Have you had any of these thoughts recently?
- If I can’t do a 1 hr workout in the virtual gym or yoga studio it’s not worth it.
- If I’m not completely exhausted out after I workout it wasn't a 'real' workout.
- I didn’t do the last three workouts I wanted to, I’m a failure, it's not worth doing one today, I'm too far behind.
AAAAGGGGGHHH, stop right there!
As common as these thoughts are, they are totally messing with your success and progress. And before you get all intense with yourself about having those thoughts, it's no biggie, everyone gets stuck in this kind of all or nothing mindset sometimes. The trick is to remember that everything your brain tells you is not actually true. The trick is to pause and think, wait a minute... that's not true and then go ahead and do something, anything. Cause anything is better than nothing.
5 reasons why something, anything, is always better than nothing.
1. Doing a long workout can be fun, but it can also be crappy. You are worn out afterwards and just want to lay down on the floor, but guess what, your kids want snacks and to be pushed on the swing and to tell you all about every little thing for 5 hours straight.
2. You end up aggravating an old injury or issue. Your shoulder, back, SI joint or pelvic floor. I just had that very thing happen from doing a 1 hour high intensity dance class, I was having so much fun but I hadn’t been exercising a lot and it was too much, too fast for my pelvic floor. It tightened up like crazy ;(
Exercise can aggravate your body or retrain it to work better. A body that works better feels great. When you are exercising to retrain and teach your body something different, the more often you can do the movement the better. So a minute or two a few times a day is waaaaay better than 1 hour once a week.
3. If you make it hard to do, you won’t do it. Make it easy to do. A little bit of something over and over adds up to way more nothing all the time.
4. It can get you started. If you have a habit of not exercising, committing to doing 2 minutes of exercise can be amazing. You won’t get ripped or start to lift heavy but you will do something. Once you start moving you may just keep going for much more than 2 minutes. Win!
5. A lot of exercise is stressful. As a mom you have a lot of stress already. Some stress is good. Too much is too much. Exercise that is slower moving, shorter and focused on breath helps to chill your nervous system out instead of amping up that stress.
And if 2 minutes of exercise sounds like too much right now, I expect that a nap is the exercise you need today.
Whether it’s naps, walking or small exercise that you need today, lighten up, and be gentle with yourself. Your exercise doesn’t need to be serious or perfect. Any movement helps.
And now I want to hear from you. What does your body need today? Do you ever catch yourself in an all or nothing mindset? If you do what helps you to get out of it?