Photo by Tiffany Knaak.
As a little gift for Mother’s Day I have asked one of the fit moms I know to write a guest post (that is her in the picture above). This mom has a very good view on body image (which is a huge issue these days) and has inspired hundreds with her real-life, down to Earth, no-BS messages on Facebook/Instagram and her everyday approach to fitness. She has fallen in love with fitness all while juggling the responsibilities of a wife, entrepreneur and mother of dragons. She is an excellent personal trainer that encourages women (and men) to respect and love their bodies all while improving their health and fitness through exercise (resistance training- AKA weightlifting – and HIIT are a large portion). The following (except for the last paragraph and the disclaimer at the bottom) is advice and positive reinforcement directly from this person.
Initially, when I was asked to be a guest writer on this blog, naturally, I was extremely thrilled and humbled by this amazing opportunity, but the second I sat down to write something ‘inspirational’ or ‘motivational’, I actually had a hard time finding the courage and confidence I felt it took to actually give this type of advice. In my opinion, I’m just your average small town mom, trying to raise anarchist toddlers into decent, well-rounded men all while working in the health and fitness industry and trying to empower women.
I personally believe the health and fitness industry has done a fantastic job of making women, and men for that matter, dislike their bodies, as well as themselves. The superficial focus has ushered in obsessive eating habits, negative self-image, frustration, guilt, dissatisfaction, determining self-worth by numbers (i.e. the scale, pant size, etc.), and a surplus of costly gimmicks and worthless supplements. And it’s absolute nonsense. Actually, that word isn’t nearly strong enough… It’s straight up bullshit.
I love training people, but I do not love helping people ‘get their bodies back’. Rather, my goal is to change the mindset into what being healthy actually is. My focus is balance, happiness, health, strength, purpose… Everything I find important. Everything a caliper can’t measure and a scale can’t weigh.
My goal as a personal trainer is teach others how to develop a sustainable lifestyle so you’ll be able to maintain the results you achieve with me into the next year, and the year after… I want my clients to feel confident in what they’re doing and proud of who they are. Because to me, it’s not about how healthy or fit you LOOK; it’s about how healthy and fit you FEEL. Old mindsets don’t serve new growth. So instead of using numbers to decide on your worth, I use performance, happiness, strength and confidence. I always tell my clients, consult how you FEEL before you ask what you weigh.
Why do I feel so strongly about this? I can relate. Because I’ve been there.
At my heaviest, I was 176lbs… and I wasn’t pregnant either. That’s right. 176lbs on a 5’3″ frame. I was large, and constantly busting outta my clothes. And I mean literally… like my clothes were ripping because I was getting too big for them. And the worst part about it is the fact that it didn’t even phase me. I genuinely didn’t care because I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy with who I was, where I was, or with anything I ever did in my life. I worked over 60 hours a week, I had an hour each way for my commute, and my dinner was a 6-pack I would pick up at the liquor store every night after I went tanning… Literally, my life. 5 days a week, for almost a year. Wicked healthy right?
But then I found value… And I found it through someone who had found it in me. And that’s how I got started with my journey to a healthier life. I found enough value in myself to actually start taking care of myself. More than half the battle of making a change isn’t the lack of knowledge or motivation, it’s the lack of self-worth, and the fact that people are scared. They’re scared that it’s gonna be hard. They’re scared that it’s gonna be embarrassing. They’re scared that they’re going to fail.
Well let me tell you something… Some of the hardest times and things you’ll ever have to go through in life will be when you’re transitioning from one version of yourself to another. Growth is rarely comfortable… But it’s taught me a valuable lesson: the secret to speeding up success is to enhance your ability to embrace correction regardless of how awkward, painful, or humiliating it might be.
Be brave enough to be bad at something new. Your body can do damn near anything, it’s your mind you have to try and convince. Once you get over that threshold, your possibilities are endless. I have found through my own personal experience that I feel most confident when I’m practically drowning in my own sweat. To me, the weight room doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, black or white, young or old, starter or back-up. It doesn’t care if you’re gifted or not. It doesn’t care if you’re having a bad day, and it doesn’t accept excuses. There is stability in that room. Those 45 pound plates will weigh the same tomorrow as they do today. And I think there’s really something to be said in that.
Often times, we view exercising as a form of punishment, or something we HAVE to do because we ate something we shouldn’t have. Having that mentality will never get you where you want to be. Exercising is a blessing… Something that many people take for granted, myself included. Movement, in any form, is a celebration of the body, not a chore. It’s loving yourself enough to take care of your body… Whatever works for you – running, boxing, yoga, weightlifting. Just make sure you find the time to sweat every single day. You owe it to yourself and to your body.
Perseverance is one of the greatest elements of success. If you work long and hard enough, you are bound to not only see results, but to keep them. Your excuses for not working out are usually louder than your reasons for it. Don’t rely on reason. Rely on habit. If you make a conscience effort to move your body every day, no matter what – you won’t even consider whether or not you SHOULD, you just WILL. I know this to be true because I am living proof of what change looks like. I am living proof of what it means to hit rock bottom and to climb chain after chain of those steep mountain ranges. But it can be done… It all just comes down to one simple question: how bad do you want it?
All of that was written by Nicole Railsback (who is also featured in the picture!). She is a personal trainer (and manager) at Anytime Fitness in Saint Joseph Michigan. If you need more motivation than you can give yourself, need someone to push you, need someone who believes in you, needs someone to show you the ropes then she is definitely one of those people. You can reach out directly to Anytime Fitness in Saint Joseph or you can email her at the following email; nicole.railsback@gmail.com. Happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s (or soon to be moms) out there! I just want to end this on a real note. Mothers are some of the toughest people I know. Their bodies literally go through hell and are sometimes permanently changed from becoming a mother. It is a thing they all see coming and willingly take it on to bring another life into this world. That is one hell of a sacrifice. Some of this beautiful damage can be undone with training and hard work, some of it can’t (hormone changes, breast changes, scars, stretch marks, etc.) I think (hope) I can speak for all the fathers out there when I say that we respect and love you for the work, dedication and sacrifice that comes with being a mother. My wife grows more beautiful in my eyes every day as my child grows inside of her. I don’t think she can be more attractive to me than she is as the mother of my child (scars, stretch marks, breast changes be-damned). They are all part of the beautiful battle scars of motherhood and make you more beautiful in my mind! Happy Mother’s Day!
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