Challenge Workouts

*Language warning*

UFC Champ Ronda Rousey is RIGHT ON.

She says, ‘Don’t be a Do nothing b*tch‘.

I know this is a harsh message – I’m sorry to offend, but sometimes it’s okay to draw a line in the sand.

Honestly, this is what my philosophy of Challenge Workouts is all about. I want you to get off your butt no matter where you are on the exercise continuum.

Use your physique to DO SOMETHING.

Your body is an amazing machine when you’re good to it: Fuel it right and treat it well.

The pay off is increased energy, strength and feeling empowered. Make your own way. Do your own thing. Physical training transfers to mental toughness. I’m convinced that when you work hard at this ONE thing, you can use this healthy work habit to do all kinds of things.

Get in exceptional shape, to prove to your subconscious that you can your hit goals.

You can DO ANYTHING you put your mind to.

You don’t need to be a UFC champion like the amazing Ronda Rousey to benefit from challenging your body.

Challenge yourself where YOU’RE at. For example, if you can only do push ups from your knees, work to get to your toes or if you can only do an assisted pull up, work for a full body weight one.

I’d love to help you provide the challenges you need.

Even if you’re training, we all hit a wall or a plateau. Exercise adaptation happens. This is when our bodies decide to just ‘do the work’ but we don’t see any changes physically or aesthetically anymore. We ‘just maintain’ and no one really wants to put in effort and not see a return.

PhD Jim Stoppani says, ‘You must expose your body to a training style for just long enough to reap the benefits but avoid a nosedive of adaptation. He says, “everything works, but nothing works forever.”

Having a large arsenal of training methods to use for short periods and continually cycling them in a systematic order will prevent stagnation and maximize training adaptations. (Kraemer et al. 2003; Marx et al. 2001; Rhea & Alderman 2004; Willoughby 1993)

So here’s the plan…

You’ll never be bored or plateau with your workouts again.

Every 21 days let me send you a new program delivered right to your inbox.

Each module will include a CHALLENGE to start off the 21 days. Your goal will be to IMPROVE on each specific challenge by the end of the module.

There’s nothing like having a specific goal and deadline to meet it.

Set a goal.

Meet the goal.

That’s the secret to my Challenge Fit Club.

This alone will help you bust through any training plateau you’re experiencing. Plus it crushes workout boredom and the monotony of the same old routine.

Be better. Try harder. Do ONE more rep or go a little harder each day.

Your body will thank you and your mind will feel stronger than ever.

 

I can do anything. So can you.

Here’s what I have lined up for you in the Challenge Fit Club:

1-Bodyweight workouts
2-Jump Rope workouts
3-MRT – Metabolic Resistance Training workouts
4-Sprint workouts
5- Suspension Training workouts
6- Trouble Spot Training workouts
7- KB Training workouts

You’ll find follow along videos for every module. (And don’t worry if you don’t have room to sprint or you don’t have a suspension trainer or a KB, I provide ways to modify everything.)

Check out my Challenge Fit Club and be a DO SOMETHING kinda person.

PS. I like helping people look great and I really enjoy seeing what getting in shape can do to people’s lives if they leverage that confidence.

I’d love to hear YOUR experiences and how has being fit helped YOU move ahead in other areas of your life…

This post is a little out of the ordinary…it will swing around to fitness (sort of) but it will take the long road. It’s a personal post that you can feel free to skip over, but if you read it, you’ll get a little insight into my head (and the heads of others with a similar disposition).

Recently, someone suggested to me that I need to ‘get a life’…

Well, to be truthful, the words were ‘you need to get a hobby’, but with bruised feelings, my interpretation was that I needed to ‘get a life’.

Being the introverted thinker that I am, I figured I needed to consider the comment carefully before reacting. After all, the comment came from a good friend with good intentions; maybe there was some truth to it.

’So, what’s considered a hobby?’ I asked my friend.

The answer was that it had to be something:

• Unrelated to work
• I enjoy doing
• I do on the regular
• I was passionate about
• And it HAD TO BE SOCIAL

There are plenty of things I enjoy doing, but this description of a ‘hobby’ didn’t sit well with me…

First off, let me tackle the ‘social’ criteria of what she considered a hobby. And let me tell you something about me (and all the introverts out there)….

Sometimes an introvert looks at an extrovert and wonders, ‘I don’t seem to enjoy the constant company of others… maybe there’s something wrong with me.’

Similarly, sometimes an extrovert looks at an introvert and thinks, ‘She spends a lot of time alone. What’s wrong with her?’

Extroverts sometimes want to fix introverts thinking that they must be lonely or unhappy spending time alone.

They don’t understand our need to have mental space and think. They don’t know how exhausting it is for an introvert to be around others. This isn’t a slight about the company of others (necessarily); it’s just that this is how introverts are energized.

Being alone and doing solitary things energize introverts.

Being around others and doing social things energize extroverts. In fact, extroverts may tend to climb a wall when given too much alone time. They feel most alive in a crowd.

Neither introvert or extrovert is better nor worse, it just is.

For an extrovert to tell an introvert that they need to ‘be more social’ is like an introvert telling an extrovert to ‘think more’.

Once I had squared this away, my friend’s comment didn’t sting as much. My extroverted friend may have just overlooked my need to do solitary things to feel more energized.

For me, happiness is a good book, a dog walk and time to write.  These are things I enjoy on the regular. Yes, they may seem boring as h#ll to others, but probably another introvert would understand.

The other thing I do on the regular with passion is train.

My well-meaning friend discounted training as a hobby – ‘Nope, she said, that’s like brushing your teeth, just a necessity of life. Plus it’s your work so it’s doubly discounted’.

Ouch.

Okay, I understand her point. Many people find fitness to be a chore, something to mark off the ‘to do’ list and thankfully add to the ‘to done’ list a minimum of three times a week.

That is NOT me, and my guess, since you’re on my blog and you’ve read thus far, is that this might not be you either.

People like us live for fitness and health related stuff.

I’m a geek for learning new training techniques, talking ‘fitness shop’, buying fitness gear, discovering new fitness adventures.

When my friend told me that fitness wasn’t my hobby, I suppose she was right…

Fitness is my life.

My whole life has revolved around it. I started as a five year old doing sporty things (competitive swimming at the time). I continued in all things sport related from then on. All the jobs I did as a young adult involved sport. I chose a degree in college (kinesiology) and a career (teaching) because I wanted to encourage others to love movement too. Finally I gave up a teaching career to start a fitness business because I felt compelled to help others in their fitness journey.

Now I get to LIVE my passion, my ‘hobby’ of fitness full time to actually make a living ‘doing fitness’.

She was right. Fitness is not my ‘hobby’.

I feel like sometimes those that don’t enjoy their work need a hobby. They can’t wait until 5 pm or the weekend to do something that they love.

But what if I can’t wait until Monday morning to get up and crack my laptop to write a workout plan? Or plan a fitness boot camp program for my local clients? Or talk about what others are doing for their workout and share what I’m doing?

What if I feel pressured to ‘be social’ on a weekend when I’m really just excited to launch an online coaching program? Or videotape follow-along workouts for you?

After much thought, I decided that I could agree with my friend just a little…sometimes I tend to get immersed a little too deeply in my ‘hobby’ (or I work too much as she’d say) and it’s good for me to actually get out more.

You see, I live in a funny world; someone in a more traditional job may not understand this.

The world is remarkably small with the Internet. I find that with this online business, some of my best friends are all over the world. While this can be exciting for travel, come Friday night, it’s more difficult to plan an outing.

For example, my publishing partner, Lisa Bullock is in Melbourne, Australia. We had a weekly Skype date on Wednesday afternoons for two years before actually meeting in person. I brought Lisa into my business to help manage content for my alter ego – Female Fat Loss Over 40.

When we finally met face to face, we were fast friends. (You can see the way we’re helping women with all things fitness here: www.FemaleFatLossSolutions.com)

In addition to Lisa, I often meet and work with other fitness pros ‘online’ through mutual introductions long before we shake hands in person.

I have opportunity to travel to cool places and hang out with these people from all over. While I love this aspect of my life, I sometimes wish I could do more local hanging out with the company of these like-minded fitness friends.

Fortunately I have some good local friends too. To be completely honest though, I’m not the kind of person with hundreds of them. I’m the typical introvert who tends to have just a few close friends.

My point (and I’m sure there is one here)…is that everyone is a little different and that’s okay. We all find satisfaction in different ways.  It’s great to have a passion and it doesn’t matter whether it’s manifested through your work or with a hobby or maybe both. I may be a whole lot different from friend, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I feel very fortunate to be able to share my fitness passion with you. Thank you for your continued support with reading my emails and blog posts.

Do you have any thoughts on the matter?

What are you passionate about? Do you have a hobby? I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.

 

 

 

 

Here we are on the brink of summer…

How has your winter training gone? (You know that summer bodies are built in the winter…)

Have you given it your all?

Did you leave some effort on the table? Have you been able to transform your habits so that you can see evidence of this in your energy and physique?

I know that some people may have lost steam, given up, self sabotaged and may now proclaim that ‘working out just didn’t work for me’.

I hope this isn’t you, but if there were elements of this, it’s NOT too late to make a change to enjoy the health benefits of exercise and good nutrition AND a better looking body that’s just under the surface.

What I want to talk to all of you about today is the BIG SHIFT that takes place when we go from amateur to pro in any part of our lives…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve seen several clients that are out of shape trying different diets for a period of time. Some would give up on, others would see it though for the 6, 8, or 12 weeks and actually achieve great results, and then go back to old habits of eating poorly then gaining it all back again.

Sorry – an amateur move.

It happens with workouts, too.

They’d workout hard and consistently for a 6-12 week program and then at the end they’d slack off, miss workouts, not push as hard and get back out of shape.

Again, an amateur move.

Gay Hendricks, the author of The Big Leap would call this “upper limiting” yourself – basically not allowing yourself to reach your full potential of success, happiness and achievement by putting an upper limit on your success. This usually comes from a place of lack of self-confidence or self-worth.

In fact, a shift can’t happen until you learn the secret (which I’m going to share with you here) and apply it into your life.

 

 

 

 

 

That’s the other thing about the big shift… you may know what to do, but you’ll never achieve the results or ‘turn pro’ until you apply what you know. And to apply things, you simply have to believe you’re worth it and that you deserve it.

So then what’s the secret?

The secret is to go from haphazard to habits.

Inconsistent to consistent.

Informal to rituals.

See, for most people whether it relates to dieting, working out, relationship or career, the best outcome is going to be had by turning pro and leaving your amateur ways behind. And the pro thing to do is to be consistent, create and follow your success rituals until they become instinctive daily habits like brushing your teeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s okay to start new habits for periods of time… maybe you started a challenge to get into better shape.

Did you grab one of my programs? This is a great way to set a goal and achieve it. (You can see all the Challenge workout programs here.)

But the REAL success will come from turning those “informal” periods of consistency into lifelong rituals and habits that multiply the results, outcome, and happiness that you’re looking for.

That’s the secret to success in health, career, great relationships too – give it your all, not just in the “honeymoon” period, but all of the time, every time.

Look at your initial challenge as a taste of the what a new hot and healthy body looks and feels like.

Embrace these new habits and make them a part of your new success rituals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s the big secret to success that the top 5% of the super achievers on this planet know; when you realize that real and lasting success will be yours once you go from living like an amateur to operating like a pro by making your success habits a part of your daily rituals.

I highly recommend you read Gay Hendricks ‘The Big Leap‘. It’s an easy read and if you’re ready to ‘go pro’ it will inspire you to change your lifestyle and habits for good. This isn’t a fitness book, it’s a mindset book.

Change your mindset about YOURSELF and you can change your physique.

Join our community on my Facebook page here.

Shawna

This might be too much for you…

(Especially if you’re afraid of heights.)

Take a look at just a few pics of a climb I did last weekend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did the Via Ferrata on Mount Norquay in Banff, AB. If you ever have a chance to get to this part of the world, I highly recommend it.

The climb is as hard as you want to make it.  You’re actually harnessed into guide wires. There are steps and clamps the entire way up to grab if you want. It’s VERY SAFE.

The challenge my climbing friend and I threw out to each other was that we weren’t allowed to touch anything other than the rocks.

That made the climb much more challenging and fun.

There were a few vertical passes that I just had to touch a step or grab a ‘pig tail’ (a handle drilled into the mountain), but I managed most of the climb just grabbing the rocks and I even walked over a few trestles and the swinging bridge hands free:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why am I telling you this?

Well, I’m not actually on the marketing team for Mt. Norquay even though I’d highly recommend it or something similar 😉

No, the reason I’m telling you this is because I want to encourage you to get out there and LIVE a little.

To me, living means adventure.

The fact that I can do a climb like this without a second thought or sore muscles is because I do a little to prepare my body each day to stay fit. And I’m not anything special.

It’s just a matter of maintaining a consistently healthy lifestyle day in and day out. This allows you to be able to DO ANYTHING you want.

Here’s a secret…

A climb like this takes a great deal of core strength.

You can’t do anything without a strong core.

I’ve mentioned my friends Tyler and Dr James program called 0-6 Pack Abs.

It’s a great program for OVERALL strength and stability.

And sadly, where core training is concerned, most people are ‘doing it wrong’….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to ‘do it right’, improve your core, protect your back and be ready for pretty much anything life throws at you…

==>Look at 0 – 6 Pack Abs (and save big)

As for me, I’m still on a high from that climb, but it’s time to pack my bags, including my bikini, because surfing is the next adventure.

Stay tuned.