Getting Back in Shape for Adventure

My formal education was in Elementary School Psychology, however I made my career in fitness. I was a D1 full scholarship athlete, so falling into the fitness industry was easy for me. Plus when you are dealing with adults trying to change something about themselves and are out of their comfort zone, they revert back to children. Easy connection. 

I spent 20+ years in the fitness industry and only left that career 6 years ago when my daughter was just about a year old and we moved into the mountains. This made my commute to work 2 hours each way with our daughter & I quickly said I was done. I was fortunate to then transition to work remotely full time for my father’s company and be a stay at home mom at the same time. With the help of Covid, we ended up setting up a home gym in our driveway, so a workout is literally just outside the door.

part of our home gym out in our driveway

However, as my daughter began “school”  I was finding it more difficult to get in a workout. With all of her lessons that I had to cover and the chauffeuring around to all her activities, a workout was just not on the agenda. I would be consistent for several months then fall off. Then start up again only to fall off again, just like most people. The one thing for me is I have severe structural issues with my spine that if I do NOT workout, my body will inevitably be in pain to the point where I can't sleep at all. Having been an athlete for most of my life (even after college), I realized there was always the next race or competition that I was preparing for. At this point there weren’t any and just “being healthy” is not a big enough motivator for me to make it a priority. I also realized that I am a fair-weather worker-outer. If it’s cold and foggy & wet, I REALLY don’t want to do my workout. 

Now that we are going to learn to sail, eventually full time, I need to be in shape and strong for the boat. I now have that motivation that I was missing. I don’t want to show up for the first day of lessons not being able to hold my own. That is not my mentality. I am the one who wants to go above and beyond. As well as help others that need it too. With sailing I also realize that the weather won’t always be perfect. There are going to be cold, wet & rainy days that I will need to pull in rigging, etc so I need to suck it up and just “deal with it”. And if I have to do it while I’m training, first time having to do it on the water shouldn't be as bad. 

Naturally, when sailing, your core, legs and back are going to be the most important to be strong as well as your “accessory” muscles, shoulders, biceps and triceps. I’m treating myself as if I haven’t worked out in years and starting over from the basics. I only have time for 30 min workouts 3 days a week and I already hit over 14,000 steps a day, naturally. I have broken them down: Day 1 Core with bodyweight squats, Day 2 Pulling (back) with deadlifts, since those fit naturally with the desired movements and Day 3, Pushing with weighted squats. Again those just fit in naturally. I will do each workout for 2 weeks then progress and maybe change specific exercises every 2 weeks. But there are some exercises that I really enjoy and those may stay for several progression sessions.  

Battle rope to mimic lines

I know my goals are not yours and vice versa. But I am glad that I have finally had the clarity to understand where my lack of motivation has come from and what I can do to fix that. For me, I need to have a goal. And once I have accomplished this first one of just getting back in shape then I can move on to another, Maybe I’ll take up actual rowing or paddle boarding. For all the different adventures we want to do in our lives, we need to take a step back and have a real conversation with ourselves first, before we can progress forward.