- Lil Miss Strong's Little Tip #2: STOP LOOKING IN THE MIRROR and thinking about your body!!! Train for performance and specific goals, and you will see very fast results.
Who works out a lot, and comes home and looks in the mirror after every workout and sees absolutely
NO CHANGE? Right? Me too!! We want to see progress...I don't know about you, but sometimes after lifting or running, I expect to lift up my shirt and see a hard core chiseled 8-pack of abs. I don't want to wait months to see results...if I'm not eating that burrito and I'm in pain from training, I want a reward from it! Now! It's like that saying in the kitchen when you are making pasta and waiting for the water on the stove to boil...a watched pot never boils. Every time we look in the mirror while working out...nothing happens. Getting in shape means being really patient. The thing is...things do happen to your body while training, every day. You just don't see it on the outside for awhile. Now the problem is, most people don't care if they get a little stronger everyday, or build endurance, they just want to see a hard body and some sculpted shoulders in time for spring break. I used to struggle so much, because I'd eat right, I'd go to the gym and do bicep curls in the mirror, and not only did I look the same to myself, but also to other people. No one would compliment me on looking better and say, "Oooh, well don't you look good!" It drove me crazy. The most frustrating feeling in the world is working out hard, coming home exhausted, not getting to eat everything you want, and always being sore and uncomfortable with nothing to show. All those motivational photos and ads online saying "Just Do It" and "It takes time to see change" didn't mean anything to me! It felt like no one else understood how tough it was! Then, I realized something...it was almost like a fitness epiphany, the magic key, or the missing puzzle piece to looking good and making progress. This is my one tip...my one claim, to having a good body and also making progress with your fitness goals. Ready?
Do not think about what your body looks like!!!!!!!!!!!! That is not the goal in training. When you train, you should be focusing on building strength, fitness, or reaching a specific goal. Maybe you want to focus on being able to front squat a certain weight. Maybe you want to run 5 miles in a certain time. When you have performance goals, you will see results in no time. Look up at above picture. The first picture is me, a month after I started Olympic weight training at my CrossFit gym. I was back squatting less than 100 lbs and it seemed really, really hard. I woke up one day and thought, ya know...this is going nowhere. I keep lifting light weight, I'm not getting stronger, and I'm not seeing physical results either. Squatting hurts, and so quite frankly, if I'm not getting a better booty and stronger...it is time to kick things up. So I gradually added weight, I set a precise goal weight to reach, and I focused on strength instead of how toned I was looking in spandex. Guess what? 4 weeks later, that picture on the right was taken, and I was working up to 200 lbs. Yes, I was a lot more muscular too...but I didn't spend those 4 weeks concerned about how I was looking. Actually, I barely even looked in the mirror or tried to analyze what looked different. Let this be a lesson to all those out there who want to get in better shape, look leaner, more muscular or be stronger. Focus on your performance goals, and your body will follow. Patience is key and hard to master, but it's the reality of what you have to do if you want to get anywhere. You will be physically stronger, and mentally stronger when you are patient. My challenge to you for the next 2 weeks of your training, is to 1.
NOT look in the mirror and 2.
WORK towards your personal performance goal in the gym, on the running trail, bike, or in the pool. Nike is right. Toughen up, stick it out, and just do it. BUT, Lil Miss Strong says: do IT with a goal and the body will follow!!!!!!!
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