| Hi Friend!
"How you doin'?"
However, Vivi hasn't seen that one, so she must have caught me saying it to Vanessa, which is both a good and bad thing as it means must say it pretty often to her. :-)
Speaking of saying things, sometimes you need to hear the right voice at the right time to make a connection and that's what I wanted to right you about.
The Right Voice at the Right Time You're in CYBBC because there's something that works for you. It could be Marisa and I as your coaches, it could be the thoughtful programming, it could be the awesome people you get to train with and/or it could be the great environments you get to train in. Or it could be combinations of those or all of them.
However when you made the decision to reach out, sign up and commit, you were either frustrated with something, inspired by something or both and the voice and message you heard at the time was exactly what you needed to hear and read to start your journey of change. This journey of course has ups & downs and everything in between and that same voice might only work when you're in that same exact state.
This state is what changes. Sometimes everything is consistent and normal. Sometimes, you have a bad day. Sometimes you have amazing days. Sometimes something happens unexpectedly good or bad or other. Sometimes you eat or drink something and you don't feel so good afterwards. Sometimes your having so much fun you forget to set boundaries and you start borrowing from tomorrows energy pool by staying up late and/or over consuming and leave yourself with insufficient time to recover. Sometimes someone says something that upsets you. Sometimes you could be on vacation and you slow down, stop following a schedule and enjoy life more fully. Sometimes life stress is real high with strong deadlines and lots of tasks you need to get done. Sometimes your world comes crashing down. Sometimes you feel like all your diligent efforts have lined the stars up finally and you feel so blessed with all the good things happening to you. Sometimes everyday feels the same. Not good or bad, only the same.
The point here is everyday your state is vulnerable to changes and the thoughtfulness you put into your planning of each moment in advance (scheduling) and your corresponding boundaries (do this, not that, this) can help protect and prime you to be your best most often.
But sometimes life happens and the voice and message you choose to hear can inspire you, discourage you or something in between.
I'm your coach. My role is to inspire and encourage you. To provide you accountability, support and direction. Some like a kick in the butt, some like a little more hand holding. "Some like it hot, hot, hot" and some like it straight up.
Most of the time my voice and message are going to paint you pictures of where we're going and why you're going to love going there. How it's going to be fun & exciting. How you're going to do and achieve really cool feats. How you'll move in ways that are really athletic and how you'll become a better version of yourself. How you'll leave filled with gratitude that you made time for yourself and how amazing you'll feel and how the rose colored glasses you're looking through couldn't get any brighter.
Sometimes though you don't want to hear this. You're stuck in a funk. It's all nice and good and you like that, but you're not in the mood for it at the moment. You know your state is pretty crappy, but it is what it is.
These are the times you need the right voice and the right message delivered at the right time.
When you make a decision that leads you to not want to keep your appointment and commitment to CYBBC. That's when you need to hear the right voice and the right message at the right time.
Or maybe you need to hear the right voice and the right message before you make a decision that's going to move you further away from your stated goals.
That would be preventive and best case. The day after or moment before the appointment, would be reactive and last minute. Either way I see 2 opportunities:
1. the moment before you make a decision that has a cost that affects your self-care appointment
2. the moment before you decide if you're going to keep your appointment or not
The Right Message at the Right Time
Let's address #1 first. You're going to be presented with the same or similar opportunities for most of your life, so if you have a default answer that you thoughtfully developed in advance, you can save yourself later.
So...
Don't miss workouts!
Whatever opportunity presents itself you have to ask yourself if it's going to cause you to miss a workout and be honest.
If you stay up to late, there's a chance you'll miss a workout. If you go to be early, you'll probably keep your workout.
If you have 1 more drink, 1 more dessert, stay a little longer, consumer a little more, and you don't give yourself enough time to recover, you might miss a workout. If you say no thank you, I'm good. If you pass on the invitation. If you announce in advance you have to leave at X time and then leave. Of if you leave early in general, there's a good chance you'll keep your workout.
You might have a bit of regret and 2nd guessing in that moment if you do the right thing, but you'll be glad you did the next day and you'll know it was the right thing when you leave your workout feeling primed for your day.
#2 the moment before you decide if you're going to keep your appointment or not.
The message you need to hear in this moment is different for everyone, depending on which state you're in when you hear it, but let me plant a seed, present an ace up your sleeve and give you a reusable get out of jail free card.
The Seed.
No matter how bad your state is, how low your energy is, what your affect is, remember that when you come to CYBBC you're safe. It's your personal sanctuary, led by coaches who care and with kind and good people to train with. We start off real slow. We start off with a massage, a self-massage, that goes at the perfect pace you need. Not too fast & not too slow. You know at the end of 5 minutes, you'll feel instantly better. You're circulation will improve. Your whole body will be tingling with improved blood flow and switched on sensory neurons. You'll feel less achy. You'll feel better!
Then we'll stretch out your tight spots. Often times, you feel the worst, when you're body gets stuck in the same position for a period of time or certain muscles and movement patterns get overworked and leave you feeling crappy. We'll hit most of those spots 2nd and it might be uncomfortable if you're more stiff than usual, but it'll also feel great, like when you're thirsty and you drink water.
Next we'll address posture. We'll do corrective exercises that stabilize the loose joints (knees, low back, shoulders) and mobilize the stiff joints (ankles, hips, t-spine). Translation we'll wake up your soft bottom and belly, we'll stretch out your calves and ankles, hip flexors & hamstrings and chest & upper back. We'll get you back to or as close as we can to neutral. Back to homeostasis and your personal equilibrium.
This is the first 13 minutes.
Now that you feel like a human again, we're going to help you to start sweating if you haven't already by moving through space in all 3 planes. You'll move forwards and backwards and side to side. We'll sandwich in some sort of crawling exercise, so you don't even know its there and then we'll finish with some super energizing & fun speed drills like sprint starts and ladder drills.
By this time, whatever state you arrived in, has most assuredly washed away, but we'll still be gradual.
Then we'll throw things @ the wall and jump or hop over hurdles.
After that we'll pair a plank on the ground with a sprint drill. Here you'll be glad you get to go at your own pace, you'll appreciate the increased sweat and the deep breathes. Don't go to fast, we don't want nausea on this day, just enough.
Then we'll do some DB power as a team. You won't have to think as much because you'll get to do the same thing as everyone else at the same time. This like most everything else will switch on your neuromuscular system, endocrine system and cardiovascular system to help wash away that state you were in.
By the time you reach the strength & conditioning you'll have done enough to reverse how you felt when you arrived and begin making deposits on your future, which will make the finish doubly sweet. There's a good chance your S&C portion of the workout won't be your best. You might even do worse than your norm, but that's o.k. Everyone has to rip the band aid off sometime and by getting in this workout today, you almost guarantee your next workout will be amazing. If for nothing else than you'll know you outperformed your last workout. And you'll be adding a moment to your bucket that leads to momentum.
When we finish with stretching, you'll begin to reflect on the decisions you made, the costs associated and ultimately how proud you are that you showed up, stayed, did your best with what you had that day and finished. This is where double sweetness comes in. You worked through the tough state you had, which is a win AND you now feel better and set up tomorrow to be great because you exercised and ripped the band aid off.
So remember this Seed, when you find yourself vulnerable from decisions you made that leave you considering whether to show up or not. You can roll. Start there.
The ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE! Are you ready?
Take out your phone.
Type in 4-1-3-2-1-8-6-6-0-7.
That's my cell phone.
Save that #.
Call it or text it.
I'm great at giving pep talks. I'm great at listening & reflecting. I care about you. If you call or text after 8pm, I probably won't get it, but I'll hit you back up as early as 4am the next day or whenever you tell me is a good time. Tell me about your state and tell me how I can help. Need a friend. I got you. Need a kick in the pants. Yippee! Need some gentle hand holding. My calloused hand is there for you. Need to be reminded of all the great things you've done and all the reasons you can do it. That's my specialty; it's one of my gifts. And I want to share it with you. So use it whenever you need it. It makes me feel good to make you feel good. So no guilt.
The Reusable Get Out of Jail Free Card Sometimes you make bad decisions. Sometimes life happens to you. Sometimes you need a break.
So...
Take one. You have my full support. Listen to your body and self. It may be giving you the best advice, unless of course it's coming wrapped in crazy talk, then of course you'll need to decipher that advice first before you do something crazy, but I hope you get the message that if you need a break from training so you can sleep, detox, de-stress, have some quiet time, ... whatever, do it. It's o.k. Regroup as soon as you can and then pick yourself back up and move forward. No guilt about missing a workout or workouts. That does you no good.
Now, be sure to use those boundaries we talked about. A little might be good and sometimes a lot can be good, but you know deep down, when it's too much. Stop there and get back to doing the things that make you great.
So I know July & August have been vacation months and many people have been taken off their routines and their attendance hasn't been what'd they'd like it to be. I know there are opportunities to participate in life that aren't normally there on a regular basis. You may even be moving away from your goals with some of the decisions & habits you've been participating in of late.
That's o.k. Every moment and every day is a new opportunity to make a different choice and start with a clean slate. Give yourself a get out of jail free card, let go of the guilt and move forward if you need & take a personal day. Call or text me if you need someone to listen or if you need to be encouraged. Come roll with us if you need to and can start slow. Whichever you choose, it'll be the right one. It'll be o.k. And you'll be o.k.
Your coach with hopefully the right voice at the right time,
Mike Alves
p.s. 413.218.6607cell
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