2023-2024 Mindset Shift
Almost 1 year later and I’ve made so many changes to my routine and my fitness journey
Last summer I was training as a powerlifter but was not really sure if I wanted to compete or not and most of the time I felt like my body was always in pain because I wasn’t recovering properly from my lifts and I didn’t want to keep powerlifting and have my body feel like shit.
I decided to make a complete change a to start training to compete in my first body building competition. From September under March I worked with a coach and started tracking strict macros, monitoring my sleep, counting my steps, stopped drinking during prep (now I am drinking moderately/ for special occasions) implementing mindful habits like journaling and yoga, established a daily routine that I could follow that made me feel more productive, meal prepped daily/weekly and so much more.
Training for my show taught me to be really discipline with myself. I have always loved the gym and would rarely skip a workout. I would never skip a workout in general, but I would self sabotage myself by pushing off my workout until 10 pm at night instead of going in the morning like I had promised myself the night before. Once I started my prep I didn’t allow myself to do that. If I said I was going to workout in the morning, I did.
When you break a promise you make to yourself, you are telling yourself that you don’t take yourself seriously and its almost a form of disrespect. You are neglecting to put yourself first and prioritize your health and wellness. By repeating this over and over it creates a vicious cycle that makes it even harder to take yourself seriously the next time you are setting out to get in the habit of going to the gym. It decreases your feelings of self-efficacy and can cause you to doubt your commit abilities in areas of your life even outside of the gym.
By prioritizing your fitness journey and implementing small daily habits like increasing your daily steps or even just making a meal at home instead of eating out, you are showing yourself that you care about your goals, you respect yourself by showing up for yourself and this self discipline will help transform so many other areas of your life too.
This year, I forced myself to go to bed earlier so I could get my 8 hours a sleep and wake up for early morning lifts. I prepped my breakfast the night before and laid out my gym outfit so it made getting to the gym in the morning as easy as possible. When you’re starting a new habit, you want to set yourself up for success in whatever way you can so that there are as few barriers in your way as possible.
Now that I finished my competition, I’m not just throwing all of my new habits out the window. Just because I’m not going to compete again, doesn’t mean I don’t need to maintain my self discipline. I love the structure that prep taught me and it actually made me feel so good. Yes, I was tired some days because body building prep takes a lot out of you but these habits are what kept me going and will only help me continue to progress in the gym.
Now that I am prioritizing recovery and my overall well being, I’m excited to give powerlifting a try again.
I still don’t think I’m going to be competing anytime soon or maybe at all, but I want to work towards goals other than just aesthetics. I want to feel strong again, set small goals, accomplish them, and continue to set new goals
We aren’t always going to be motivated. Thats why we need to be self disciplined. When you make a promise to yourself, keep it. Find a friend who will help keep you accountable, write your goals down and put them somewhere you’ll see it every day, set reminders in your phone to lay out your gym clothes, write the time you’re going to go to the gym in your calendar so you don’t forget and over commit yourself to other activities. It takes time to get in the habit of going to the gym, but you’ve got this.
You won’t regret it.