Happy Thursday! Hope it’s off on the right foot!

I’m working away, but already thinking about the weekend ahead. I’ve got some fun plans for Saturday! A group of friends from the gym are going to Mt. Baldy to do a hike. I’ve never been there, so I’m excited to do it! I haven’t been on an adventure in a while, it seems, so I’m more than ready for a break from L.A. I love this place, but it wears on you sometimes. A day or two somewhere quiet should do my body good. 😉

Chasing the ONE

I took a boxing class Tuesday night at ABA. It’s the boxing gym in the basement of the gym I work at. I have been going once a week for the last 6 weeks or so, and am loving it. I feel like I’m catching onto the combos and getting stronger/faster. I’ve always been able to hit really hard, but when you add in the moving parts and doing it QUICKLY, it can get tough and make your head spin. (fo’ real, they call out combos FAST down there).

Anyways, last night’s class was small…..and small classes mean more work time. The class is set up with 4 stations: mitt-work, bicycling, plyometrics, and heavy bags. Since we didn’t have many people last night, we skipped the heavy bags and just worked through the other 3 stations as many times as we could in an hour.

Hitting the mitts is definitely my favorite because you really feel like a bad-ass-mo-fo-boxer when you do it (or maybe it’s just me?). It’s about 3 minutes of hitting the mitts with a trained instructor that is calling out all types of combos for you to do. An example would be “2,3,2, double hook, catch left, double hook, up 4”. May not seem that hard, but what that means is a right punch, left hook, right punch, double left hook, catch left (they hit you), double left hook, 4 upper cuts, left hook, right punch. These are all being called out WHILE YOU’RE HITTING, so you really have to be on top of your mental game. You don’t exactly get time to think about it! 🙂

It’s such a BLAST, but last night I was hitting a wall physically. Towards the end of each round, I just felt like I had nothing left. I was giving it my all, and punching as hard as I could, but at the same time I was just becoming fatigued and my punches had less and less power as time went on. The instructor that I was hitting with would NOT let me quit. In fact, when I started to break down and hit softer, he made me do MORE and kept me going in order to make me push harder. I truly thought there was NOTHING left in the tank, but he wouldn’t let me quit. He kept yelling “come on Lizzy, HIT HARDER, Let’s go GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT, HIT HARDER!”. This actually happened in two separate rounds and whattayaknow……I was able to give it more. I hit harder, I grunted, and I just pushed through as much as possible. (I secretly also thought I was going to die, but that’s besides the point) 😉

I left class feeling amazing. Feeling like every ounce of energy I had was put into that class. It reminded me that while, yes, I push myself really hard on my own, it doesn’t compete with having someone to help push you even further. You might think you can’t (just like I did), but you CAN. The motivation to do MORE in class was just what I needed. Oddly enough, that motivation spilled into my work day on Wednesday and I had a kick-ass-get-it-done kind of day. 

My point in telling you this story is that I’m CONSTANTLY asked where I get the motivation for my workouts, but RARELY asked where I get the motivation to work as hard as I do at my jobs. While, yes, I’m self-motivated, do you think I just have some kind of motivation machine sitting in my stomach pumping out motivation??????? Hell no!!!!

So then why do I seem to be self-motivated? It’s because I am constantly SEEKING motivation. Whether that be by going to a class where I know the instructor is going to push me, or watching a video online that inspires me to go lift heavy shit and take names while I’m doing it, it’s all encompassing. I’m constantly searching for the kindle to my fire. I know that if I STOP doing that, I’m going to lose the flame. Even on the days that I don’t want to search for motivation and feel the complete opposite, I still know I need to try.

So how exactly does that relate to work-life? It’s the spill-over effect. A cycle, if you will.

• By getting motivated for fitness, I accomplish and achieve success in the gym.
• By achieving success and feeling accomplished, I get heightened endorphins and the feeling of knowing I proved I was better than I thought.
• When I then go to work, those feelings are still there! I end up getting a ton of stuff done and come up with tons of new ideas. (This is one of many reasons that I like to take a break in the middle of the day for a quick workout. It’s idea fuel, get-er-done propane.) Ya feel me?

I’ve alway said working out changed my life, but until you fully experience it yourself, it’s really hard to convey just how life-changing it is. Breaking through mental and physical barriers in the weight room, on the track, in a rock climbing gym, at the yoga studio, or wherever it might be WILL transfer into your everyday life. It takes hard work, consistency, dedication, PATIENCE, and the drive to do better. Lift more than you did last week, run farther than you ever have before. Knowing that not every day is a life-changing, break-through workout, and that some days it’s going to SUCK and you’re going to FAIL. But it’s when you get that ONE…..that ONE workout that makes you just feel like you’re on top of the world and nothing can touch you. It’s that ONE that makes it fucking worth it.

For me, it’s lifting weights and doing high intensity work outs, but whether it’s lifting weights, working on inversions in yoga, or running a marathon, it’s what resonates with YOU. I challenge each of you to go out and find what it is that you like to do. You don’t have to like it every time you do it, you just have to like it enough that you’ll keep trying. And I promise that if you DO keep trying……you’ll get that one….and just like a drug, you’ll continue to keep chasing that one down until you experience it again…..and trust me….you will.

Have you experienced a workout that made you feel on top the world?

What is your favorite way to stay active?