February 20, 2014

Three Cheers For Team USA

This post is sponsored by AT&T

Who is having fun watching the Olympic Winter Games this year!? I love to watch ice skating and snowboarding. There are so many sports that you don’t even know exist until you’re watching the experts — we spent more hours than I can count watching Curling while in Key West. What a fun game!

Team USA has to dig deep in order to train so many days of the year. While I am no where near Olympic status on anything (even oatmeal making ; ), here are some of the ways I find motivation to keep pushing it during my own workouts:

Because You Can

A cycle instructor I had back in 2005 used to tell the class “Increase your resistance because you can!” The “Because you can” line got me every time. Rather than looking at the class as something I had to do, I started to view it as something I was able to do. Sprinkling in a little gratitude that I had legs that worked – and worked well – made the class not only more powerful but also more meaningful at the end of the day.

Rest But Keep Moving

When I’m in athletic conditioning class and we’re going on our 50th squat, it’s easy to just take a break and stop going. While I definitely approve of resting, I sometimes put down my weight but keep squatting. It’s amazing how much you can recharge in a short amount of time, and I can usually pick the weight back up. One of my instructors always says “You can rest, but don’t stop moving!” and I think that’s an important lesson. It’s fine to need a break, but don’t completely give up.

The Indoor Playground

I’ve written posts before about looking at the gym as an Indoor Playground. The more variation I get in my workout the more I enjoy it. I’ve been loving athletic conditioning classes for this reason – the differences in exercises and intervals keep both my mind and muscles focused. So rather than staying on one machine for your whole hour, try splitting time between a few and giving the shorter time frame your all.

Change Your Mental Focus

As I’ve worked with my trainer Erin, I’ve realized how much one muscle can control the whole brain. What I mean is that if one shoulder is fatigued from a previous exercise I’ll only focus on that burn even if I’m working other muscles (like in a plank). Thus, the more I can take my mind off the burn, the better off I am. (This knowledge about myself goes back to being in labor too – the more I thought about the pain the worse it was!) So when you’re deep into a set of 15 and it starts to burn at rep 8, think about what outfit you’re going to wear later on or what you’ll be having for lunch and just keep moving! You might be able to squeeze out a few more good reps.

When The Magic Happens

Another inspiring instructor of mine waits until we’re a minute into a plank and it’s starting to get hard to remind us “This is when the magic happens.” We’re all working out for ourselves, so a reminder why I’m doing the workout in the first place always gets me to squeeze out another 26 seconds or so.

AT&T asked me to join them to help celebrate this year’s athletes by downloading their #ItsOurTime app from either iTunes or Google Play and recording a chant to support Team USA. The athletes’ determination, perseverance, and grit inspire us, and we owe it to them to send some digital love from the other side of the world!

Here’s a link to my goofy cheer!!! I tried to do one with Mazen, but he doesn’t know the words yet : ) It’s actually really fun to sit and watch all the cheers people have uploaded.

I have a HUGE giveaway for you guys!!!

A $150 Visa Gift card
A Team USA memorabilia package that includes a T-shirt, signed photo and more

and……

A Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Join AT&T in celebrating our U.S. Olympians and be a part of the nationwide chant. Download the #ItsOurTime app from either iTunes or Google Play and record yourself shouting the iconic ‘USA!’ chant and help drive Team USA to gold in Sochi. And use the #ItsOurTime to share stories of inspiration through social media.