by Fran of HeyFranHey.com
Ever wonder what your favorite fitness gurus tell themselves, mentally, to get through their daily workouts? Or how they manage to be so consistent? FollowTheLita (Lita Lewis), an online health and fitness enthusiast who is also currently training for a national fitness competition later this year, shares the 5 things that keep her focused and motivated!
1. Believe In Yourself
“The number one problem that keeps people from winning in the United States today is lack of belief in themselves.” – Arthur L. Williams.
It always starts with you. You are truly the captain of your own ship. If you have a dream, a vision, a goal you must first believe you are capable of achieving it. Too often I hear stories from people wanting and wishing to conquer this, take on that, start this, change that but deeper into the conversation I realize they are only speaking wishful words and that they actually lack confidence in themselves that would prevent them from fulfilling their initial goal! You must understand that your words have power, tremendous power so when you speak them into the world, say them with sincerity and with purpose.
Fear is the culprit here, it is fear that deters us from achieving goals, and hinders our efforts of trying. Many people set big goals but fear failure but when we can identify that it is our own fear that cripples us we can the switch things around and find it without ourselves to believe.
A helpful tip that has worked successfully for me is the act of visualization. When I list my goals and I’m clear on what it is I want to achieve I make it a daily habit, usually in the evenings before bedtime, to visualize myself going through the motions of reaching a goal. I visualize myself planning strategically, acknowledging what I’ll need to sacrifice, factoring in time, costs, literally the entire playbook until I can see myself crossing it out with pen on paper! When we visualize ourselves in pursuit of a goal it becomes increasingly obtainable. When you cannot see the end result and have no clue as to where that finish line is, you put yourself at a huge disadvantage. It is essential to believe everything you dream is possible and that your reality is what you make of it. Visualize, see it, plan it, and then execute on the belief that you have already succeeded.
2. Prioritize Your Life
Busy. We can all relate to this word however it should never be used as an excuse to avoid pursuing what you keep claiming to be a priority. We all make excuses in life, and I am certainly no exception but one day I woke up and abandoned all of them. My body started to transform the very day I decided that what I wanted to achieve was much greater than any excuse I had. I took pen to paper and listed what the most important goals in my life are, health and a total body transformation made the top 3. Right then and there I said I would abandon all excuses that would limit my efforts towards reaching these goals and so it began, my journey towards optimum health.
People commonly ask “how’d you do it?” and my answer is simple; I reevaluated my life’s priorities, I set specific goals and accepted that the journey ahead of me was not going to be easy. I got real with myself. Hard work & discipline will sting you, it’ll hurt, perhaps even test your spirit. The first step is to be fully aware & accept that there will be hurdles you’ll need to jump before reaching any finish line.
Excuses will cripple you. Excuses weaken your will. When your will for change exceeds your comfort to remain the same all sorts of awesome happen but prioritization is the first get-real process to reaching any goal.
3. Clean Eating
Don’t think your training efforts will equal a lean, mean physique without partnering your workouts with a CLEAN DIET. Clean eating consists of eating WHOLE FOODS: vegetables, fruit, lean meats/proteins and complex carbohydrates (or as I like to call em’ Earth’s goodies!) The rule of thumb here is to avoid highly processed foods such as fast foods, junk, highly sugary treats. You also want to stay clear of saturated unhealthy fats, preservatives, bleached or otherwise modified foods.
Personally I avoid the grocery aisles with foods that require packaging. Most things that need to be boxed for a long shelf life are most probably modified with all the bad stuff so they can sustain itself for long periods of time, not good. My love for fresh, natural and organic foods may mean I pay a little extra (sometimes a lot extra) but investing in good, fresh, quality foods that I am essentially feeding my body is paramount to me. As far as I’m concerned there is no better investment.
A few tips to practicing a lifestyle of clean eating include:
Eliminate refined sugar (replace sugar craves with foods that have natural sweetness, eg. Fruits)
Cook healthy meals (Get creative, healthy foods can be deliciously prepared)
Pack healthy meals (My life, I’m a cooler carrier, a freakin’ life saver!)
Makes healthy choices when dining out (There is always “good” on a not-so-great menu)
Drink a lot of water (I’m also a fan of hot green/herbal teas)
Eat 5-6 small meals per day (every few hours)
Eliminate alcoholic beverages (or significantly limits it …do your best!)
Always eats breakfast (start the day right, kick that metabolism into gear with some breakfast)
My advice is to make all of the above a LIFESTYLE HABIT but treat yourself to your craving vices from time to time. Avoiding a little sugary goodness may lead to a binge of pure gluttony so a little treat a few times a week isn’t frowned upon!
4. Train Like You Mean It
Nothing pains me more than seeing people in the gym perform various exercises that are nowhere near challenging enough for change. Call me crazy but I thought a gym was a place to exercise your body, challenge it for change, test your strengths, build lean muscle, burn stubborn fat and promote overall health for yourself! If so, then why are you wasting time in social chit chat?! Why are you curling dumbbells better suited for an infant?! Why are you in the mirror fixing your hair more than you are sweating it out?! C’mon people, it’s time to get serious. Train like you mean it, better yet, get your beastmode on and crank it all the way up! Extraordinary change requires extraordinary effort!
I am an avid gym goer (and that may be the biggest understatement I’ve made all year!) and seeing that I am in the gym a whole lot I pay attention to my fellow gym goers. There are people in the gym that show up just as faithfully as I do and I applaud that sort of dedication however I can’t help but notice a lack of change in their physiques and often wonder why they aren’t seeing change. Now, I understand we all have different goals, I certainly can respect that but when I am approached and asked questions about my training routine it becomes very clear that most people don’t need to be told what to do but more so how to do it, and by this I am referring to intensity! I for one train hard, I like to have a set plan of attack, I go in, I put in work and tap out. It’s intense and is usually fast paced and I never fail to give power punching effort – this is what I notice most lack. Train with purpose, train passionately and approach each and every workout session with a specific plan, you will be surprised how much more efficiently you’ll work and how much faster you’ll see results in your figure.
5. The Beauty & The Beast
There is no reason why you can’t be The Beauty AND The Beast. Somehow women tend to think they need to choose between being one or the other, negative! The stereotype associated with being a gymrat apparently voids a woman from also being a beauty. Personally, I couldn’t think of anything sexier than a woman unafraid of getting dirty in the name of health all while maintaining her feminine glow and grace. Outside of making general excuses, many of us will avoid regular exercise for more ridiculous reasons; I don’t want to sweat out my hair!
I use the word ridiculous because I wouldn’t let a fresh blow out deter me from going hard at some cardio but truth be told this is a very common issue for women as it pertains to training. Ladies, I get it, maintaining that fabulous hair-do is important so my only question to you is, how important? Is it more important than obtaining a body of your dreams? Is it more important that being in tip top shape and in great health? Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize!
I am a big fan of Nicole Packer’s “Save Your Do” headband. Wearing it during workouts helps control the frizz by minimizing sweat absorption. Instead of using your hair as an excuse, look for alternative measures to help prevent what it is you’re trying to avoid. The “Save Your Do” will help do just that. Wrap it up ladies and get busy, cute hair is one thing but a tight body is a guaranteed game changer to get noticed for! Find out more on the Save Your Do gym-wrap headband here: http://saveyourdo.com/about/
