Finding your “Why” is important in all areas of life. From parenting, to marriage, to your day job, free time, and the foods you consume…it is important and empowering to tap into your reasons for both your small daily choices and your higher level visions and dreams.
Working out and staying active is certainly no exception. Why do you keep your body moving? There are so many good reasons to workout that go way beyond physical appearance and abilities. Keeping your body alive and healthy through exercise is part of good self-care (and needs to accompany caring for yourself mentally, spiritually, and emotionally). Think about WHY you workout. Name it, write it down, and maybe even display it somewhere visually to help keep you encouraged and focused. Good posture, flexibility, endurance to play with your kids, avoiding injury, aging well, achieving a physical goal or challenge, sleeping better, feeling better…find your top two or three reasons for moving your body and breaking a sweat.
I also want to encourage you to find things you love to do physically. Working out doesn’t need to only happen in the gym. There are SO many ways to break a sweat – find your happy movement. And don’t be afraid to adjust and adapt! Often, our age, stage of life, physical setting, season/weather, or interests lead us to stop or start different forms of exercise – that’s ok! I think we constantly need to adapt our workouts and approaches – embrace that it is a lifelong process.
“As the water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it, so a wise man adapts himself to circumstances.” – Confucius
Speaking of adapting, the first 15 minutes of the video we are sharing today I show you how I adapt in the gym. Life with one arm throws its challenges at me, but there are always ways to adapt!
Here’s a brief summary of the Find Your Motivation Workout we are sharing today (no equipment needed, workout begins at 15:00).
Let’s do it!
*The above video is on Facebook. You can also watch the warm up and workout on IGTV.
Warm up
- Arms, head, neck, shoulders, hip circles, ankles
- Pretend jump rope – baby jumps, side to side/forward back, twist (can modify and do calf raises)
Squat series – legs wider that shoulders, watch posture
- Regular (12)
- Low and slow
- Jump squats
Lunges – knee over foot, back knee almost touching ground
- Regular (12 each side)
- Jump lunge – alternate legs
- Side to side lunge – squat under, push leg to leg, activates gluts and back
Pushups (10-20) – traditional, or on wall, or knees
Planks – keep bellybutton up, butt down, flat back
Bridges – push butt up to ceiling
Leg raises – on side, keep abs activated
- Regular, switch legs
- Knees to chest
- Clam shells
- Top leg bent, lift other leg (20 reps)
Abs series
- Bicycles
- Sit ups
- Alternating knee to shoulder
- Twists
- Scissors
- Alternating leg raises
- Mini crunches
- Penguins
Wall sits (as long as you can) 90 degree angle
I hope this left you sweating and feeling energized. Check out more workouts here.
Stay positive, stay grateful, and remember, at the end of the day physical strength will only get you so far…there is so much more to life, so take care of your mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical health!
I will close us out the same way I did in the workout, with Psalm 28:7 (ESV)…
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
p.s. Check out these posts about finding your Why and Adapting: What Is Your Why, Embracing Change, Welcome to Innovation.
Or treat yourself to one of my courses that will encourage you in your adapting and health: Optimizing Health, Training Your Mind, Overcoming Obstacles, Forgiveness (which is actually linked to your physical health), and the Fundamentally Unstoppable Workout Series.
