 Social media is an interesting phenomenon isn’t it?? Both a blessing and a curse. A curse in that we can get SUCKED into the wormhole that is every social media platform and emerge an hour later without no understanding of how we got lost in the black hole! A blessing in that it can gives us perspective. Recently, it was a blessing in that a post I wrote 7 years ago popped up in my Facebook memories. At that time I was about to film a new home workout - P90X2, with Tony Horton , the follow up to the biggest selling home workout of all time, P90X. SO MANY of the words I wrote 7 years ago, see below, I could have written today! This post is a powerful reminder to me and hopefully to anyone reading this about the magic in consistency and in truly knowing and living your beliefs. March 2, 2011 at 1:42pm Super excited about it, nervous too!! Anxious to get there, really get a feel for the workout live and on set......kind of feels like I've been working towards something like this for a long time. I am a HUGE believer in having lots of tools in your "fitness/health/wellness" toolbox. •My soulmate workout has been kickboxing since I discovered it 10 years ago....really, kickboxing of ALL kinds. I have taught classes with boxing gloves and heavy bags, I've done Krav Maga, traditional athletic kickboxing, and of course my one true love, Turbo. •My "second' favorite kind of workout is strength training. I have worked with personal trainers, have used ChaLEAN Extreme, P90X, The Firm, RevABS, and hybrids of other workouts to strength train. Strength classes definitely tie with kickboxing for my favorite class to teach and favorite way to train. •Cycling is another favorite. I taught cycle for awhile. but enjoy just taking cycle classes even more. I love that it's a great cardio yet low impact workout. •Even though I had to be drug, kicking and screaming, into the mind/body studio, PiYo now ranks up there as one of my favorite formats. My cardio and strength workouts are so much better when I incorporate flexibility training!! Who knew?? LOL I believe if we rely on only one type of workout or only one class, I think we are doing ourselves a disservice. We are denying ourselves the many many benefits of cross training....of course we are always going to have our favorites and the workouts we come back to, stay with more than others.....but mixing it up is GOOD, mentally and physically. Taking live classes is amazing, working out at home can feel very focused, utilizing a trainer can help push to a level you might not on your own, loving fitness can even lead to becoming part of this amazing industry!! There are so many phenomenal workouts available...the key is finding the one YOU love, that YOU will stick with...then branching out and finding even more!! :) Looking forward to getting to California and working out the butterflies. I have no doubt it will be a surreal moment to be on set with Tony Horton. Stay fit, my friends!! Sharpen the tools in your toolboxDoes the above sound familiar? I'm still talking about several fitness formats...and I’m still doing every one of them today. 7 years later. Kickboxing is my favorite and I’ve now added CORE DE FORCE to my toolbox. Strength training gets RESULTS and 80 Day Obsession is kicking my booty. Autumn Calabrese is my personal trainer every single day in my basement. I’m a huge fan of Soul Cycle and will take a live class any chance I get. Can we PLEASE get a Soul in Indy???? And who knew I would become such a fan of yoga, Pilates, and all forms of those formats?? I take Pure Barre classes regularly as well as a new format called SolidCore. These are all tools in my toolbox for a healthy life. It's not either, it is AND... I’ve said 1000 times and will say it again. My best results -physically and mentally - come from pressing play in my basement every day. But that doesn’t mean my fitness life has to ONLY be pressing play in my basement. It’s never this OR that. Fitness is about AND. This AND that AND that and this AND that AND that and whatever workouts YOU love to do that bring you JOY and most importantly, RESULTS.
There is no such thing as an overnight success. There is only hard consistent work in building something that matters :: a business, a family, a LIFE. Consistency is the key to ANY success in ANY area of life. 7 years later, I’m still that girl who believes it more than just one kind of workout, it’s more than one format being “right”....It’s more than just fitness. it’s life.
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 As you might know, I’m deep into the 80 Day Obsession workout program, and one of the coolest pieces about this program - aside from the fact that I feel like I have a personal trainer in my basement every.single.day. - is that Autumn Calabrese strongly emphasizes self-care. What does that mean? Really, nothing complicated...Autumn truly means taking CARE of one’s SELF. How that looks and feels in each person’s life may be different...what feels relaxing and rejuvenating to one person may be stressful to another. For example, I KNOW massage is so so so good for me...but I often find myself thinking about all the other stuff I could be doing during that massage instead of getting the benefits from it. SO….I have some other tools of self-care that work for me and perhaps they will work for you too! Bottom line -- take care of YOU. That’s just the foundation of good health in all ways. 1. SleepSundays are the perfect mornings to catch up on sleep. Let’s be honest, very few of us get enough sleep - enough GOOD sleep especially. The constant buzz of electronics in our face, the constant to-do list...it can be challenging to turn it all OFF and just GO. TO. BED!! Sleep is imperative for recovery and crucial for brain function!! For me, Sundays are the perfect no-alarm mornings. Sundays sort of start the new week, in a way, and to start a new week with extra sleep is amazing. Have you read Mel Robbins’ book, The 5 Second Rule? If not, I highly encourage you to get it, either hard cover or audible. In it, Mel talks a LOT about the science of sleep and as much as I knew intuitively that sleep should be a priority, hearing the SCIENCE behind it really changed the game for me. Get that book and read it, you’ll get so much out of it, especially about sleep. 2. Planning for week ahead I’m a pencil to paper girl when it comes to planning and lists. The more I write it down, the more organized I feel, the more I remember it, the more the task gets done. First I go over the girls’ activities and my husband’s schedule, making sure everything is written on our family calendar that is posted on the refrigerator. Then I go through my business calendar, filtering my events / trainings / travel through the family calendar. The family calendar comes first and everything else happens around that. Next, I go through the week ahead and create a hand-written list of tasks, errands, and business items that need to be accomplished. Creating sort of a “master list” that lives on my desk makes me feel more centered. I also put mantras and guiding thoughts at the top of that “master list” to keep me focused on the important stuff. We can make lists all day long, but if we don’t take ACTION, those lists don’t matter. So I often remind myself that the list is great...but the ACTION behind it is what counts. Feeling centered and organized is a crucial piece of the self-care puzzle for me. 3. Family time I build my business to create experiences and opportunities for my family. And I LOVE what I do. Unfortunately that sometimes means I don’t STOP doing what I love and remember to focus on WHO I love. So for me, both structured and unstructured family time is SO important in self-care. I want time that’s just us hanging out on the couch watching Olympics and playing cards, and I want time where we all go to dinner and a movie. Parents of teenagers, you feel me...it’s TOUGH to get on your teen’s schedule! They are BUSY. But we’re all busy, and we’re all WAY too connected to our phones and computers and every other piece of electronic. No matter if I’m creating a life for family or not, for me, part of my self care is time with my family...the reason WHY I want to work so hard, the motivation behind my passion for what I love. I guarantee you...my girls may not remember WHAT we did together...but they will remember the TIME we spent together. I’ve also learned that our kids don’t want nearly as much time with us as they, or parenting books or well-meaning grandparents, might guilt us into thinking. They want SOME time, that is focused and they want us PRESENT and ENGAGED. Nobody needs ALL our time ALL the time. So I don’t worry too much about the whole work / life balance thing. There’s no such thing anyway. As long as I get intentional time with my other JV’s, it’s all good and my bucket gets filled. 4. BeautyWeekends are an amazing time for extra pampering. That hair masque that needs to sit for 20 minutes - who has that on a Wednesday? Maybe a much-needed pedicure or even just a blow out at the salon. Here are some of my favorites:
5. Optional: MovementYes, rest days are BEST. We need them, our bodies need them. But when it is a beautiful day, for sure I’m taking a walk or bike ride or doing yoga outside!! And during the winter, instead of a complete rest day, I might do yoga in the basement...because frankly, SOME movement - low impact!! - often makes my body feel better than NO movement. We HAVE to listen to our bodies, and not some number on a scale...if our bodies are sore and achy, then REST. If you’re feeling restless or stressed or it’s a gorgeous day, go for a walk instead of complete rest. Pay attention to how you feel DURING and AFTER the movement. Does it make you feel refreshed and recalibrated? Or exhausted and most stressed?? That’s your key to rest and resetting for the week ahead. Remember...Self care helps us make progress as it prevents “overload burnout”: We've all been there...we push ourselves to the point that we can't take anymore so we just give up. Self care helps us avoid getting to that point!! Take care of YOU!   Are you ready?? Because it’s coming in hot and before we know it, swimsuits and flip flops will be out of storage and into suitcases. After a long Midwest winter, that first swimsuit try-on can be daunting. So let’s get a Game Plan to rock that swimsuit AND feel FIERCE doing it! Priority #1: Nutrition During the winter months, especially in the Midwest, it’s so easy to get caught up in pre-holiday eating, holiday eating, post-holiday eating, just eating in general...then covering it up with a nice fluffy sweater. 😏 So getting that swimsuit out of the drawer and trying it on for the first time in the bathroom light is as real life as it gets, isn’t it?? I just pulled mine out this week and no matter how on point I feel that I’ve been, that swimsuit is a reminder of just how important nutrition is every single day. No matter how faithful we’ve been to our workouts, that moment is a gut check for us, pun intended. Because our results are made in the kitchen. Every choice we make regarding what we put into our bodies either fuels us in a positive way or affects us in a negative way. It really is that simple and actually, I think that’s super empowering. Since we are in complete control of what we eat, knowing our nutrition equals 85% or more of our results - mentally and physically - makes nutrition much more black and white. We’ve all tried numerous “diets”. They don’t work. We’ve all tried gimmicks and quick fixes. They don’t work. What works? A plan backed up by research, science, and results. The Game Plan:
Priority #2: Fitness That incredibly empowering feeling after a workout is EVERYthing isn’t it? Fitness does so much for our heads, our hearts, and our bodies. Now remember...our physical results come mostly from nutrition but that doesn’t decrease the necessity of fitness. Feeling strong and confident after kicking serious booty in your workout will absolutely motivate you to make better nutrition choices. The two - fitness and nutrition - go hand in hand. We cannot out-train a bad diet. And we need the training to create lean muscles and shredded abs So it’s a puzzle where all the pieces are essential. If you’ve taken a break from fitness for awhile, it’s time to make it non-negotiable in your life. I don’t care WHAT you do, as long as it’s something! Walk, ride your bike, go up and down your stairs. START MOVING. The feeling of confidence and general bad-assery that comes from crushing our workouts affects every other part of our lives. As my friend Shaun T says, it’s not just fitness. It’s our LIFE. If you’ve been working out pretty regularly and still aren’t feeling like you’re ready to rock a swimsuit, it’s time to up your game. We’re all stronger than we think we are and can absolutely level up. The Game Plan:
Priority #3: Find Swimsuit that makes you feel FIERCE So maybe you’re not looking forward to Spring Break because you don’t love your current swim suit. It’s time to invest in a new one then. Each year, styles change as does fabric technology. Life’s too short to wear ANYthing that makes us feel less than fierce. Do some research and find a suit that makes you feel confident The Game Plan:
I love the variety and the service. Everything from coverups to one-piece to bikinis to choosing a suit according to body type to filtering by price...the options are endless. Nordstrom’s also has a fabulous return policy so if you’d prefer to try on your new suit in the privacy of your home (keeping all tags and protectors in place of course), you can do that and still be able to return it as necessary. Priority #4: Protect your skin So. Do we really have to talk about the importance of sunscreen?? It’s 2018...we KNOW that we need SPF and we know that we need to reapply right? We also know that if our skin has been covered up by layers of sweaters for a few months, we’re going to need that protection even more. This is not an area where we can get lazy. Just like nutrition and fitness, consistency counts. And since none of us wants to pass skin cancer on to our children, we have to model healthy skin practices ourselves. The Game Plan
Priority #5: Let Spring Break be a BREAKLet’s really get down to what Spring Break is all about….and that is, taking a BREAK. Hey, in the Midwest, winter feels FORever. Gray skies are the norm and by the time the end of March rolls around, we’re all stir-crazy and cranky. We need sun, we need warmth, and we need it NOW.  Spring Break should be all about fun and family. Focus on creating memories that you will talk about long after the social media post fades. Place zero energy on cramming a gazillion activities into 5 days, going where “everyone else is going”, and what you look like in a bikini. (Note --- I said “look”. How you FEEL is completely different than how you look...and it is FAR more important)
When you take care of your body AND your mind, spring break can truly be a BREAK from the daily routine, a trip that refreshes you, helps you recalibrate. If you feel less than fierce, good news!! YOU have the power to DO something about it. It’s YOUR body. YOU control your nutrition, your fitness, your mindset. That means no matter what the scale says, you can rock a bikini all day long, if you feel confident and FIERCE. I think a PLAN and a TRIBE help us find our fierce, help us uncover that confidence within us. When we nourish our bodies properly, when we move our bodies with intention, when we surround ourselves with people who lift us up, when we control the controllable, we DO feel FIERCE...and that makes ANY Spring Break memorable.  1. We CAN stay on track with a nutrition plan while traveling.
2. We do NOT have to eat #allthefood even when it’s served to us. 3. Yes we have to do some research to find healthy options. 4. YES YES YES it’s worth it. 👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻Having ALL the guesswork taken out of my nutrition is one of the reasons why I love the 80 Day Obsession program. 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻 I know WHAT to eat. I know WHEN to eat it. Guesswork gone. Results in progress. . . Who is ready to get obsessed {{and GET RESULTS}} ?? Give me a 🙋♀️⬇️⬇️⬇️ |
Julie VorisMarried to a college football coach, 3 daughters, Beachbody Master Trainer and Coach, Disney fanatic, aspire to inspire, serve others, and be a force of passion. Meet Julie! Categories
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