WHERE THE MAGIC LIES
This is not about Harry Potter, neither about quick fixes and diet wonders.
I might have had you at magic and now you are mildly disappointed about the fact that there are no quick fixes neither diet wonders, I will leave your imagination in peace when it comes to Harry Potter.
You quite possibly had a busy business trip or are about to visit your parents away from home and while I got you in the air and your full attention lets talk about, yes, exercise.
Exercise and magic go hand in hand in my books and hopefully soon in your books too.
It is no secret, in order to find magic, you got to imagine, explore and mostly be open minded. Nobody has ever found a magical place by staying on the comfy path, only off the beaten track will you find something quite magical whatever it might be and therefore bear in mind that your off road experience is often completely different to that of your neighbour, mother, friend and/or pilot.
It all might still sound quite confusing and more like Harry Potters diary than an actual guideline to help you find your magic.
I am putting the pieces together for you and building it up, bit by bit. Finding magic takes time.
Are you going to gym? Let’s assume you do, on a scale of 1-10 how much do you like it?
Do you feel a spring in your step and bees in your bonnet when you think of your gym session? Well, if you do - fantastic you might have indeed found your magic without me even helping, I would suggest - hang in there you are stuck on a plan so you might as well finish reading.
Or, hand on heart, are you feeling the most creative when it comes to making excuses to skip gym? Spring in step replaced by dragging heels and bees in bonnet are more like lazy bumble bees?
I generally do not start my sentences by saying, "our society” but it really works here - Our society has taught us totally wrong. Here is why!
We have to get up in the morning, we have to dress & get ready, we have to eat, we have to drive to work, we have to go to tiring budget meetings, we have to join boring business lunches, we have to make sure our loved ones feel loved. From there we have to fill up petrol, have to buy groceries, have to feed the cats, have to find an excuse to skip gym, have to cook for the family or attend another boring dinner, have to get ready for the next day and last but not least have to go to bed on time to feel good the next morning to do it all over again. Now count all the “have to” - it is 14! Your day might look slightly different and vary between 10up to 30 have to’s - now that’s not magic?
There are certain things in our day to day routine that are not meant to be filed under have to’s and exercise is one of them. It is a 100% success rate, if applied correctly and it is supposed to let your soul make cartwheels out of pure joy.
How do we do that? First of all - exercising shouldn't be a routine - you can book time off for your exercise, but you should not let routine take over your actual workout.
Think simple & child like- you want to have fun, because when we are having fun, we want to do it again.
Change it up, if you are not on a strict trainings plan for a specific reason - play around.
Instead of running for 20mins on flat, break it up, 5mins stairs, 5mins hill, 5mins flat and the last 5mins intervals.
You can send me a message and tell me how you feel the next morning, your muscles had to work in various new ways, your body is sore but good sore & most of it all you had fun.
You are welcome.
Comfort zone & training are like oil and water, they don't go hand in hand - and No not like yin and yang where it balances each other out.
Staying in your comfort zone will eventually make you feel stuck and being stuck means you will not improve. Whatever your goal might be, not improving means you are not coming closer to reaching your goal and even though a trainings goal should be a “moving” goal we need to see success to stay motivated. No motivation equals great excuses and excuses are only good for nothing really.
Note, this is not rocket science and easy to apply.
Back to the magic, if you feel stuck and even more so are not improving, at this point I want to mention that improvement must be measured in fair and realistic baby steps, you must change your way of training. I dare you to not follow the same routine, not go for the same run you do every Tuesday and Thursday and don’t follow your 20reps, 3 rounds regime - break out of it.
Instead do something different, try boxing, join a bootcamp, go play volleyball on the beach - something that you always wanted but never did. Finding your magic does not always happen the first time you are looking for it, it could take a few times to figure out what brings you joy and ultimately magic.
While we are on it, make a note, three exercises, gyms, runs, stairs you always wanted to test and try. Put a date & time behind it and write it in your calendar. It’s a date.
When you go on your date, stay open minded, don't fear and don't expect - just enjoy the beauty of exciting your mind and body with something new.
Once you have been on a few dates and you found your happy place, where exercise is fuelled by real motivation through fun then you know where the magic lies. Your magic.
With Love
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