"How Strength Training Transformed My Life: A Personal Journey"

A Personal Journey on how strength training up leveled not only my outer appearance, but my entire life.

I have always been passionate about physical activity and exercise. I was always signing myself up for the next running event. I loved the environment of races. Everyone gathered around for one goal: to cross the finish line. I always found the comradery of running a race so fun and invigorating. I still do to this day. Outside of the racing, community of runners, and running endorphins- I always seemed to long for more than just running. It was like I was missing a piece to my puzzle of exercise and healthier living.

I was approached in my early twenties by a coach about participating in the sport of body building, and my brain at the time was not mature enough to recognize the power of participation in this sport. I was very judgmental about the sport at the time because I always looked at body builders as self absorbed individuals who didn't care about anything but the gym. Fast forward 10 years- I am absolutely obsessed with the sport of body building, and finding delayed gratification in everything I pursue is the new mantra of my life.

Body building requires grit, determination, patience, and a lot of effort into lifting and strength training, while trying to balance your finances, relationships, passions, professional life, and other hobbies. Once I began the process of lining my identity with that of a body builder, I can say strength training started making positive deposits into my physical health, which in turn positively impacted all the other areas of my life.

As a women who spent over a decade dieting, doing cardio for punishment, lifting only little pink baby weights, and participating in HIIT class after HIIT class- I always felt like I was physically exhausted after these "runs/classes" but never seeing the change I wanted to see when I looked in the mirror. There is no fault in cardio based classes and activities like running, HIIT classes, and cycle classes if you find pure enjoyment in them. Movement through aerobic/cardiovascular training is good for your overall wellbeing, and also great for your long term cardiovascular health.

However- to see muscular growth and build lean muscle tissue externally, you have to strength train. Not the type of strength training at an elevated heart rate, with jumping, and minimal rest. The type of strength training where you lift with intention, do the same lifts week after week, and each week look to progress. I avoided this form of exercise in my early twenties because of a scarcity mindset of the weight room. I didn't want to be in a male dominated area, I lacked confidence in execution of lifts, and the stigma around "getting bulky" ate at me.

Throughout my undergrad and graduate education, I studied a lot of exercise physiology concepts, and began to recognize the impact of strength training on gaining lean muscle mass, and losing fat. Although high amounts of cardiovascular exercise does show statistically significant improvement in fat loss, the ability to gain lean muscle tissue can only come from strength training. I decided after feeling unhappy with my outer appearance for so long to stop having a scarcity mindset with the weight room, and start focusing on my long term goals. I began dedicating my time and energy to lifting weights and strength training. I haven't turned back since. With proper dieting and an intelligent strength training routine: this has been the most change externally that I have ever had. I finally feel confident in my own skin.

Strength training has improved so many aspects of my life. It helped improve my metabolism. I used to be the girl who feared eating out of a deficit. I would avoid certain food groups and label them as "bad." I would punish myself with cardio if I overate my carbs or calories for the day. Today- I spend much of my time eating out of deficits to build muscle, and although I am not lean all year around, when I do spend time eating in deficits or dieting to unlock my ideal body composition, the results that I am seeing are better than ever. I am the girl I looked up to at the gym 5 years ago.

Strength training has given me that outward confidence that I always looked for. My shoulders, arms, and waist look more slim and toned than ever before. I would have never guessed 10 years ago that this would require lifting really heavy weights in both my lower and upper body. I would have never guessed before that I would need rest between sets to push intensity with heavy weights. Sometimes getting out of your comfort zone and doing what you don't think you are capable of- is what gets you where you need to go.

I know that every time I lift I deposit into my overall wellbeing and improve my long term health. When I show up and put the effort into my physical health, I also see this pouring into other areas of my life; my relationships, my spiritual health/god, my professional life, and my mental health. Committing to improving my health through strength training has given me the confidence to commit to the other areas of my life too.

If you feel like you have been participating in exercise and diet for a long time, and are still not seeing the results you want. Maybe it is time to ask yourself if you are truly committing 100 percent into the facet of strength training. Although cardiovascular training and high impact exercise training has its benefits, strength training may be the missing piece to your puzzle to really unlock that external confidence you have been looking for. Strength training has not only leveled up my outer appearance, but it has given me the confidence to be successful with my marriage, relationships, activities of daily life, professional life, and mental/spiritual health.

Maybe it's time to ask yourself- When is the last time you poured into your physical health? If you start- watch it ripple positively into all the other areas of your life.  

Improve Your Life: Four Strategies to Bridge the Gap Between Knowledge and Action

How many times have you found yourself saying, I know what I need to do, I just don't know how to get started, or where to begin.

It is wonderful to have knowledge. Having knowledge improves your cognitive function, provides you with problem solving skills, and aids in decision making processes. However when embarking upon a wellness journey a common hurdle often arises- the disconnect between knowledge and putting your knowledge to action. For many the gap between knowing and doing stays disconnected and broken.

Today I am going to provide you with four strategies to bridge the gap between knowing and doing so that you can have continued success with your wellness journey, and reaching your goals. I will share four strategies to stop you from just knowing and thinking, and help you with action and doing.

STRATEGY 1: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ACKNOWLEDGE

• Accept

• Come to Terms With

• Recognize

• Admit to be True

When you are trying to improve your overall well-being; it is important to start ACKNOWLEDGING what habits and behaviors on a daily basis are negatively impacting your life. When you don't set healthy boundaries and guardrails surrounding your mental, spiritual, physical, and nutritional health this can negatively impact your overall wellbeing.

Some common examples of behaviors in yourself and others that can negatively impact your overall wellbeing:

• Investing all your time and energy into your career and not prioritizing any time for self care activities (movement, exercise, and whole food based meals).

• Wearing the identity hat of a parent or professional 24/7 and neglecting your passions and interests outside of parenthood and your career. You would rather feel burnt out than be labeled by others as "selfish."

• Allowing your loved ones interests and hobbies to take precedence over yours. You shove your favorite hobbies and interests to the side for fear of coming off as a "burden" or "overbearing" to those you love most.

• Partaking in negative deposit nutritional and fitness habits because of excuses like not having enough "time" or being "too busy."

• Being closed off about your perspective on topics that matter to you- you avoid expressing your theories, opinions, and feelings about what you value for fear of rejection or appearing as "overly opinionated."

• Lacking healthy boundaries with your priorities, obligations, and commitments. You find yourself pouring into everything, but accomplishing nothing at the same time.

• Difficulty confronting or expressing to someone that their words are negatively impacting your emotions and feelings. This continues to leave you feeling misunderstood, resentful, and alienated from those you care about most.

If any of these above examples resonate with you, it is important to acknowledge when your personal or interpersonal behaviors, communications, and actions are negatively impacting your overall wellbeing.

Too often we lack the confidence within ourselves to stand up for our beliefs, morals, and values. Instead of acknowledging something is off or negatively impacting our overall wellbeing, we suppress or bury our emotions and hold the negative energy inside. We fear that others will reject us or look differently at us if our morals, values, and belief systems don't align with theirs.

However, continued suppression of our own emotions, and refusing to process our negative thoughts, emotions, and how others are making us feel can create a negative spiral to our happiest selves. We begin participating in internal and externally directed feelings of anger, jealousy, feeling misunderstood, isolated, drained, emotionless, and discontent with life.

When we practice ACKNOWLEDGEMENT on a daily basis with our behaviors, actions, and habits in our internal and external world we are creating a healthy, safer, and happier space that better aligns with our ideal self.

We need to acknowledge not only when our own behaviors and habits are negatively impacting our overall wellbeing, but when others are too. You can't change how other people treat you, but you have the power to acknowledge people's behaviors, and set healthy boundaries and guardrails around personal relationships that do not pour into your overall wellbeing.

When you start practicing acknowledgement in your daily life- you will see your world transform in a positive way. You will have energy and time to invest in yourself, especially with your nutritional and physical health. Too often we allow low priority hanging fruit take a hold of our life, and the high priority habits and behaviors that pour into our wellbeing get neglected. So acknowledging the things in life that "take away" from you is the first step to a happier, healthier self.

STRATEGY 2: ALIGNMENT

ALIGN

• Supports

• In Agreement With

• Connect With
  

When we acknowledge in ourselves and others what daily behaviors, habits, and actions are not pouring into our ideal self, we become authentic in our values, morals, and beliefs. This allows you to pursue habits, behaviors, choices, and actions that positively deposit and are in ALIGNMENT with our overall wellbeing.

How do you find alignment?

You start by asking yourself in the present moment does this support the life I'm trying to live, and feel "charged" or does this negatively impact my life and make me feel "drained."

When we give ourselves the power of presence to practice Acknowledgement of our habits on a daily basis; we welcome the practice of alignment with open arms. For example- When we begin acknowledging that the daily habit of eating fast food is not healthy for someone trying to lose fat and feel more energized, we recognize that this habit does not "support" or "align" with a person trying to live a healthier lifestyle. To really align with our ideal self and healthier self we would need to start acknowledging what healthier habits and behaviors would look like. To align with a healthier lifestyle; instead of eating fast food everyday, we would align our behaviors and habits to a diet consisting of more whole food based food items. You will never be able to find alignment if you don't practice acknowledgement in the first place.

So make sure you are asking yourself on a daily basis: Does this support the lifestyle I'm trying to live?

If it doesn't what changes can I make to ALIGN better with my ideal self.

STRATEGY 3: ACTION

When we acknowledge our daily habits and behaviors are not in alignment with who we aspire to be, we are taking a step in the right direction of improving our overall wellbeing.

Practicing through the lens of acknowledgement and alignment with our daily behaviors, habits, values, and morals gives us the freedom to start taking ALIGNED ACTIONS with who we aspire to be. We should be active and always looking to keep alignment with our happiest and highest self through our daily behaviors and habits everyday. Being active and taking positive actions towards our ideal selves will shift our identity into the person we aspire to be.

We aren't going to feel happy all day everyday, but we can take action to practice healthy habits and behaviors that align with our happiest and highest self. Repeated positive actions and habits in alignment with our goal self will continue to positively impact our wellbeing. Contrary to that- if we ignore our negative deposit habits, behaviors, and how others negatively impact us- we continue moving away from our ideal self, and we are not practicing the strategies of acknowledgment and alignment.

So make sure to monitor the actions that you take on a daily basis. Your daily habits, behaviors, intra and interpersonal relationships, profession, exercise and nutrition all pour into or take away from your ideal self.

"When we acknowledge we are not aligned with the person we want to be, we allow ourselves to recognize and take action to be all that we can be"

STRATEGY 4: ACCOUNTABILITY AND MENTORSHIP

When we start implementing the above three strategies we have the power, tools, and resources to find alignment with our wellness goals, our overall wellbeing, and improved habits. However, many of us fail to stay consistent on our own. Research article after research article has proven time and time again the importance of accountability, and the importance of mentorship in your pursuit to improving your life.

When you have accountability you not only have to show up for yourself, but someone else. This lessens the likelihood of making false narratives and excuses for yourself. So if you feel like you have been given all the knowledge, tools, and resources; and have acknowledged what habits and behaviors you need to practice to align with your goals, but are still struggling to follow through you need accountability in your life. A coach, a friend, or a loved one can be there to check in and make sure you are taking aligned actions with your goals.

On the other hand- if you are have acknowledged your out of alignment with your goals, but you are unsure and don't have all the knowledge to reach your goals- you may need mentorship. Mentorship will provide you with the tools, resources, and knowledge to be able to "know" what you need to do. So many people think they have all the tools and resources, but don't realize they are still "stuck" because they don't have all the knowledge needed to solve the problem and make solutions.

So the last strategy to bridge the gap between "knowing and doing" is to make sure you have mentorship and accountability to take ALIGNED ACTION with your ideal self.

I hope these strategies help you find alignment with your highest and happiest self. It is important to close in on the gap between knowing and doing by practicing and pursuing:

• Acknowledgement with your daily habits/behaviors (positive and negative)

• Aligning your daily habits and behaviors with your goals

• Action repetitively, consistently, and in alignment with your goals

• Accountability and Mentorship to bridge the gap between "knowing and doing"

Much Love,

Jay

"Unleashing the Power of Honesty: How It Can Transform Your Path to Wellness"

Today's blog is going to talk about the word honesty. 

Today we are going to break down what honesty is in regards to your wellness goals, how to implement and practice honesty on a daily basis, and how to stay in alignment with being honest with yourself and others on your lifelong journey to a better you.

Honesty is defined in google as the refusal to lie. A great example of using the term honesty would be if your loved one wears a color that does not suit their skin tone and they ask for your opinion on their shirt color. Honesty would be telling them that there is another color that you have seen them wear in the past that better suits their skin tone. As a friend and loved one to this person- it may seem a little bit harsh, but as someone being real and transparent you are telling the truth. Honesty is not always comfortable, honesty is not always fun; but honesty is needed.

I am going to add onto the google definition of honesty when it comes to defining honesty surrounding your wellness goals. Honesty is refusing to lie, but when you are being honest with your wellness journey, it is also about facing the truth, and being honest about your habits, excuses, and narratives that you create for yourself.

As humans, our default setting is to create excuses and narratives for why we are not achieving our wellness goals. We do this so we don't blame ourselves for why we are not reaching our goals. These excuses, narratives, and false realities that we create for ourselves will often times block our ability to reach our wellness goals. If we utilize honesty with our wellness goals, and are real and transparent with ourselves; we can determine if our own daily habits, thought patterns, behaviors, choices, and decisions are what is actually responsible for road blocking our goals.

Recently- one of my family members was in the hospital, and I was spending everyday there. I have wellness goals of fat loss right now. I was very honest with myself over the last few weeks spending a lot of time at the hospital that my current daily habits and behaviors in the moment are not aligned with a fat loss goal, and for me right now- that is okay. Being honest with myself, I knew these last few weeks I did not have an ability to prioritize the nutritional and exercise habits that I know I need to practice in order to reach a fat loss goal. Being honest and raw with myself gave me comfort and peace in the moment that fat loss may be a goal for me in the future when my priorities can align with my goals, but lately my focus has been getting in the gym when I have free time to move, trying to prioritize high protein foods, getting significant sleep, and stress management. These are things right now in the moment that I know I can prioritize, and when the time is right and my family is healthy and well again- I will prioritize fat loss habits, behaviors, actions, and commitments back into my life.

Most people fail to be honest with themselves; which is why I call it a superpower. When you have the ability to be honest with yourself in the present moment, you can decide if the habits, behaviors, and actions you need to practice to reach a goal can be a current priority in your life. If you can't align your habits and behaviors with your goal; you may need to change your wellness goals, and accept reality. If you can prioritize and change your habits and behaviors to align with your goals; step one would be to start creating space for these habits, and prioritizing them so they are maintainable and achievable everyday, and to stop allowing the negative deposit habits and behaviors into your life.

Some of us have actual roadblocks getting in the way (sickness, death, injury, etc.); while others create false narratives for why we can't reach our goals. This is where honesty comes in. You have the ability to determine if your narratives and roadblocks are valid and real, or if you are falling to a victim mindset and creating excuses and narratives for yourself because you would rather prioritize negative deposit habits for convenience or instant gratification.

Honesty can prevent a VICTIM MINDSET. This type of mindset can really hinder you and your ability to reach your goals. Victim mindsets are blaming everything on your surroundings, your experiences, and others, and not acknowledging that your OWN habits, behaviors, actions, and what you prioritize could be the problem.

I had fat loss goals all throughout my college years and mid twenties, but I never was able to achieve them until I was honest about my victim mindset. My priorities at the time were not aligned with a fat loss goal. These habits included eating out and highly processed over whole foods, drinking empty calories in alcohol over prioritizing protein each weekend, not being mindful of my nutrition over the weekend over monitoring my nutritional intake on weekends, and choosing socialization with friends over exercise and movement. None of these habits were wrong, but the truth was that I was not honest with myself during this period in my life that the habits I was practicing were not in alignment with fat loss. These habits in college made me happy in the moment, but did not align with my long term goals.

I remember telling friends and family members, and people I looked up to that I was doing all the right things, and still not seeing results. As a grew more knowledge with fitness, nutrition, and self improvement; I began to realize that I was not being honest with myself and I was falling victim to habits and behaviors that were out of alignment with my goals.

So where do you go from here? You know what honesty is, you know that victim mindsets happen quite frequently and should be monitored on a regular basis. I am going provide you a step by step checklist to incorporate in your life on a daily/very frequent basis. The more honest you can get on a day to day basis; the better likelihood you will have reaching your wellness goals, and preventing false narratives, excuses, and victim mindsets.

Steps to Being Honest With Yourself Each Day:

1. Wake up, breathe, and practice gratitude.

2. Ask yourself what habits align with the life I'm trying to live

3. Go about your day, and live life in the present moment

4. Make choices that align with your wellness goals

5. If you make choices or fall victim to habits/behaviors that don't align with your goals journal them out at the end of the day and create strategies to improve upon these choices and behaviors in the future

6. Continue a daily personal inventory and be honest with yourself, your narratives, your excuses, and your daily habits. Start acknowledging when you are creating excuses for yourself when you practice habits that don't align with your goals.

7. Adopt a progress not perfection lens. Try getting better each day, rather than being absolutely perfect. It's progress not perfection

8. Smile- you are growing.

The moment you can start being honest with yourself, your actions, choices, and behaviors; is the moment you will start living a healthier, wealthier, happier, and more aligned life with your ideal self.

I will end with this- Are you being honest with yourself, and how often? If not- how can you get better and adopt habits/behaviors/choices that align with your goals? Go practice honesty today!

Much Love and Happy Habits,

Jules