5 Ways to Change Your Mindset About The Gym #AMSGetsActive

Hey friends! Happy Friday! Checking in here for #AMSGetsActive. I started the Orangetheory transformation challenge this week and did my weigh in last Friday. I weighed in at 141 pounds. I’ve been tracking my muscle progress too so far this year and I’m getting excited seeing more changes in my body.

I had a follower a week ago message me on IG asking something really good that inspired me to write this post. She messaged me and said she watched my health highlight and was so inspired (made my day) and asked me how I changed my mindset to start being passionate about being healthy and making it a point to work out. I honestly had to think about my process over the year for a few minutes before I replied to her.

I started my health mindset last January of 2018. So it’s been a year since I signed up for Orangetheory and started trying every day to be better. From January- June last year I was inconsistent, but I slowly tried. It took about 6 months for me to get SUPER consistent. In July, something just clicked, and I was also in a new stage of life that I just decided this was something I enjoyed.

Here we are, 6 months later, and I’ve worked out 4-5 times a week, every week, and have had an 85% healthy diet. Trying every day to still be better! I shared in this post my typical workouts each week. So how did I change my mindset? Over time. I put in my mind a year ago that I wanted to lose the 20 pounds I put on in college. I wanted to have more energy, and I wanted to wear a crop top out with friends and not feel bloated or bad about myself.

It takes TIME. I’m still just in the early stages of my journey and whether you’re tired of feeling tired or not confident, and want to start too, all you have to do is get up and tell yourself YOU CAN and get moving.

5 Ways to change your mindset about the gym-

1. Set a year goal, a 6 month goal, and a 3 month goal

You gotta set yourself some realistic goals. If you haven’t worked out in months, you can’t tell yourself you’re gonna go 5 times a week and lose 20 pounds in 3 months. You just can’t. Because if you don’t succeed, you’ll be back to the beginning feeling down and giving up. I set YEAR goals for myself, 6 month goals, and 3 month goals. If you’re working out again, you will begin gaining muscle before you lose weight, most likely. That’s what happened to me the first 6 months, I was actually gaining weight but looking and feeling better and then realized duh, got some muscles growing girl.

2. Find what works for you. A studio, a gym, your home, etc.

Probably the biggest thing you can do is find what’s right for you. If you’re doing something you don’t like and it’s forced, there’s no way in heck you will stick with it longer than a couple months MAYBE. Go try out a couple different studios, go to your rec center, check out a fancy gym, try a personal trainer, download an at-home workout….. give it ALL a try and see what you like best and which one you pushed yourself your hardest. For me, no matter how hard I try, at-home workouts don’t work for me. I’ve tried…. and well, I don’t succeed haha. I end up doing a good 20 mins and then I think eh…. that’s good. I can go to my apartment gym or I used to go to the rec center in college and get in a pretty good workout but I typically just stick to the treadmill or elliptical. Weight rooms by myself intimidate me haha. That’s why a studio works best for me. I leave learning new workouts, I work ALL muscles in my body and it’s been worth the investment.

3. Take progress pics

As clichè or weird as it may sound, the best way to see your progress is taking a pic of it. Josh and I both do this and it works. Take your beginning pic and DON’T look again until 6-8 weeks later. Then take your next pic and put side by side to see what you’ve improved in the last 6 weeks. I shared my 6-week progress here. It helps you feel like you’re in the right direction and motivates you SO MUCH.

4. Follow Ig accounts, watch youtubers, surround yourself with people who enjoy the gym and are passionate about it

I’m an easily influenced person. If I get my mind on something I’ll go follow 10 bloggers and youtubers who are talking about it and watch everything haha. Same for fitness! I followed a ton of girls on IG who do gym videos and subscribed to gals on Youtube who share their day in the life’s at the gym and healthy eating habits. After you submerge yourself into this lifestyle, it gets easier. Plus every time I would watch their videos I would immediately want to get into the gym lol.

5. Tell yourself you CAN do it. And if you fail a week, get up and tackle the next week

You got this! If you’re just starting, don’t expect yourself to just jump into 5 workouts a week. Aim for 3 or 4, and if the next week you only make it once…. it’s ok. I have weeks all the time where they’re busy and exhausting and the gym sounds terrible. I try to be somewhat active everyday so if I can’t go…. I’ll at least go on a walk/walk Marley. But come Sunday, I pick myself up and I book classes for the next week. Sometimes your body needs rest and you give it to it… but then you tackle the next week.