I had it all figured out and ready to go…..

I was going to get up and do my “scheduled” workout which was to be a circuit workout  consisting of ;burpees, pushups, lunges, overhead presses and bent over rows mixed in with some treadmill work.  

But then I woke up with pain in my wrists and hands caused by some recent overuse injuries.

I realized that my “scheduled” workout was not going to take place as planned.  Burpees and pushups weren’t going to happen.  

Now I had a choice to make.  I could either:

A. Use the pain I was having as an excuse for not working out at all, or,

B. I could modify my “scheduled” workout and replace the “not going to happen today exercises” with movements using body parts that weren’t hurting.

Today I chose B. ( The workout is below if you’d like to try it!).

Now not so long ago….my “all or nothing” way of thinking would have thrown me into a tailspin and I most likely would have ended up not doing anything at all. I would have been upset all day and obsessed over the fact that I couldn’t get a workout done because my damn hands & wrists were hurting (insert pouty face ).

 Because if you can’t do something exactly the way it was planned…what’s the point of doing it at all right?  

WRONG!!

Rigid thinking like this doesn’t do us any favors at all.  It takes our power away.  It makes us focus on what we can’t do vs. what we CAN do!

Often times, I have to remind my clients of this too.  They will come in and have an ache or pain or injury somewhere on their body and become upset because they can’t “do” the training session exactly the way we planned it.  I gently remind them that we will find things they CAN do and focus on that instead.  

When it comes to moving our bodies…any movement is better than no movement at all.  So what if you have to change up the original plan?  Go with it. Don’t judge it and just be grateful for what you can do!

So  what did I end up doing today (and had a blast BTW)!

First and foremost I had to put on some jammin’ tunes soooo I went for the Red Hot Chili Peppers special that I recorded on TV.  🙂

I then set out the following equipment:

Treadmill, Interval Timer on my phone- free in app store, various dumbbells ranging from 8’s to 20’s,  16″ step, and a mat or towel.

Warm up by walking on the treadmill for 5 minutes or so.  Do some light stretching if you’re feeling tightness anywhere.

Hop back on the treadmill and jog or run for 1/4 mile.

Exit treadmill, set a timer on your smart phone for 1 minute continuous intervals for a cycle of 6 and do the following taking breaks as you need them.

-Weighted step ups on step 1 minute per leg

-Standing shoulder press

-Chest press crunches

-Bent over rows

-Jumping lunges

I repeated this cycle 4 more times.  I substituted the weighted step ups for burpees and the chest press crunches for push ups.  It was a fabulous workout!

Now you could do this modifying ANYTHING that doesn’t work for you.  Don’t have a treadmill?  Use a bike or elliptical instead or just walk around the house.

Don’t have weights, no prob do the motions without…you’ll still feel it.

No high step available?  Just do weighted lunges instead….Don’t want to do 1/4 mile?  Do 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes…do what works for YOU!  Make it your own.

The point is to not get stuck in that “all or nothing” way of thinking.  There is always a way to modify movement and make it your own!

DO THE BEST YOU CAN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE AND LIVE IN THE “NO JUDGEMENT” ZONE!

#Fortheloveofmovement 

#nojudgmentzone

#didn’tmissburpeesafterall

#dreamconcertredhotchillipeppersand30secondstomars