You can have results or excuses, not both.

Ready to banish your workout excuses to the abyss? I’m your host Beckah, and today we're battling those common hang-ups that keep you from reaching your peak fitness. We'll navigate through the maze of time crunches, lack of equipment, and even early morning sluggishness, offering solutions to help you prioritize your health and establish a consistent workout routine. And for those of you with mini-me's in tow, I'll share some creative ways to incorporate your children into your exercise routine. 

The second half of our fitness journey will take us into the role of your environment on your health targets. From the chaos of morning routines to the perils of unsupported partners, I've got you covered with strategies to help you maneuver these hurdles. We’ll also discuss the pivotal role of sleep in your fitness goals and how to dodge those pesky sleep pitfalls. Wrapping up our voyage, we explore the world of legal disclaimers in health advice and the tricky balance while sharing personal experiences. So, strap in and join me in this transformative adventure! Remember, sharing is caring, so hit that subscribe button and share the podcast with your friends! Let’s get fit together, Balancing Babes!

Transcript

Excuses and Solutions to Working Out

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi, welcome to Balancing with Becca. I'm Becca. I'm a wife, mom and a nana. I have my Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. I have a certification in nutrition, I'm a certified yoga instructor and I'm on my way to becoming a certified personal trainer. I'm here to guide you through balancing your days with real-life scenarios that are relatable and obtainable. Join me on this journey while we laugh, cry and scream our way to becoming Balanced Babes. Hello, balanced Babes, welcome to the BWB podcast. This is Becca Balancing with Becca.

Speaker 1 0:48

So today we're going to talk about excuses and all of the excuses that you can come up with so that you don't work out. Arna Chortzenegger says you can have results or excuses, not both. Repeat that you can have results or excuses, not both. So what are your excuses? I know what mine are, but what are yours? One of the biggest excuses that I hear all the time is I don't have time, and on some days I say the same thing I don't have time, you don't have time. You don't have one hour on any given day for yourself. You don't have 30 minutes. Something's wrong with that, babes, don't you think? If you can't carve out 30 minutes for yourself on any given day, there's something wrong with that? What can you do? You can schedule it in, just like you schedule in appointments hair appointments, nail appointments, doctor appointments, whatever it is. Schedule it into your phone that 30 minutes to work out. Make it very clear to your household that you are scheduling in time for yourself three to four times a week for 30 minutes to work out. Remember you can have results or excuses if you're looking for results. They're not going to happen if you keep on having excuses. Make you a priority for once. I always say that we have 24 hours in the day and most of those hours we take care of somebody else. We take care of other people. Can we carve out a few minutes to take care of ourselves? Yes, we can.

Speaker 1 2:58

Another excuse that I hear a lot is I don't have equipment. You don't need equipment. You can use your own body weight. Some examples of using your own body weight Push-ups, squats, planks, crunches, lunges, burpees, jumpy jacks, tricep dicks, yoga pilates, tricep dips, people. No more excuses, babes. You can create a healthy body at home. You can go to Marshalls or TJ Maxx Ross. They always have gym equipment like dumbbells and stuff are super cheap. They have mats like six bucks Bands, booty bands. You can use the bands for your arms, for your legs, for your butt. Bands are super cheap.

Speaker 1 3:55

You can also message me and get on one of my programs and I can help set you up at home for a workout regimen. My kids or my grandkids won't leave me alone. Let them exercise with you. Use them for weights, teach them how to work out. Teach them how to make themselves a priority. Make it fun.

Speaker 1 4:23

Now, if you don't want your kids in the room while you're working out, that's okay. You're already putting them in front of the TV or iPad for other reasons. Put them in front of those things. For this reason, it's just 30 minutes. It's 30 minutes to an hour, whatever.

Speaker 1 4:42

Another excuse that I hear a lot, and this is huge. This is a big one and I know you're going to probably relate to this one. I can't wake up early enough to do a workout in the morning and I hate to work out at night. Yes, you can Set your clock for 30 minutes earlier for a month. Then, after a month, set it for an hour earlier. But here's the thing You've got to go to bed a half hour earlier every night. Can you do that? Because you still got to get that seven to nine hours of sleep in. Get that circadian rhythm and check. Babes, Sleep is the most essential part of your health journey. I promise you it's restoring for the body and for the mind.

Speaker 1 5:27

I was reading an article the other day. Harvard Research says that not getting enough sleep is associated with higher levels of that hormone grueling, which is that's the hormone that increases appetite and it lowers the levels of the hormone leptin, which leads to feeling less full. So this sets you up to gain weight, guys. Not getting enough sleep it's going to set you up to gain weight Now, by getting that circadian rhythm and check and getting those hours of sleep in. That alters those hormones and can bring them back to balance. And that's what we want, right? We want to find that balance with those hormones. There's a lot that you can do on your own to balance your own hormones.

Speaker 1 6:10

So about a third of Americans don't get that recommended amount of sleep each night. That's terrible, guys. We're not prioritizing our sleep. We have to prioritize our sleep schedule. So not only is there a problem with not getting enough sleep and gaining weight, but high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes all of that Stuff is related to not getting enough sleep at night. We got, we got to restore, guys, we got to restore.

Speaker 1 6:58

And then you have these people out there and you might be one of them that brag about getting four or five hours of sleep at night. You knew who else used to brag about getting only four hours of sleep at night President Reagan, margaret Thatcher. They both are dealing on half doubt and did deal with Alzheimer's, because the studies and the statistics show that not getting enough sleep can lead to Alzheimer's and dementia later in life. Gotta get that sleep. You've got to restore the brain. So I know I'm harping on that.

Speaker 1 7:43

Do not negotiate with yourself with yourself on that sleep schedule, okay, and remember when that alarm goes off, get up. Do not snooze that alarm. I'm telling you right now. It just messes you up for the rest of the day. It takes about four hours when you snooze that alarm to get on track. I don't care how much coffee you drink, it's not worth it. Don't snooze. When you do snooze, your body needs about 75 minutes to get back into that sleep cycle. You're not snoozing for 75 minutes, you're snoozing for nine, like nine minutes. So every time you snooze it, even though it feels good initially, you're screwing yourself up, get up.

Speaker 1 8:37

So some tactics to improve your sleep is to keep a log. I know that sounds so boring, but you can put a little journal next to your bed and just write down how you feel when you wake up. Just keep a little journal on that. You can also use a smartwatch to sleep your sleep patterns. Think about the things that you do before you go to sleep at night. For instance, are you looking at your phone? Are you watching TikTok videos before you go to sleep? Stop it. Put that phone down for an hour at least an hour before you go to bed at night. I promise you it's going to change the way you fall asleep. It's going to change that sleep and you're going to wake up more rested. Side note, if you're having a glass of two, a glass of two glass or two of wine at night, or a cocktail at night before you go to bed, thinking it's helping you sleep, it's helping you to fall asleep, but it's not helping you to stay asleep. So take a break a couple nights a week and see how you feel when you wake up.

Speaker 1 9:48

Another excuse that I hear a lot is my mornings are too hectic to work out. First of all, why are your mornings so hectic? What's going on Every night? You know there's going to be a morning. You know how it goes. It's not a surprise. Why are they so hectic? You're not pre-planning for yourself. Fail to plan, plan to fail. Put your workout clothes right next to your bed, babes. Put your workout clothes next to your bed. Put your socks and shoes. Get everything ready so that in the morning, when you wake up and you don't snooze because you put your feet on the floor. Put your clothes on right, then You're halfway there. You're halfway there. If it's your kids that are making your morning hectic, teach them to put their clothes out at night first, before they go to bed, so that when they wake up they already know what they're wearing. And there's no negotiating. You picked this out last night. This is what you're wearing. Put it on Mornings. I know they can be hectic, but it's not a surprise. We know every night before we go to bed that it's going to be morning the next day. So why are we making life so difficult for ourselves? I'm too tired to work out. I know.

Speaker 1 11:20

Action before motivation, action before motivation. I'm not motivated to work out. Ah, nobody is, nobody is, I'm not motivated to go do a workout, but I know that I need to do it and I'm not going to negotiate with what I already scheduled into my calendar to do for myself when I was in my right mind. So get started and you're going to feel better about it. Give it 10%, because the 10% is going to lead up to more. Give it five minutes. Five minutes is going to lead to 10 minutes. 10 minutes will lead to 20 minutes. Usually, by 15 or 20 minutes, you start feeling really good. Just get started. You're going to feel so much better. Go for a short walk first before you work out. That's going to help to elevate your mood. Even if it's only 10 minutes, it's going to help you to get started. Get on the treadmill for 10 minutes. Just get started. Action before motivation. Now here's a big one, babes. Here's a big one.

Speaker 1 12:31

My environment doesn't support me. Now, I know this is not something that you may recognize. That's an excuse, but it is something that's happening. If your environment doesn't support you and your goals, you're not going to be successful. What does this mean? Your environment, your work environment, your home environment? If you're going to work and there's donuts every day in the lunchroom. That doesn't support your goals right Now. There's not a lot you can do about that, except for not walking into the break room or making sure that you ate a really good breakfast so that you're not tempted. But home environment is huge.

Speaker 1 13:20

So if you need to clean out your cabinets, get rid of junk food, do it. I don't care to throw away that bag of chips. It's $4. You spend more than that on Starbucks. Throw that crap away If you're tempted by it. If you're not tempted by it, it's fine. But most of us are tempted by the stuff that we have in our cabinets. Now for me personally, guys, I can have food in my cabinets for years and not be tempted. I don't know why. I cleaned out my pantry the other day and I had, like these little Debbie peanut butter wafer things that were like a year old. So I was not one bit tipped. I don't even know why I bought those things. Get rid of it.

Speaker 1 14:14

After the grandkids had visited for a week, I told my doctor that I had kind of ate like crap for a week when the grandkids were here, and she was on my ass right away. Why? Why are you giving your grandkids junk food. Why would you feed them that? Why are you eating that and why are you feeding your kids that? So I was definitely back peddling trying to get out of that one. But it's true, why? Why is that an excuse? Because the grandkids were here Pre-planning. You know, fail to plan, plan to fail. So back to the environmental excuses.

Speaker 1 15:02

It could be your spouse or your partner that's not supporting you. That's part of your environment. So if that's the case, then be very clear on your goals and make sure to communicate that with your spouse or your partner. Let them know how important it is for you to get healthy and what you need from them. You don't want them offering you Reese's Peanut Butter Cups when they know damn well that you can't have sweets or that you don't want to have sweets. It's not that you can't, that you don't want to. So that's what you have to do you have to change the dialogue in your environment. Okay, I don't want to eat sweets because I'm trying to be healthier, I'm trying to eat healthier. So please don't offer me that Reese's Peanut Butter Cup when you know that I'm trying to eat healthier.

Speaker 1 15:58

And it's really hard just side note it's really hard to change somebody else when you want to make a change. But what you have to do is you just have to lead by example, so you can't nag at them and try to get them on board if they're definitely not on board. Believe me, I've tried it it doesn't work. You have to do this for yourself, and then, once your people in your environment start seeing how good you're feeling, how happy you are, how much more energy you have, they're going to want to get on board too, and so that's kind of something that comes later on. But again, be an upfront, honest. Communicating with your partner about your goals and asking them to please help support you is huge.

Speaker 1 16:49

There's another excuse that you don't say out loud, but it's true, it's called laziness. I'm just lazy. Two words for you Stop it. Stop being lazy. Take a day or two off and be lazy Totally fine, but don't be lazy every single day. Have a really delicious lazy day once or twice a week, but the rest of the week, do what you said you wanted to do. Do all of the things that go along with your goals, but schedule in that lazy day and say I'm having a lazy, a delicious lazy day today for the whole day. That can be your cheat meal day. That can be your day that you do nothing. That can be your best day. But look at your calendar on your phone. You're already looking at your phone constantly. Anyways, look at your calendar Schedule in the days that you're going to work out, schedule in the days that you're going to be lazy, and stick to that.

Speaker 1 18:19

Vince Lombardi said it perfectly Most people fail not because of lack of desire, but because of lack of commitment. That is so true. Most people fail not because of lack of desire, but because of lack of commitment. Commit to yourself, babes, for yourself. Venus Williams said just believe in yourself, even if you don't just pretend that you do, and at some point you will Believe in yourself. And even if you don't just pretend that you do, and at some point you will. I always say what you tell your mind, your mind will believe this is right.

Entertainment Podcast for Personal Growth

Speaker 1 19:10

On Conclusion, babes movement is medicine. I love that. Keep moving, you're going to feel better, you're going to feel happier All around. Movement is medicine. Keep moving and then, on the days that you don't want to take a rest day, be lazy one day a week, or two days a week, it's okay. That's what I have for you today.

Speaker 1 19:47

Babes, thank you so much for listening in today. I really do appreciate you and I really really hope that some of the things that we covered today will resonate with you and you will change these things. Of course, if you have any questions, you can always message me. Now for the legal stuff. This show is for entertainment purposes only. You know, I'm not a psychologist nor a doctor. I just really want to help all of you to get past some of these excuses. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, please subscribe to the podcast so that you don't miss an episode, and please share it if you think you know someone who would benefit from this information. Thanks for listening to the BWB babes. Bye for now. That's what I have for you today. Balanced babes Keep that center of gravity. I'm here to support you and help you keep that balance. Until next time it's the BWB podcast, balancing with Becca.