What a beautiful day! After weeks & weeks of rain, it’s a warm, sunny week in the Boston area!
After my workout today, I went for a massage. While many see massages as pampering, mine are not. My massage therapist is doing body work – she’s finding problems & helping me fix them.
Fixing problems isn’t comfortable. It doesn’t feel good. But the pain (discomfort) is the pathway to progress.
The massage isn’t comfortable. Often, she has to remind me to breathe because I’m wincing and holding my breath through the discomfort.
She’ll often ask, “Are you okay?” and I always respond, “Do what needs to be done. It’s worth the pain to make the progress.”
It’s worth the pain to make the progress.
Here’s the alternative: tell her to stop when it gets uncomfortable and miss the benefit while allowing the problem to compound. No. Absolutely not.
Unfortunately, that’s the chosen approach of many: quit or dial back when it gets uncomfortable.
Most people aren’t willing to endure the pain to make the progress.
They aren’t willing to endure the pain of temptation, the pain of discipline, the pain of “missing out” or the pain of a tough workout even though progress is right on the other side.
(For those of you who are about to get all crazy about the word “pain”, call it discomfort and find the point in what I’m saying.)
Change isn’t comfortable.
If you’re quitting at the edge of your comfort zone, don’t expect the joy, relief and pride of accomplishment.
Don’t talk about how badly you want the results if you won’t push past the pain so you can get to the progress.
I got a chance to practice that discomfort zone in today’s workout. I PR’d my overhead squat and hit 3 sets of 3 reps at the PR! (PR stands for personal record.)
It was so worth stepping outside my comfort zone!
“Weightlifting Wednesday”
Overhead Squat – Heavy Set of 3
Then,
EMOMx12, Alternating:
Min 1: 12 KB Front Rack Lunges (30’s)
Min 2: 12 Pushups
Min 3: 12 DB Box Step-ups (20’s)
Min 4: 40 second Plank Hold
It wasn’t an intense workout but it was great skill work and a welcome change from the recent cardio-intensive WODs.
On the food front:
I treated myself to two of the coffee drinks I shared yesterday – butter coffee from Picnik. I had one when I woke up around 5am and a second after my workout around 8:30am.
I had an early lunch around 10:45am – Paleo Power Meals cobb salad with added raw cabbage. This meal fills me up for hours!
At 3pm I had 3 grilled chicken strips with about 1 tbsp of honey mustard and dinner was around 6pm: spaghetti squash with meat sauce, also from Paleo Power Meals.
If you give Paleo Power Meals a try, be sure to use the coupon code ebprimal20 to save 20% on your first order!
Ahhhh, another running workout. These spring days will turn my weakness into a strength, damnit!
I am a strategy girl. My favorite moments at the gym are when I learn a new technique or strategy that will make me better.
Why? Because it makes things easier.
When you become more efficient in the way you perform a lift or move your body, that workout becomes easier.
That’s probably why I get excited about working on my weaknesses – every incremental improvement makes things easier.
The same is of course true of food choices, finances & relationships – when we learn something that makes us better and then we implement that strategy, things get easier.
Who else wants to make things easier?!
During today’s warmup, we worked on our running technique. This often gets overlooked. We just think, “oh yeah, run. I can do that” (kinda like how we approach eating – we overlook the importance of strategy and just do what we’ve always done).
One of the things the coach reminded us is to stay light on our feet. Our feet should be quiet and quick.
Pull your feet up off the ground as quickly as you can, as if the ground was hot lava. And, don’t trudge through the run, slamming your feet down with each step.
Fast, light feet. It makes it easier. Even as a mindset, it helps. Thinking “I’m fast & light” makes the run far easier than thinking “God I’m slow. This sucks. My legs feel heavy.”
“Helen” (modified)
3 Rounds:
300 Meter Run
21 Kettlebell Swings (53/35)
12 Pull-ups
After the workout I did a 5K meter row at a recovery pace – kind of the equivalent of a leisure walk after a workout. It felt great!
I want to make one last point about the idea of fast & light.
How often do we trudge through our decision making? We hem and haw and get all dramatic about what we should or shouldn’t do.
That’s the mental equivalent of having thunderous, trudging steps on a run. It makes it harder.
In your decisions, be quick & light.
Don’t negotiate with yourself. Make the decision and move right along.
Consider what will make you feel lightest & happiest and move right along.
Light and fast. It will make your choices & your days easier, for sure!
On the food front:
One of my favorite restaurants in Austin, TX recently expanded and now offers bottled butter coffee so of course I had to try it out!
I had a bottle of this in lieu of my morning coffee. One bottle is 210 calories, 17g fat from butter & MCT oil, 10g protein from grass-fed whey protein and 1g of sugar. I usually drink my coffee black and don’t like sweetened coffee drinks, so this was pretty good. I bought a case & and I’ll definitely finish it!
Around 12p I had a Paleo Power Meals cobb salad with a few cups of raw cabbage added in for fiber & satiety. Those cruciferous veggies like brussels, broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower are everything for me from an estrogen detoxification standpoint!
Around 3pm I had 2 grilled chicken strips with Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo. Like I’ve said, I hate mayonnaise but this stuff from PK is awesome!
Dinner was one of my latest favorites from Paleo Power Meals: steak frites – steak with sweet potato fries. I only do starch a couple nights a week but sweet potato fries are a fave way to do it!
Here’s to making the rest of your day the best of your day!
Are you battling against yourself? Do you feel like there’s this ongoing tug-of-war between your good intentions & your choices?
I did a short fast last week and came out with a really clear understanding that I am NOT ever trying to win a fight against myself.
The notion that there’s an internal battle is just an idea. In today’s episode I’m walking you through a strategy to end the battle against yourself and approach moments of temptation by realizing there is no battle and you have one clear objective.
Today wasn’t a normal day. I was in a funk. First, I was really tired. Second, I was just kinda unmotivated and unfocused.
While I’d love to wake up motivated, focused & energized each day, I know it’s not realistic.
Here’s what I know: my choices aren’t tied to how I feel when I wake up. I don’t need to be motivated, focused or energized to take care of myself. At some point that wasn’t true. But because I decide that it is true now, it’s true now.
We can’t continue to be a victim of our feelings or let our feelings dictate our choices if we want to reach our goals.
Just like my thoughts don’t make my choices for me, my feelings don’t either.
Before letting the funk take over my day, I’ll ask, “what must get done today?”
Knowing that a lot of pressure will be relieved (and I’ll naturally feel better) when those things are done, I get to work on them. No procrastination, no whining, just work.
That’s how I spent the first 3 hours of the day.
NOTE: The ONLY thing that goes on the aforementioned list is MUST-DOS. For example, I workout daily but it’s not a “must-do” so it doesn’t go on the list.
When clients email me & aren’t feeling motivated, I’ll ask them to focus exclusively on today. I’ll ask them, “what are you able & willing to do just for today?”
I asked myself that same question:
Elizabeth, what are you able & willing to do just for today?
My brain was screaming that I wanted sour watermelons (???) & a nap.
I am willing to eat real food just for today.
I am willing to say “not now” to my cravings just for today.
I am willing to workout just for today.
Here’s the rub: because of my work schedule & appointments, I removed the possibility of a workout at the gym. I typically schedule my day around a workout at the gym but that wasn’t possible today.
But, just because I can’t workout at the gym today doesn’t mean I can’t workout at all. Sure, my choices changed my options but it didn’t take them away.
I did a fast but great EMOM at home. EMOM stands for every minute on the minute.
EMOM 12
7 goblet squats (55 lb kettlebell)
8 burpees
So the way that works is: minute 1 you do 8 goblet squats (you could do air squats if you don’t have weight). Then you rest until the top of minute 2 when you begin your 8 burpees and then rest again until the top of the next minute when you go back to the goblet squats.
It’s tougher than it looks!
On the food front:
Oh all the cravings today! It’s certainly a combination of being overtired and hormonal. I don’t have to tell myself “no” but I can certainly push past them for 1 day.
If I give in to them, they will grow.
If I choose real foods and limited sugar (even from natural sources), they’ll fade.
Before heading out to my chiropractor I had spaghetti squash with meat sauce.
Around 7pm I had cauliflower rice and a stuffed pepper.
One thing is for sure: I’m feeling much better at the end of this day than I did at the beginning and I know tomorrow will be a great day! I’ll make it so!
The market for anti-aging products is exploding. By 2021, it’s expected to be a $216 billion dollar industry of lotions, potions, pills, products & procedures.
Companies are looking to capitalize on our deep desire to delay the outward signs of aging.
I have good news: the single most effective (not to mention affordable) anti-aging strategy is at the end of our fork.
I’m not just saying that because I believe in the importance of quality nutrition. It’s just true.
The foods we eat are the building blocks of our bodies. Nothing will influence how well (or poorly) we age than the foods we eat.
In today’s episode we’re talking about the most effective anti-aging nutrition strategies you can start implementing today.
