Fitness Over 40 – Get up and get moving

Jun 5, 2019

If fitness isn’t your thing but you are so tired of feeling..well…tired and you lack motivation, energy and drive to do anything. Your clothes don’t fit right and you are growing tired of feeling like crap then its time to make a change. You don’t have to love fitness to get in shape, you just have to commit to a fitness program that works for you and your lifestyle.

It is a myth that in order to exercise you have to join a gym. That is complete garbage. You do not have to go to a gym to work out (unless of course you want to). I haven’t belonged to a gym in years. I do Pilates, Yoga, HIIT and Barre right in the comfort of my own home. I go for walks, runs, hikes and bike rides (weather permitting) and I do this all without setting foot in a gym.

In my experience with coaching people on fitness, the first steps need to be small ones. The most important step is that you need to set obtainable fitness goals.

Example of an obtainable fitness goal:

Start with taking a walk. Shoot for a half hour walk 3x a week. Then increase, either by adding a day or adding more time to the duration of the walk. Make it fun by creating a walking playlist or asking your friends to join you. You can do it in the morning, during the day at lunch time or coffee break time or after work/dinner. Wherever and whenever you can fit it, do it. Walk the dog, walk the baby in a stroller, walk to a friends house, it doesn’t matter…just get moving. Adding incline over time will help increase your metabolism and help build muscle.

Set the habit!

Next, after you have established an exercise routing, which usually takes about 26 days for something to become a habit. Then you naturally will want to start eating better, or maybe even stop smoking, or drinking but trust me when I say, setting healthy keystone habits will automatically make nasty habits disappear.

Once you have established your fitness and nutrition pattern you will need to stick to it. If you have to miss a day, make up for it by adding a little more time to your routing the next day. The goal is not to miss more than a few days otherwise you risk falling off the wagon and bad habits will start to develop. It is so easy to fall back into old negative habits because its comfortable and easy and sometimes you are happy just laying on the couch eating pizza and drinking wine. But remember how awful those things make you feel after a week of no exercise. All your progress will be down the tubes.

Don’t fall off the exercise wagon!

So if you are looking for a little motivation, would like to do some virtual personal training or you would like to pursue coaching with me contact me anytime day or night. I am here to help you make your fitness goals a reality

Becoming the best You!

Oct 23, 2018

I empower you to ask yourself the following questions:

Are you living as the best version of yourself?
Are you living your life in a way that brings you peace and contentment?
Am I honoring myself and truly living my best life?

The following will help you as you do the work to become your best self!

Practice Balance

We must balance our life in order to be our best and most healthy self. When we are trying to “manage” life without balance we tend to burn out quickly.

Creating a balanced lifestyle will help you avoid the crash & burn which leads to anxiety, depression and stress. Commit to a self care routine – even 15 minutes a day doing something for yourself (i.e. yoga, meditating, taking a walk or a soak in an Epsom salt and lavender bath) will re-charge and refresh your soul.

Shift your self perception

During the process of learning who you are, you will experience painful moments.

Rather than resisting or struggling against these times, breathe into them. Shift your perspective so that you appreciate these moments knowing they are helping you grow.

I read this sentence in an article recently and it resonated with me “Feel it, its going to hurt. But every moment you are sobbing, you are doing the work. Every moment you are hurting, you are healing. The only way out, is through.”

Thank the Universe for this learning opportunity, forgive yourself and those who have hurt you and focus on all the wonderful things that make you who you are.

Have and live your values

What is your Mantra?

If you haven’t defined the best version of yourself, begin with your values.

What are the most important values in your personal life and work?

What values do you use to define the person you are now and who do you want to be in the future.

Get very clear on those and write your values in your journal and add to them over time as you start to shift perspective.

Vision

Spend some time with yourself and create a vision for your future life. Look at every aspect of your life and envision how you want it to look 1 year from now, 5 years from now, etc.

You can do this through journaling, drawing, vision boards etc.

This is a fun and creative way to manifest a vision.

Create a Put into Action Plan

Once you have brought your vision to life it is time to execute an action plan on how to receive all you desire. Setting goals is important and a huge part of creating the vision. Use stepping stones to get there….one step at a time.

Create rituals

I love rituals as I speak of them in almost every blog. Rituals create a pattern or a habit and create consistency which is critical with self-love and self-care. It is easy to start something and eventually fizzle out. I personally have learned from experience that rituals keep us on task and motivated to keep going.

Let go

We all have those people in our life that have been in our life a while, however we aren’t sure why we still engage with them. They are a negative time-suck and are actually toxic to our existence. We dodge their phone calls, don’t return their texts but still we keep them around.

Let them go!

If they no longer serve you in a positive way, if you feel drained from being in their presence, let them go.

By letting them go you will open the door for something better.

Simplify

Determine what you really need in life to be happy. Usually its the simplicity of life that brings us the happiest moments.

Exercise: host a de-clutter ritual in your home. It can be very healing.

Create a life you don’t need a vacation from

How many times do you hear people say, “uh, I need a vacation”. Guess what, you can go away but you must return. Since a vacation isn’t forever why don’t you create a life that you don’t need to run away from. Make your home your sanctuary. Create rituals in your life that give you a break from reality without having to spend thousands to do so.

Trust your intuition

Listen to your gut….always. Intuition will never steer you the wrong way.

Focus on exercise/nutrition

Start an exercise routine today if you haven’t already. There are so many wonderful and free resources out there to help you design your own wellness routine. If you need help creating this routine, please contact me at aveshaempower@gmail.com and we will get you started. This also includes nutrition. Start a Keystone Habit involving exercise and eating healthy and watch everything else fall into place.

Work on forgiveness and healing

Where you are wounded, where you are hurt, where you are frightened — seek healing. Restore yourself. Get well again. Do what must be done to heal. You can’t be the best version of yourself when you are emotionally, mentally, or physically unwell.

Express gratitude

Spend a few minutes in gratitude every day through mindful meditation. Focus on all the blessings in your life and thank the Universe for them. Being grateful for what you do have and acknowledging that gratitude will change your mindset over time.

Give back

There are many ways to give back, either through community work or spending time with your friends and sharing this new mindset with your them. Everyone can benefit from being their happiest and healthiest self.

What is your best version of yourself, and how are you working to become that person?

Namaste’

Fitness Over 40

Aug 28, 2018

There is no better time than right now to start a fitness routine!

Fitness over 40 is a program I have created which involves exercises for each individual person, over 40, based on their fitness goals as well as their body type.

Together we will create a targeted and, as I stated, an individual fitness and nutrition program which will focus on all areas you wish to work on as well as enhance them and of course we will focus on those stubborn areas that may need a little more work 🙂

Our bodies change with age and therefore your fitness routine needs to be realistic based on your age and body type.

For instance, a lower impact, targeted resistance exercise program is much more effective for a body that is over 40. High impact exercises do not offer the same results.

Unfortunately, high impact exercises (like running) break down the body with little positive results. They also can result in an injury to our muscles, tissues and even bones if we are not careful. So something like Crossfit can be dangerous and is known for many issues like muscle tears.

So a good exercise routine should consist of an hour of cardio multiple times per day, 5 days a week with some resistance exercises, light weight training and a 20 minute yoga routine. This is a much more effective workout and provides proven results over a longer period of time vs. going to the gym daily and pounding away on a treadmill or spin class.

Example:

Morning: Walk 25 minutes either outside or on treadmill; do 15 minutes of yoga stretches and some light weights (multiple exercises/multiple reps)

Afternoon: Take a lunchtime walk before you eat (starts the fat burn process)

Evening: Go for a walk / jog, or use the elliptical; do a 25-40 minute resistance or boot camp routine; end with 20 minutes of yoga stretches

Doing this 5 – 6 days a week will change your life

Again, the workouts will be tailored to your fitness goals and those stubborn areas you wish to work on.

Example:

if you are looking to strengthen your core, we will create your routine to accomplish this with strict core exercises mixed with some resistance training and light weights.
want to tone that butt of yours, we will work in a number of squat exercises with a fantastic Barre routine.
need to lengthen and tone as well as get a good work out? Power Yoga/Barre is your modality.

We will work together, as a team, to get you started on your fitness goals which will also include a comprehensive nutrition program as well.

No, you do not have to buy special meals or supplements from me. We will simply talk about healthy eating habits as well as what supplements may be right for you (you will purchase them when and where you are happy doing so).

I specialize in living a healthy and empowered life and in my experience you accomplish this by being a whole healthy being…emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Balance!

The Empowered Soul

Apr 7, 2018

What is the definition of “Empowerment”?

Empowerment Means:

The process of becoming stronger & more confident.
Gaining or claiming control of your life and your rights.
Being more assertive and powerful in your personal and professional life.
Going after what you desire and feeling you deserve it.
Trusting your intuition to make good decisions.

What does it mean to be Empowered?

This is solely up to you.

Each person defines Empowerment differently as it pertains to their own goals and what they are looking to achieve.

I am requesting that you to dig deep here and ask yourself – “how do I want & what do I need to be Empowered?”

(personal exercise: what does empowerment mean to you? – please write this down in your journal – be descriptive – this is the first step in the empowerment process)

What Empowerment means, in the words of some beautiful women

Strength, wisdom, independence
Living in the now & being at peace with my complexities
Being my best self
The ability to take all of life’s challenges & rise just how we are
Feeling in control of your life
Being able to make decisions & have options
Self care and a loving relationship with yourself
Feeling free to be yourself without worrying about what someone else might think
Having the strength to recognize and travel my own path and not the path others would lay out for me
Supporting yourself, and those around you, to provide the confidence needed to voice feelings and take action
Having the confidence to say no or walk away from a toxic or unhealthy situation
Setting boundaries

How to become Empowered

Below are a number of suggestions on how to Empower yourself to be more confident, self-assured, powerful and more importantly to trust your intuition.

There is no timeline on how long it takes to become empowered, but the key is to be consistent and to always be working on yourself!

Remember we are all a work in progress!

~Life is an endless process of self discovery~

Exercise, Often

No more using the “I don’t have time” excuse.

Exercise changes our mindset and gives us more confidence (this is a top KeyStone habit) – for more information on Keystone habits visit my website at http://www.aveshaempower.com

Exercise comes in many forms, you do not have to join a gym to start an exercise routine. Here are some examples of ways you can get exercise:

Wake up early and walk your dog (or at night after work)
Start a Yoga, Pilates or a BootCamp or interval training routine (at home or a local studio)
Hop on that treadmill (yep, the one you don’t use)
Walk with friends at lunch (organize a walking group)
Take a hike – this is an amazing grounding or earthing exercise that can truly change your mindset as soon as you enter the forest
Download an exercise app (there are plenty of them to choose from) – ask me and I will recommend a few

Find your inner “bitch”

Yup, I said it, be a bitch!

Honor yourself
Put yourself first (I promise this is not being selfish)
Speak up for yourself and stand up for what you believe in
Say NO whenever it is appropriate
Do NOT tolerate behaviors that are not healthy for you!
Let go of those that do not serve your greatest good

Enjoy being with YOURSELF

Notice I did not use the word, alone?

Why? because you are not alone – unless of course you are living in isolation which I would guarantee you are not.

But in all seriousness you are not alone, you have yourself – and who is better than that? No one!

Get comfy with who you are, enjoy your own company, spend time doing the things you enjoy doing and you will discover a lot about yourself by doing so. Spend some time in nature…enjoy the peacefulness and the beauty of all that surrounds you.

(personal exercise: Grab your journal and go for a hike, find a nice place to rest and write about how you feel. Nature is very grounding! Sit with your thoughts and then write about them)

Say NO and feel good about it!

Everyone, including you, has the right to say no.

So, if there is something you do not want to do or that you are not comfortable with – use your voice!

Say no, confidently, knowing you are honoring yourself.

**Disclaimer: make sure you say no in a non-offensive way…you don’t want to intentionally upset anyone.**

(personal exercise: Grab your journal and think of a scenario where you would like to say No but you don’t – write it down in your journal – how does it make you feel when you thinking of saying no? write that down too)

Try new things!

Seriously, try anything (within reason).

Make a list and check them off one by one (bucket lists).

Examples:

Take a class (art, cooking, photography, pottery)
Try making soap or jewelry
Take up a sport or start exercising – daily
Travel with someone or alone
DIY projects (refinish furniture, paint something)
SUP/Kayak, hiking, get out into nature
Yoga
Create a Meetup Group
Go back to school and take classes

The list is endless really….start making your list right now (journal exercise)

Remove toxic people from your life!

This is probably the most important thing you can do in your life to move forward (and the scariest and the hardest to do).

This includes:

Dramatic people
Negative people
People with opposite morals/values
Time and life suckers
Users
Addicts

Let them go.

If they do not bring you happiness and only cause you stress, anxiety or dread…its time to move on . However, if you cannot remove them from your life, at least set boundaries with them.

(personal exercise: Grab your journal and make a list of those you need to create boundaries with or to remove from your life altogether)

Know and accept your beauty,

inside and out!

Self acceptance and self love is the most critical piece to our self worth!

How we feel about ourselves is how others perceive us.

Remember…the mirror?

Put it this way, if you don’t love you….and I mean all of you, who will?

Ok so your butt is big, your eyes are too small, you are too short or too tall, you could use a few pounds or could lose a few pounds – who cares, no one is perfect. Never compare yourself to anyone! You are unique.

(personal exercise: Grab your journal and write down what makes you loveable? start a list in your journal of at least 7 or more of your most amazing qualities and add to it over time)

Define YOUR own success!

Remember success is specific to you and your unique goals!

Let’s set some obtainable goals BIG & small so you can figure out with your life coach or by yourself how you will reach these goals (i.e. relationship, weight loss, new job, life balance, work, no work, buying a house, raising kids, cars, vacations, school, etc.)

Set time lines (we all do better when we know what is expected of us and some of us work better when we are under pressure).

(personal exercise: Grab your journal and start making a list of obtainable goals and add to it over time)

LOVE& Respect Yourself!

Madly & Unconditionally

Set a daily routine
Sleep at least 7 hours
Eat Healthy & Amazing Foods (work with your coach on this)
Exercise regularly (*yoga, walking, hiking*)
Meditate daily (download the Simple Habit app for guided meditation)
Get a massage or Energy Healing
Spend time with nature (hike, go to the park)
Read a good book or two/LESS SCREEN TIME AND GET OFF FACEBOOK
Spend time with healthy people
Journal
Set KeyStone Habits

(personal exercise: Grab your journal and write down ways you can love yourself more)

Monitor your thoughts, often!

Be conscious of the stories you are telling yourself (do not let your “stories” be defined by anything but your Higher Self)

Let go of the past and create a new story (not just a chapter)! Remember, your past does not define you.

Keep your thoughts positive & motivating (do not ruminate about the past)

(tip: choose to have daily mantras sent to you (there are plenty of apps to choose from, pick one that works best for you)

(personal exercise: Grab your journal write down the thoughts that keep swirling in your mind which are keeping you from being mindful)

~The mind is everything, what you think you become~

Conclusion

Making significant changes in your life and healing from any sort of trauma or bad experiences takes time and Empowering yourself takes lots of work and energy to keep going.

There will be times you want to give up, you won’t see your progress (although others do) and you may even feel its not worth it. Do not stop, ever, by all means, have a down “poor me” day, eat ice cream, wallow in sadness but do not give up.

Wake up the next morning….get on your yoga mat, take a walk, make a smoothie, sing in the shower, do whatever you have to do to motivate and keep going but do NOT give up.

This workshop was created to Empower you to be your Best and Highest Self. I have done the work, I know how hard it is, but once you get to the other side, you will see that its worth it.

Love and Healing Always,

Namaste

Avesha – Spiritual & Life Coaching

Focusing on Physical and Mental Balance

Tag Archives: exercise