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Over the past few years my views on what exercise means and the roll it plays in my life has drastically changed. When I first started this fitness journey, it was a means to a better body.

It was what I needed to do to achieve a firmer, more slender, and more fit figure.

That was it.

Being able to do pull-ups, heavy squats and deadlifts was great and made me feel powerful and strong, but they didn’t serve more of a purpose than to make my back, butt and legs look better.

Being able to open the spaghetti sauce jars or bring up all the groceries in one load, that was just a side perk.

Then something changed…

I didn’t achieve my ideal body (I’ve stopped aiming for perfection that doesn’t exist) but over the course of the past two years, there has been this huge shift in the reason for my workouts.

Of course I want a firm butt and a sculpted back but I want them so that I can climb my ass up a mountain or pull myself up and over an 8 foot wall along a race course.

What’s The Point In Being Fit?

What’s the point in being fit if you don’t use it?

What I’ve come to realize is that I want to live my fitness.

I want to inspire others to live their fitness, I want YOU to stop criticizing your body in the mirror and instead focus on the life that very same, imperfect body allows you to life.

When I stopped looking at fitness as a way to solely transform my body and as a way to be stronger and complete these adventures that I never thought I would do, the results naturally came. Your body gets tighter, stronger and leaner!

It actually happens faster, because the stress of obsessing is gone.

I’m a big believer that one reason some clients don’t see the results they want with weight loss is because they focus on it wayyyy too much. The stress affects their appetite, affects their hormones, affects their sleep, and before they know it instead of being 3 pounds lighter, they’re three heavier.

It sucks.

Yet, when you have more of a focus on overall health, adventure, outside of the gym goals… this focus is shifted and workouts become less stressful and more fun.

Now, I’m not saying that to live your fitness you have to go and climb a mountain or race 31 miles… we all have different passions in life an that’s the real key:

Find your passions and expand on them. Do things you always wanted to do but thought, “I’ll never do that!”.

What’s your passions? Need some help.

7 Ways To Live Your Fitness

1. Go hiking. Trust me, what I’ve learned is that every city has trails and hidden parks. I don’t know what took us so long to discover this but we’re surrounded by trails and amazing facilities. What better way to use your fitness than to grab your family and see what your city/state has to offer. Dan recently sent this article to me about how national parks are in trouble if our generation doesn’t start visiting more. So visit! Safe the parks!
2. Set a day every week to play kickball, soccer, or tag with your kids or your friends. Having a standing date makes it fun and something to look forward too! Plus, knowing each week you’re going to be running around a field may motivate you to add a few sprints into your workouts!
3. Do a race you’ve always wanted to do. There has to be something that in the back of your mind you’ve thought, “I would love to sign up and do that one day.” Well, no time is better than the present. Register and go after it. Stop putting off things or thinking you can’t do them. Always wanted to do a triathlon? Mud run? 5K? Forget about what others will think, and just do it (of course give yourself time to train thought!).
4. On a daily basis, focus on your health and how far fitness has gotten you to be able to do the little things in live. Take the stairs, avoid the elevators, park in the back of the parking lot and for goodness sake, please push your own cart of groceries out to the car (it’s a pet peeve of mine).
5. Plan fitness oriented trips. I love resting as much as the next person with a good book, but that gets boring after a day. On trips, plan them out to sightsee on foot, plan a kayaking excursions, or even plan a girls trip that instead of wining and dining ALL weekend, focus on overall health and wellness. I’m pumped I’ll be leading my first retreat in June!
6. Avoid the gym. From time to time, stop thinking about your workout being 10 reps of this or that. Instead, head outside to run around, do some pushups and feel better! Studies show that working out in fresh air is better for our health. So do it!
7. Create your own adventures. Everyone gets excited about different things, and every sees adventures differently. What excites you? Create your own adventure and live your fitness.

Again, the real lesson is to realize that we’re so much more than what the reflection in the mirror shows (or doesn’t show). We have to stop allowing that reflection to control what we think we can/can’t do and just do it. Start living life with passion and with drive. Stop looking at you workout as a way to change your reflection and instead as a way to make you a better person.

I feel as if I have more of a purpose than even simply from changing the view and the reason for which I workout and I hope that you join me on this.

Why am I sharing this so passionately?

I’ve mentioned it a few times already but the blog is going to be undergoing a BIG re-design and you’ll see this “Live Your Fitness” becoming a central theme in the coming months. But before it does I want to hear your thoughts. Do you agree? Do you like the idea? After all, this may be my blog to write my thoughts, and share my training, but it’s OUR blog to connect.

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