Hey guys, totally different blog post coming up for you guys today (and over the next couple of Fridays because #fridayintroductions). We’re gettin’ personal. If that’s not your jam and you’re just here for the pretty pictures, dude I get that, just skip ahead and we’ll be back with pretty pictures next week. 😉
If you don’t follow me on my personal IG (instagram.com/sarahjaneshorthose < come on over) then you may not have noticed some BIG changes happening to the gal behind the lens, me! If you have been watching then I’ve literally been shrinking right before your eyes for the past almost 2 years. The feedback I’ve been getting on my posts about this journey has been amazing. It really fills me up to hear you all message me saying you got a workout in today because of me posting one of mine, or you made a different food choice because you saw what I did or better than anything that you felt empowered and that YOU could actually do this (because you can!) because of watching me do it. Guys, that’s insane and amazing and I cannot tell you how much joy that brings me.
So that’s the reason for this series of posts coming your way here. For getting a bit more personal and off the pretty photo path than we like ever get here. Because I learned something that took me 32 years to learn…. I CAN DO IT. And if I can then guuuurrrlllll you can!
So where to start….. I’m going to break this up because it’s a lot. But there are a few things we’re gonna talk about mmmkay.
- The why.
- The workouts.
- The food.
- The self talk.
Since I’m a nitty gritty ‘get to the actual take aways’ kind of person we are NOT going to start with why (sorry Simon Sinek). We’re going to start with how. And I’m going to start with the easy part for me… the workouts.
The basics:
- Got a semi-cheap, well reviewed spin bike off Amazon in March 2019. YES, I 100% recommend this one it was a great starter bike and had all the basics I needed. Adjustability, sturdy flywheel, cadence monitor. Started riding 2-3x a week.
- Got the Peloton app on my phone just a couple months later. This is now $12 a month and I HIGHLY recommend it. Has spin/running/meditation/yoga/strength/cardio classes all updated daily with thousands of on-demand options. Started pushing myself much harder taking 20-30 min classes about 4x a week.
- My amazing husband decided to spoil me for Christmas with something extravagant just for me and got me the Peloton bike. OMFG what a game changer. YES, it’s worth the cost. YES, I think it kicks all other bikes out of the water. YES, it’s the reason I workout every single day and miss it when I’m not at home. NO you do not need this bike to make big changes. 😉 Want the bike too? Get in touch for a referral code to save $100!
- I now ride 6-7x a week. Yes, that’s every day. No, the rides are not all the same. I take recovery ride days, I take low impact days, I do training days to target particular muscles or particular skills on the bike, I also take just for fun rides where I’m there for the party not the plan.
- I ride 20-60 minutes almost every day. Heck sometimes even 10 as I’d rather keep the habit of daily than bust all the records.
- I now ride in challenges and power zone training to have a coach specifically tell me what rides to take daily to optimize my training.
- I’m now obsessed. #sorrynotsorry
Ok… some questions I get asked:
- Did I have spin experience before? Kinda, not really. Before I was prego the second time I took a great 5:30am class at the YMCA and every Friday was spin class. I knew I liked it as I really looked forward to that day over all the rest.
- What do I like about spin in particular? And also… Is that all you do every day, you don’t work in other workouts like for upper body? I needed there to be NO barrier to my workout. No drive to a gym, no searching you-tube for a class, no getting bored with the same workout tape, not even having to gather a set of weights or think about counting reps. Like NO barrier. Or I just wouldn’t do it. So what I like best about spin is that I need me and my shoes and my bike and I press play and do what I’m told. Or I just get on and ride. I needed something completely uncomplicated and that’s why for now this is all I do, because I know I WILL do it. I’m building habit 1 before I freak out or worry about being Mrs noodle arms. If I never add in arms/abs just know I will wall sit circles around ya’ll but if it’s a life or death pushup situation I’m going down. #truth
- When do you fit in a workout? 20 minutes mommas…. start there. Yes, you can. I hear you. I hear the words we tell ourselves and I know (trust me, I FEEL the full weight of how busy we are) but an unfortunate lesson I learned from my momma is if you push yourself to work on everything else before taking the time to work on your health then you no longer get to have all the beautiful things you’re working so hard for. Start with 20 minutes a day. Honesty moment, the kids can whine at you for something for 20 minutes without dying and Beats headphones are GREAT! Personally, I workout in the morning. No, I’m not a morning person. No, I don’t ever want to get out of bed to do it. But I love it when I do. I use the app ALARMY to get my butt up (I’m sorry and you’re welcome for that one). And I have used both Beachbody PreWorkout and now trying Plexus Active as a preworkout drink to get me woken up a bit to ride.
Sorry not sorry for the long post. I get a lot of questions about all this so I hope this is helpful. I’ll be coming back around to talk about the why/food/self talk next but that’s a wrap on my workout deets.