I talk to a lot of folks about fitness.
Actually, scratch that – I listen to a lot of folks talk about fitness. Maybe even moreso than usual right now. Sometimes it’s about what they’re doing, sometimes what they’re not. Sometimes the why behind either of those things. But to this day, after a decade in the industry, I’m still a little bit surprised how much people want to talk about it.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Hell, I’ve still got questions and concerns about fitness, practically on the daily. And I love to talk about it, to newbies and seasoned exercisers alike. Anyway, I’m clearly not the only one, and it’s not a topic relegated to fitness professionals.
When I get into these conversations, I often hear the same themes. Doesn’t really matter the age, gender, class, size, or life situation of a person – they’ve got struggles, and they’ve got frustrations, and they’ve got questions about how to overcome them. You wanna guess the top three? I’ll give you a sec.
You probably didn’t need the whole 30 seconds to guess that the top three things most fitness conversations center around are:
Time.
Overwhelm.
Being tired.
Sound like something you can relate to? Any one or maybe even all three? Yeah, again, most of us can, myself included. And these definitely still apply right now, at home or not.
OK, so then, how does the conversation go? If this is what we talk about so frequently, these are the struggles and challenges I listen to so often, shouldn’t I have an answer for figuring them out?
Well, no. There isn’t one I can give you, really. Or not specifically, anyway. And that’s, then, where the conversation goes…
The truth of it is that time is a real, actual, legitimate challenge for a lot of folks. It’s not an excuse. And it’s not always something we can find or make.
Same goes for overwhelm. There will always be at least short periods, or perhaps longer seasons, of life when we’re overloaded and probably dealing with too much to handle without feeling the effects.
And as a result of those things, coupled with the horrible pressure of the culture and society we live in, we find ourselves exhausted – mentally, physically, and emotionally.
It’s no wonder people struggle to get to the gym, or to be present during yoga, or to get up early for a run.
Which, is basically the first answer that I have:
Acknowledge what your life looks like, and the fact that you’re normal (if that exists, but I think you know what I mean), OK (as long as you are, actually, safe), and also, not alone in this.
Sometimes, you have to release some pressure, not add it. Regardless of what social media or your BFF or your favorite gossip rag have to say, you can give yourself permission to just be for a minute. You can also choose to accept where you’re at for now.
Which, uh huh, I know. Let me stop you before you jump back in or roll your eyes. Second answer I have is this:
Acknowledge that maybe there’s something to be learned or gained from a pause.
Have you looked, recently, at the factors contributing to your time, overwhelm, and tiredness struggles? (Admittedly, this looks real different than it might have a couple months ago, but you get my point.) If the answer is no, that’s numero uno. If it’s, well, yeah, I can name everything, then the next step looks different for everyone. It looks more like taking the questions a layer deeper to values and priorities. As in, maybe, just maybe – gasp! – fitness doesn’t actually matter right now.
Which, whoa whoa, what?!? I know! Wild idea. But answer number three:
Acknowledge that you might need to focus on something other than fitness for the time being.
And that’s also normal, OK, and you wouldn’t be the only person who needed to take a break. Allow this as a possibility.
Those three answers given, about 75% of the time, people can pretty firmly come to the conclusion that a healthy lifestyle is, indeed, important to them in some form or fashion, and now.
Which is where the practical tip-a-roos come in. Fourth answer I give:
Acknowledge that the best way to fit in fitness is to figure out what it looks like in your life, not the other way around.
Meaning, we often strive to do fitness in a way that isn’t something we’ve put much thought into. We do what we think we should be doing, as frequently as we understand we’re supposed to be doing it, for the length of time we’re told we need to. Basically, that involves a lot of forcing, and that leads to the time problem, the overwhelm issue, and the tiredness factor.
Which, digging deeper sounds even more overwhelming and time-consuming, and I get that. It really doesn’t have to be though.
Start here with answer number five:
Acknowledge that you’re going to have to take ownership. You probably like to do that anyway, so apply it to your fitness too.
That looks briefly like this:
- Understand there is no minimum when it comes to movement. One minute of exercise counts. Everything counts. Every type of everything counts. Shift your mindset here.
- Discover what you like. Try things. New things, old things, on your own, with people, five minutes, two hours. Take note of what you actually like, and what you find yourself dragging through because you think you should.
- Combine those two things through your week, incorporating only the things you actually like, for various quantities of time.
- Have contingency plans. Remember: you won’t always be able to make the time, some days you’ll be more overwhelmed than others, and when you’re tired, it’s a signal to rest. Having a plan A is great, but having plans B, C, and D is even better – with at least one of those involving sleep.
This whole email has probably taken you about five minutes to read, and it might take that long, a little less, or way more for the conversation to unfold in real life too. No matter – I don’t ever get tired of having it. I enjoy my work, I find it incredibly fulfilling and meaningful, and frankly, I like to disrupt people’s typical thinking and leave them walking away with a fresh perspective, and hopefully a tidbit to use. They don’t always do anything with it right away, but I know the wheels are turning.
I hope your wheels are turning too.
So, my final answer of this conversation:
Acknowledge that if you’re struggling with figuring out fitness, but you know it matters in your life, it’s worth continuing the conversation to figure out what it looks like for you.
Listen, this repeated conversation is a big part of the basis of Fitness Unraveled. It’s the very first bullet-point takeaway result that you’ll get out of the program, in fact (because everybody loves bullet-point takeaway results):
Figure out what fitness looks like for you.
And since that’s not always as easy as following the steps in answer number five up there all on your own, and it’s definitely not as easy as me telling you what to do, me suggesting a shorter workout because you don’t have much time, me saying you have to say no to some obligations because you’re overwhelmed in life, or me talking about how everyone’s tired – not if you really want to feel better, anyway – we have to extend the conversation.
And now might even be a particularly good time for you to do that.
In the program, we walk through these questions, and plenty of others, in a totally non-intimidating way, to really get to what’s going on with your barriers, how you want to feel, what you enjoy, how you want your life to look, and how fitness can fit into that, specifically – on your terms. At the end, you won’t feel those struggles around time, overwhelm, or tiredness anymore. (And what’s extra great? The tools you learn will also apply to other areas of life where you might feel these struggles too.)
If one or all of those things are on repeat in your world, think about this conversation. Definitely consider implementing the ideas I suggested above, but if you want to extend that work with help, put yourself on the waitlist – there are only going to be eight women in this group. Waitlist gets you access to those limited spots two days earlier than everyone else, just ten days from now.
Reach out with questions by scheduling a call below or emailing me anytime. You can also get a head start with this FREE journaling activity on uncovering your fitness personality.