Knowing and understanding what is important to you during your current season in life plays a big role in setting up your healthy habits (especially when it comes to your workouts, and especially if you are premenopausal). As roles and responsibilities change and hormone levels decline, I experience more restless nights and really notice the physical effects of all of this.
If you have been part of this Uplyft tribe for a while you can likely guess some of the things in my life that are very important to me (in no particular order)
– Bella
-exercise/walking/ purposeful movement
-social relationships
-having fun and spending time with Carl
-mental health
-Uplyft Fitness tribe/business
Knowing and understanding these help guide me in setting up a workout routine that truly uplifts my life not take from it.
RESISTANCE training is my non-negotiable. Resistance training is a MUST, minimum 2x a week. I put more weight on getting my resistance training completed over cardio. (lol, did you catch that pun?). Resistance is non-negotiable because it is the best place to spend my time and energy when it comes to feeling my best and investing in my future self.
As we age we lose muscle mass. After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% per decade (it’s called sarcopenia). We can stop this process with weight training. Keeping our muscle mass helps to keep our metabolism up, helps strengthen our bones, and does wonders for self-confidence and mental health.
Cardio exercise is important for my heart health, cholesterol, stress management, and getting those feel-good hormones. I have certain days in mind that will be cardio day but exactly what that cardio exercise will be is determined by how I feel.
For example, yesterday was supposed to be a run day for me. Even though I thought I slept well, I had low energy. So listening to my body, I knew it was not a day to knock out the fast-paced 30-minute run I had in mind.
Low energy days are not uncommon for women as they navigate hormone changes and other life changes that are common at this time in their lives.
My purposeful activity that day was not the run I had in mind. Instead, it was walking with a friend. There was more good out of that walk than if I had pushed myself to get that run in. I honored the importance of purposeful movement and social relationships. Part of me easily could have decided not to meet my friend, not to walk and just stream something and mentally check out. The decision to still meet my friend and walk was 100% in line with my values.
(This does not mean training for a race is wrong or having specific goals for a cardio session is wrong! If you read it that way, I am not clear with my message. The message is that I know what is important to me right now. Training for a race may be exactly what is important to you right now).
Weight training is non-negotiable, I do it at least 2x a week. Even with all the other things that are important to me I can at a minimum find the time and energy to lift 2x a week. This leaves time for other purposeful activities that are inline with my values and what truly uplifts my life.
Basically, I want my fitness program to add VALUE and ENERGY to my life, not drain it away!
Is your workout plan something that adds value and energy to your life? Are you doing it just because that is what your friend does? Does it allow for other important things to still fuel you and bring you joy? Can you keep it up? Isn’t it better to do 104 strength training workouts in 52 weeks than to do 48 strength workouts in 12 weeks and very little the other 40 weeks of the year?
Need help prioritizing life, work, family, and your workouts, let’s chat.
A success strategy session is a chance for you to share the goals you are not meeting, and together we discover what is getting your way, FOR REAL. Is it your workouts, your nutrition, your injuries, your inconsistency, or what’s in your way? Is there a Uplyft program that can help?
Book your success strategy session this week by clicking here.
