebells.

So include not only uneven loads to challenge your stability and strength but also vary up your loading placement to target and include even different muscles in your basic exercises.

Building strength, especially as we get older, is about focusing on that mind-body connection, addressing imbalances to improve our balance and stability while challenging our body to not only lift heavier but move in every direction.

Using these 3 tips you can improve your strength gains from your workouts at any age.

And if you’re looking to not only increase your strength but also build muscle as you get older, check out my How to Build Muscle At Any Age (7 TIPS!) next!

–> How to Build Muscle At Any Age (7 TIPS!)

FHP 508 – 3 Nutrition Myths (Debunked), Meal Timing, Unilateral Modifications

by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 28, 2023 | podcast

In This Episode:

I’ll talk about why now IS the right time to start
Michelle and I will go over healing our relationship with food and helping future generations
I’ll debunk 3 meal timing myths
Say why being “good all week” isn’t yielding the results you want…
And then I’ll share a great way to get in unilateral work when you can’t do a full single leg variation

8 Best Exercises For Stronger Legs (You’re Not Doing)

by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 27, 2023 | Blog, Butt, Exercises, Functional Fitness

Looking for some amazing leg exercises to take your training to the next level?

Then you’ll love these 8 lower body exercises I’ll share in this video!

These moves take those fundamental movements and add a little twist to the basics to help you progress through not just adding loads but also different types of tension, different loading placements, different bases of support and even different ranges of motion.

There are so many ways to vary moves to match our specific needs and goals. With these tweaks you can even impact how much you are using specific muscles involved.

And it’s key we find different ways to progress, especially the longer we’ve been training!

Hey guys, it’s Cori from Redefining Strength where we help you feel, look and move your best at any and every age.

While we are never above the basics, and should always return to them, we can make little tweaks to movements to keep our training fresh and interesting while creating progression in new and different ways.

Especially the longer we’ve been training, the more we have to explore different options to create that progression and drive muscle growth.

These movement variations can also be fun as we get older to not just beat our bodies up by trying to force heavier loads or even to help us when we’ve hit a stickpoint with the weights we can move during a specific movement.

That’s why I wanted to share 8 amazing lower body exercises that create progression in different ways!

Move #1: Cable Step Up

Step ups are a great unilateral leg exercise to help you strengthen each side independently to correct imbalances.

And while they work your entire leg, you can make them more glute intensive by changing how you load them down.

By using a cable anchored down low to apply resistance to the movement, you can emphasize the resistance on the drive up, helping you to even better activate that glute on your working side.

Hold a cable in one hand on the same side as the foot you’ve put on the bench. Focus on that push through that foot on the bench to drive up to standing as if a string was pulling you up by your head.

That focus on the drive with the resistance of the cable will make you feel that glute working even more!

To modify this move, lower the bench or box.

To make it even more glute intensive, use a higher box and even start on top only lowering down till your toe grazes the ground!

Move #2: Staggered Stance Squat

Squats are an important movement pattern to train. The more you learn to control that squatting movement, the more you can keep your knees and hips healthy and happy!

The Staggered Stance Squat variation puts an emphasis on each side independently without creating as much instability as a full single leg or pistol squat.

Because your feet are staggered with your back foot back at the instep of your front foot and the heel raised, you are making one side work harder while also reducing the impact that your ankle mobility can have on your squat depth.

Limited ankle dorsiflexion, or the ability to draw our toes up toward our shins, can lead to us not being able to squat as deep AND even putting more stress and strain on our knees as all of our weight shifts forward during a squat.

So this variation may be the tweak you need!

Just make sure you are lifting the heel of the foot staggered back and focusing your weight on that fully planted leg.

Do not stagger the foot too far back though and turn this into more of a lunge.

You can progress this move by adding weights, even making it more core intensive by holding a dumbbell or kettlebell for a goblet squat, or you can modify this move by limiting the range of motion and sitting down to a bench or box.

Move #3: Double Banded Hip Thrusters

Hip Thrusters are a must-do move if you want to build strong glutes.

But the barbell can be difficult to work with at times.

And sometimes you want a variation more meant to be that accessory exercises after your lift to create that pump and burn while targeting your glute medius more.

That’s the beauty of the double banded hip thrusters.

Not only will this move work your glute max, but the mini band around your legs will also really target your glute medius to improve your hip stability.

The band over your hips, which is easiest to anchor off of j-hooks in a rig or squat rack, applies even more resistance as well at the top of the movement when your glutes are the strongest.

Just make sure you really drive out against the mini band as you drive up against the resistance band. You want to fully extend your hips, while maintaining a posterior pelvic tilt to better engage your glutes and prevent yourself from arching your lower back and compensating.

Move #4: Deficit Split Squat

Changing up the range of motion of a movement can impact the benefit we get from it.

We can limit the range of motion to spend more time under tension or we can increase the range of motion to increase the challenge while also helping to improve our mobility and stability.

With the Deficit Split Squat, you are increasing the range of motion to help you strengthen your quads, hamstrings and glutes, but also improve your hip flexibility and mobility.

This is also a great way to vary up the Bulgarian Split Squat or Balance Lunge we often turn to, putting the emphasis on lifting up that front foot to increase the range of motion we move through.

Just make sure you actually lower all the way down using that full range of motion.

If you lift your front foot up but do not lunge any deeper, you aren’t getting the extra benefit of the range of motion.

To advance this move, you can not only increase the height of what you’re standing on but also add loads.

And if you are just starting out, you can actually LIMIT the range of motion of the split squat as well to learn to control it by placing a block under your knee to help you learn to control the range of motion you have currently.

Move #5: Landmine Band Deadlift

Deadlifts, or a hip hinge of some form, should be included in almost everyone’s workout routine at some point.

While deadlifts so often get demonized for causing lower back pain, learning to control the hip hinge properly can actually help you AVOID lower back issues as you get older.

They are an amazing exercise to build that posterior chain and strengthen your glutes and hamstrings.

You can further target these muscles, and even force yourself to slow down the movement, while progressing it, by using two types of resistance – both bands and a barbell – like in the Landmine Band Deadlift.

The fixed anchor of the barbell can also be helpful as it prevents the weights from drifting forward and away from your body like they can in a traditional deadlift which is also what can lead to lower back overload.

The band applies more tension at the top of the deadlift to work the glutes even more and forces you to slow down the eccentric portion of the movement, or the lowering down of the deadlift to really work those hamstrings.

This is a great variation to improve your muscle hypertrophy without you trying to force a heavier load you aren’t yet ready to include.

And if you don’t have a landmine, you implement two types of resistances using dumbbells instead!

Move #6: Bench Supported Single Leg Deadlift

While many of us don’t like the awkwardness of balance moves, like the single leg deadlift, especially because we can’t use as heavy a weight, they are key to include.

Working on that mind-body connection to improve our balance is key to help us avoid injury as we get older. And unilateral moves also help us correct imbalances and improve our core stability.

However, if you are finding you’re not yet ready for the full balance challenge of the single leg deadlift, or you want to mix up your unilateral deadlift work while using heavier loads, you can do a bench supported variation.

This variation takes out some of the stability demands which may allow you to even better activate the hamstring of the standing leg.

With this move, you will put your knee of your lifted leg back on a bench. You can then press down into this knee slightly as you hinge over, pushing your butt back. But you want to focus on really creating that tension through that standing leg.

Press that standing foot down firmly into the ground and push the ground away as you drive back up to standing. If you add weights, lower the weights back toward your instep to protect your lower back and really help yourself sit your butt back as you hinge over.

Move #7: Band Lean Backs

While this move may not be right for you if you have knee issues limiting your ability to knee or control knee flexion, this move is often demonized by those with knee pain when it can actually be a key component of rehab for some.

Because you’re also working your quads while in hip extension, this is also a great way to target the rectus femoris more than during a normal leg extension movement.

And the band creates a great way to progress the basic bodyweight lean back and applies resistance in a different way than just holding a dumbbell up at your chest does.

The band forces you to really control the eccentric portion of the move, or the lean back, and then applies more resistance on your quads as you drive back up to kneeling tall as the band stretches.

It makes your quads really work through the full range of motion!

The band can also be used to modify the movement if you face the anchor point as it will add assistance to help you control the lean back.

Just really make sure you are moving at your knees to lean back and not just arching your lower back.

Even focus on that glute engagement through the movement to keep your hips extended.

And if you really can’t kneel, you can still do quad flexes lying on a bench to get the benefits of a hip extended position to target that rectus femoris.

Move #8: Airborne Lunge

Even without weights or equipment we can create workouts that challenge us.

One great way to do this is by creating less of a base of support and more instability in a movement.

With the Airborne Lunge you are creating that instability by using only a single leg for support to balance and even making the basic lunge more challenging because of the range of motion you can perform with this movement.

This lunge can be a great way to build up toward that full pistol squat while targeting your glutes a bit more because it is more of a hip hinge movement.

When you do this exercise, you will hinge at the hips as you bend your knees to drop that back knee to touch the ground. You do not want to touch that back foot down. Just lightly touch your knee. Make sure your front heel stays down as you touch the ground.

You can then make this move even more challenging by changing up the tempo and including a slower lower down or even a pause at the bottom.

To modify it, you can hold onto something in front of you or even place a block beneath your back knee to limit the range of motion you have to control to start!

Every move we include should have a purpose and be based on our needs and goals. There is no one right exercise. No one best move.

There are so many ways to create variations that fit our needs and goals!

And if you are focusing on building muscle, without gaining fat, check out…

–> Can You Lose Fat AND Build Muscle At The SAME Time?