Hi all,

I know it’s been a while. I want to give everyone a quick update on my training and then share a quick update on my life.

I have been back at the gym now for just about a month. One thing I’ve learned through the several months of shutdown due to COVID, it is that the home workouts and calisthenics did a great job of helping me retain strength, so it is great to know that it’s possible! I think there are obviously other factors as well. I lifted consistently (missing one week or less per year, only when on vacation) for several years and I think that works well to build a foundation of strength. It has taken me little time to reacquire my numbers since returning to training full-time. It seems like the strength was there, it just took my body a while to wake up and re-engage. Right now, my lifts are equal to about 95% of my lifetime PR’s and I’m ecstatic about it.

It makes me happy to have stuck to my plan and worked on my weaknesses during the shutdown. It was not easy for me to mentally keep pushing through bodyweight workouts. Going to the gym in the evenings is easy. It’s long been a part of my routine and I have so much momentum that it functions like clockwork. Right around 6pm every evening, my husband and I get dressed and drive about 20 minutes each way to the gym. It’s not a matter of whether or not we should go, or whether or not we want to go, or whether or not we are motivated to go…We are going. It’s a fact, and it’s simple. We don’t miss days.

It’s part of what makes the whole process so enjoyable to me. Going to the gym, we always see the night-crowd. For the most part, it’s the same people at our gym every single night, grinding and chipping away at their goals. Over time, I’ve gotten to see them reap the benefits of their consistency. Seeing people work hard and experience results really drives me! I love being around people who prioritize their health & wellness and put in the work to go above and beyond. There is something about that that is contagious and helps fuel me when I’m feeling tired or less than 100% (which is most of the time).

A lot of us make our own sacrifices and deal with the mental struggle of doing things when we don’t want to because we are honoring our commitment to a long-term goal. It is extremely draining to me (and many of us) when we spend a lot of time around people who are constantly negative and don’t take action or initiative towards bettering their life. That’s what makes people who are strong and consistent so special. It is so energizing for me to be around people who are positive and hard-working and a goal of mine is to do a better job of connecting with more of them. J

As far as my personal life goes, I start my new position as Assistant Nurse Manager within the next week. Wish me luck! I will blog more on that in a few weeks to let you all know how it is going.

Don’t forget ask yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing

Something I’ve been wanting to do for a while is to share with everyone my thoughts on the diversity of fitness goals. The gym where I train is somewhat of a chain similar to a gold’s gym (in fact it was gold’s gym before it got bought out and still maintains a similar structure). People approach me a lot while I’m lifting, and I tend to get asked one of two things…

“Why are you lifting so heavy?” This may or may not include a follow-up: “Isn’t that bad for you?”

Or

“Are you a powerlifter?”

Although most of the time I take the powerlifter question as a compliment (pretty much every time actually 🙂 .  I think people’s confusion when looking at me or someone like me may stem from the lack of understanding in regard to diverging fitness goals. I’ve noticed that a lot of people, even within the gym industry seem to carry on with the idea that almost every guy there is there to be a bodybuilder (or train like one) and in turn, every woman is there to tone-up or lose weight. I’m sure that’s at least partly to do with how many women do join the gym with the goal of toning up or losing weight and how many men do just want bigger muscles. That said, it is our job to be open-minded to the idea that people have diverging goals in the arena of health & wellness and there is not one single way to train successfully.

I have even seen personal trainers walk up to people and say:

“You shouldn’t squat to parallel, squat like this, it’s better for your knees.”

Or

“You don’t need to be benching, do these to get bigger pecs instead.”

The problem with these statements, even though they are usually well-intended, is that they don’t take into account the individual goals of the person who is training. If the person you are “correcting” is trying to improve their bench press, or looking to add to their squat and total to possibly consider competing as a powerlifter in the, why diagnose their current training modality if you don’t even have an assessment of what they’re trying to accomplish?  It seems crazy, and I think a lot of trainers are really good and understand this, but it still happens.

 I think one of the reasons this happens is in response to the fact that people in the gym sometimes have a lack of focus on a particular goal. The gym can be an intimidating place, and I think there is a lot of confusing and even conflicting information out there for people who are only interested at a glance or just getting started (I know I dealt with it).  This breeds a lack of clarity when it comes to goal-setting and creates an environment where they do sort of walk in to a gym with an idea like:

“I would like to work my biceps today.”

And seldom do they ask themselves the questions like:

“Why am I here?”

Or

“What do I hope to accomplish by training this way?”

If there is one small piece of advice I could offer to people who are training or looking to get into training, it is to set goals. Goals can be physical attributes you want to improve, numbers you want to gain or lose, speed, strength, or skills you want to better. Whether you are trying to lose weight, tone-up your muscles, get into bodybuilding, train for your specific sport, or like me, you just like lifting heavy and the strength that comes with it and want to be healthy, I think we all would benefit from asking ourselves what we stand to accomplish over the long-term if we consistently repeat our current behavior.

It’s very easy to walk into a gym and just go through the motions of what other people are doing. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, and it’s great to go to the gym as opposed to not exercising, but in my opinion, if we don’t have a plan or a goal, we are leaving a lot of our results on the table.

For me personally, I do like structuring my workouts with a mix of powerlifting and bodybuilding. I like gaining progress in my squat, bench, and deadlift. There is something about setting strength goals and working towards them that is very exciting to me. In addition, I am happy with the aesthetic consequences of training this way. I like the way I look; I like the way I feel, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. I found a modality I enjoyed and structured my goals around it.

For someone else, the goal might be to use resistance training in order to be a faster sprinter, or to compete in a bodybuilding show, or to improve their bone-density as they age. Maybe your goal is to just look better in a bikini. In either case, it is up to us to be our own health-advocates and plan accordingly with what we want to accomplish. : )

If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram.

Until Next Time!

xoxo, Lexi.

Instagram: Lexicristabelle