Ever have one of “those” days where you just didn’t feel quite right? It happened to me this morning. I slept great last night, woke up feeling prepared for the day ahead and actually excited about a longer hill treadmill workout (I usually do not get excited about those until they’re DONE – ha). I’m not sure what happened, but during my warm-up, my attitude took a wrong turn. Lots of negative self-talk and “this sucks”. About halfway through the workout, I decided I could either keep on feeling miserable, OR I could choose to feel better. I chose the latter. How did I do it? Below, I share some tactics I use when I’m having a pity party…you might find them silly, but hey, we all have our tricks!
GRATITUDE
I start my attitude adjustment by mentally ticking off all the things I’m grateful for. It’s similar a lot of the time, but today looked something like this: strong legs, strong lungs, the ability to walk and stand and run and lift, health, food, shelter, clothing, a job, a car, family, for Nick, for our pets, coffee, friends, having a gym to go to, a good playlist, birds, the sky, rain, sunshine, trees, sweat, coffee (I think I said that already). Anyway, after I go through this very long list, I always end with “I HAVE NO PROBLEMS!” Because, when it comes down to it, compared to many, I don’t. Being upset that I sucked at a workout is so…inconsequential.
PRAYER
After my gratitude list, I start praying. I am not a “religious” person, and my spirituality is something I keep pretty private and am definitely still exploring. But praying helps center me. So…I pray for a lot of things…mostly for people that I know or love, or maybe someone or something I see in the news, or maybe for the homeless person I pass every day. I pray for those who can’t walk or stand or run or lift. When I go through this list, I always end with Phillipians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I say this over and over and over again.
Let’s just say my treadmill time ended much better than it began this morning. 🙂
On to today’s workout! I’ve had some requests for lower body/booty workouts. Before getting into the specifics, my absolute favorite exercises for sculpting a nice rear view are as follows:
- Heavy squats
- Heavy deadlifts
- Heavy step-ups
- Heavy walking lunges with a “reach” (thanks Jill Coleman for this one: come down into a lunge, drop your chest over your front knee and touch the ground with your dumbbells on either side of your front foot – ouch)
- Bulgarian Split Squats
Notice a common theme? HEAVY…period…’nuff said. On to the workout:
Download PDF version here.
Let me know what you think! Questions? Email me at Tara@PrimeLifeFit.com
xoxo
Tara