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23. Training for a Goal or Training for Life?
31 Plays1 month ago
We look at exercise as a burden — something we have to do to get ready for an event, and when that event is over we're back to normal. But we forget moving our body isn’t finite - the goal of getting in shape is to stay in shape. And there's a lot more to moving your body than just changing how it looks.
I talk about what happens when we only move our body to reach a specific goal, and why the real purpose of strength training goes way beyond how you look. I share three real client stories to provide a different perspective on what strength training can do for your overall quality of life.
Whether you're trying to stay active as you age, keep doing the activities you love, or just get more out of your everyday life — strength training for longevity is how you get there. And it doesn't have to be as complicated as you think.
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Transcript
Introduction & Importance of Fitness Beyond Goals
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Basics of Balance. My name is Ariella, and something that i want you to remember throughout this episode, but hopefully throughout your life, is don't forget the goal of getting in shape is to stay in shape, okay? we oftentimes look at exercise as a means to an end, right? We oftentimes look at moving our body, lifting weights, getting in shape, insert whatever you want to here as something we do when we are working towards a very specific goal. And then when we reach that goal, when we reach that timeframe, We end up reverting right back to the same habits and the same choices that made us want to get in shape in the first place.
Exercise Goals: Temporary Nature & Motivation Factors
00:00:48
Speaker
See what I'm saying? And so oftentimes we look at choosing to move our body only really when we want a physical ah change, okay? We are going on vacation. We want to feel comfortable in our own skin. We are, you know, we have ah a social event coming up. We have a celebration coming up, or maybe it's just summer and you just want to feel comfortable in in your own skin. You go to the gym, you're disciplined, you work out, you are like dialed in for a short period of time.
00:01:17
Speaker
arguably you fall off of that routine because it's not sustainable, but that's a different topic for another day. um And so, you know, when we reach that goal, when we reach, you know, whatever that timeline is, then, like I said, we kind of just like,
00:01:32
Speaker
don't have time for exercise anymore. And again the thing is, is that I want us to realize there is so much more to moving our body than to just simply change
Rethinking Exercise: Burden vs. Long-term Benefits
00:01:41
Speaker
our appearance. And I will be the first one to say for years, for years and years and years, the only reason I moved my body was to chase a physical appearance. Okay. And I'm not going to lie to you. Sometimes that is my motivation. Okay. Sometimes I post on my Instagram story, um especially now that it's getting warmer out in Nashville. My motivation to, you know, do a shoulder press is because I'm wearing a tank top and I want a pump in my shoulders.
00:02:05
Speaker
Nothing's wrong with that. It's your body you're allowed to. But I think oftentimes we look at moving our body as a burden, okay? And when we are only moving our body to chase a physical appearance or to attain a specific goal, right? We are we are working towards something specifically. And when that timeframe or goal has passed, now it's like, oh, I don't have to do it anymore. There's this underlying ideology in our head that moving our body is a burden. And it I think it stems from, we know that we have to make a different choice. We would rather do something else. And when we look at moving our body as something that's taking us away from doing something that we would rather be doing, then it is no wonder why we look at moving our body as a burden. We look at our body as something that we have to do to reach our goal, right? Versus something that we get to do and we choose to do. And I will say this, I have no idea how old you are, okay? But there will come a time where we look back on our life saying one of two things. Number one, shoulda, coulda, woulda. I wish that I would have invested in my health. I wish that I would have chosen to move my body um so that I'm not dealing with the issues that I'm dealing now. or number two, I'm so glad that I did. Okay. I'm so glad that I chose to invest my body, especially when it wasn't easy. And i'm I'm grateful that I had the opportunity when I had the opportunity, right?
00:03:34
Speaker
And so that's kind of my hope ah for this episode that I leave you with as a helpful resource to kind of just like bring you a different perspective with some client scenarios and conversations that I've had with other people and over the last few weeks to just help you see exercise as a different approach It is different, okay? It's not a means to an end. It's something that you start to do that is not necessarily ingrained into your normal routine, but one step at a time, one day at a time, one choice at a time, it does become ingrained into your routine. And when it is part of your routine, you're able to look back and see how your choice to move your body has improved your quality of life. And then that becomes your motivation to want to continue to move your
Functional Strength & Real-life Application
00:04:19
Speaker
body, right? And so let's go ahead and get into it. A couple of weeks ago, i was at the gym and I was doing sissy squats. If you don't know what a sissy squat is, i would encourage you to pause this episode, go YouTube or you know Google a sissy squat.
00:04:35
Speaker
I'll give you a few seconds. Okay, and we're back. And basically, a sissy squat, it looks very unnatural. It looks actually like it's unsafe. And there's a couple of reasons why that is, all right? But number one, a sissy squat is a fantastic Usually, although you can't add weight, but usually a body weight exercise that targets your quads, okay? So your thighs. So it helps strengthen your quad muscles. However, it is a fantastic exercise to basically bulletproof your knees. So for anybody who deals with um you know, knee issues for whatever reason, a sissy squat, though it might look a little weird and scary, is actually one of the best things that you can do to help improve the the health of your knees, okay? And one of the reasons is when you're in a sissy squat, you are training your connective tissue and your joints and your muscles in the end range of motion, meaning your muscle is stretched, right?
00:05:36
Speaker
End range of motion. It's at the end of that range of motion. Same, same as it relates to your joints and your tendons. You are training it when it's at its weakest position, okay? When it's stretched to the max, okay? And when we train our body in that way, obviously with guidance, obviously with structure and a plan, we then therefore strengthen those body parts. We strengthen those ligaments and those tendons and things like that, right?
00:06:02
Speaker
And so I was doing sissy squats. It was, it was the like last exercise I was doing and I was wrapping up, cleaning up and somebody comes up to me and they were asking me what I was doing. Um, and I was basically explaining to them, Oh, it's a sissy squat. You know, it's, it's, I didn't word vomit over them, but for lack of a better word or phrase, I was basically explaining, it's a sissy squat to help me, you know, keep my knees nice and strong. And, ah you know, a burner for my legs and things like that. And this person basically was like, yeah, you know, over the last few years, I've really been trying to incorporate a lot more mobility training in with my strength training because I've really started to think about my longevity and my quality of life as I age. And I i think it's really important to me that not only can I bench press and squat a really high number, but
00:06:56
Speaker
what's the point of being strong if it's not like functional? You know what i mean? Like if we are not training mobility at the same time as training, like, you know, max loads and endurance and things like that with weight training, right? And so all of that to say,
00:07:11
Speaker
ah You know, it brought up a great conversation. I was like, yeah, like 100% strength training should be the foundation, but that doesn't mean that we can't ignore other modalities like plyometrics, right? Really great for your bone health, osteoporosis, as we're getting older. That doesn't mean that we don't train things like cardio, right? For our cardio fitness, Q- you know, if someone you love was falling off of a cliff, would you be strong enough to pull them up out of that cliff? You know what i mean? You know, parents, if you if your kid was on the other side of the playground and they needed you in three seconds, would you be able to go run to them? You know what i mean? Like, would you have the strength and the stamina to be able to do that kind of thing, right? And we were basically talking about that, right? And how Exercise, yes, okay, it's go it can change the way that you look, but the goal of moving your body is to be strong enough for life, and we forget that. Society and social media has made us completely lose sight of that, you know what i mean? And so I thought it was a really fantastic conversation, which I thought was even more um interesting that the following week, I had the opportunity to onboard two new individual training clients, which I don't talk about what I do a lot on this show, but I i own Habit Consulting, which is a personal training and nutrition coaching company. okay So I offer individual personal training that's remote based. um
00:08:39
Speaker
I do everything on an app. And then I also offer a training membership. right It's a super low touch offer for someone who just wants a ah program to follow, but doesn't want a coach you know or doesn't need a coach for whatever reason. And then I also do nutrition coaching and that nutrition coaching comes with a lower offer, such as a one-time custom nutrition plan, right? So maybe you don't need coaching, but you just need like a friendly nudge in the right direction and like what to focus on kind of thing, right? And so all that to say, I had the opportunity to onboard two individual training clients. And ironically, both of these clients were local. So I got to meet with them in person, which is super rare to do, which I always love the opportunity um to meet my clients in person because it's so rare, right? And so both of these clients came to me with very similar reasons as to why they wanted to prioritize strength training, okay?
Customizing Training: Techniques & Client Stories
00:09:33
Speaker
And so the first client is actually, he was referred to me by the second client, okay? um And so this first client, he is an older gentleman. He's very active. Him and his wife, they take sailing trips. They travel a lot. They have a very full social life. They play pickleball. He likes to play golf a lot. He likes to ride his bike. And like they're very active, right? However,
00:10:00
Speaker
his activity is not necessarily helping him um live his best life, if you will, okay? He does have a history of some back issues, herniated discs, and also some bulging discs, okay? And so, you know, he's noticing, hey, when he's pickle when he's playing pickleball or, hey, when he's golfing, he is not able to play as long as he would like or with the intensity that he is used to, and that's really frustrating to him. um And he is always also dealing with some just like really annoying, persistent back pain. Okay. And so these were his reasons as to why he wanted to hire me to help get him stronger so that he didn't have back pain when he's sitting down. So he can continue to play pickleball and ride his bike. And basically, how often do you hear me say this, guys? Live a life of as few limitations as possible as long as possible.
00:10:57
Speaker
And so with herniated discs and bulging discs and you know things like that, obviously we want to make sure that he's cleared by his doctor. And with him you would think similar to if you had knee problems, you wouldn't do things like squats or lunges and you definitely wouldn't do things like sissy squats because if you don't know what a sissy squat is, You looked it up, right? So you saw how unnatural it looks like it is, especially if you've ever heard the fitness advice to not let your knees go past your toes in a squat.
00:11:26
Speaker
Looks very unsafe, right? Nothing unsafe about it. Also nothing sissy about it. um But anyways, he has you know obviously a lot of activity going on in his back. And so you might think, okay, avoid things like deadlifts, avoid things like squats, avoid things that load his spine. And that was not what we ended up doing, okay? We 100% started him with deadlifts. However, we started him with lower weight, with shorter ranges of motion, with really trying to coach him and understand we are not necessarily looking for how heavy can we go as much as creating a good mind muscle connection, really trying to feel the muscles that you are using and basically being intentional with every single rep, okay? lo and behold, just after a couple of weeks, he was coming to me saying, man, he feels really great. He thinks these workouts are going to be really good to continue to help strengthen him. He's excited for pickleball. He's not having as much pain. He can tell a difference already in his day-to-day life. And like,
00:12:30
Speaker
Guys, this is what it's all about. I don't know how old you are, but if you are somebody who is in their younger years in life, you have a choice right now to invest in your health so that when you get to your later years in life, you are hopefully avoiding things like bulging discs, from everyday activity, from doing activity that you enjoy, like insert activity here. Oftentimes, we look at movement as just like lumping it all together, right? And I've said this many times, all movement has value, but not all movement is created equal. If there's a type of activity you enjoy, that might not necessarily be the type of activity that's going to help you keep doing that activity, right? If you are a runner, we need to make sure that we are also strengthening your knees and your hips and your core, right? We can't just run and run and run without cross-training unless we're okay with just getting an injury and then having a setback. You see what I'm saying? So in in this person's situation, in this client's situation, he was already dealing with injuries, arguably from not necessarily making sure that he was you know strengthening his body, dealing with injuries as a result of that, And now he's seeing those injuries limit his quality of life and the choices and the activity that he wants to do. And so that right there is the exact reason why he's realizing, hey, I need to make a change. He's at a crossroad in his life and he can either continue to limb by by doing stretches that don't necessarily help improve the situation. It might feel good for a brief moment, but it's not doing anything to strengthen the muscles and the connective tissue surrounding his spine to help strengthen his spine, right? To to make sure that he's not dealing with these issues and that he can continue doing the type of activity he enjoys because he's also doing the activity... that his body needs to keep doing the type of activity he enjoys. See what I'm saying?
00:14:23
Speaker
So now we're switching gears a little bit. Let's talk about a different client who came to me for similar reasons. ah This client is also very active, plays pickleball, you know, golf, you know, things like that. It's on his feet a lot. um And all of that to say, he went to his doctor um a few months ago and his doctor basically had a conversation with him saying, listen, we are at an age where we really need to be prioritizing strength training. We really need to prioritize you know resistance training, you know trying to get stronger, building some muscle. And even this client said to his doctor, well, yeah, I'm active, you know, enlisting all the type of activities he did. And I was so pleasantly surprised when this client said, yeah, but my doctor said that's not the same thing as strength training. That's not the same thing as resistance training. And the reason I say that is when a client comes to me and they basically say, hey, I went to my doctor and, you know, I told him that I was having some knee problems and they told me I shouldn't squat.
00:15:29
Speaker
that's That's the worst advice that you could get. You know what I mean? And then, of course, now they're they're um you know terrified of squatting, right? And now we have to kind of like overcome that hurdle and things like that. I'm talking about just like everyday people who like your knees are probably not strong because we don't use your knees. you know what I mean? And so advice that furthers you not using your knee is not going to help the situation Context matters. Like we can't just put blanket statements on things. And so and these are what these statements and this kind of advice is what creates misunderstandings and what makes health and fitness a lot more ah difficult than it really needs to be. You know what i mean? And so I was very pleasantly surprised when this client was basically like, hey, my doctor was the one who said I needed to strength train. um And so I'm like, awesome. I am here for it. Let's do what your doctor said. Yeah. so all of that to say, know, this client's reason was, i want to continue to do these things. And if we want to keep doing the type of activity that we enjoy that has a ton of value, because if we enjoy something, we're going to want to keep doing it, then we need to also make sure that we are following up that activity with activity that's going to help us keep doing that activity that we enjoy, right?
00:16:47
Speaker
Now, this last client I want to bring up in the same line of logic that is strength training as the foundation, no matter what your goals are, right? She is a runner.
00:16:59
Speaker
I primarily work with her just on the strength training side of things. So she handles her own, you know, running training plan. I help her with, ah you know, strength training, I also will help her you know structure and schedule her week so that she is getting enough rest days and she's not combining a super heavy leg day with a super long run. You know what i mean? Like, just let's let's structure things a little bit so we can fit everything in. But all of that to say, she ran a race ah last year and she ran the same race this year. And she sent me a screenshot and she was able to shave 13 minutes off of her run from last year to this year. a big reason as to why she was able to improve her time was because she is strong, because she is invested in her strength. And we were working on not only building her um you know physical strength, but also her muscular endurance, increasing her aerobic threshold and you know things like that with different programming modalities, if you will. And that's kind of the whole idea, guys, is that You know, when we look at movement as something that we have to do, that is a means to an end, we miss a lot of. the silver linings and the valuable lessons that each of these very different clients have experienced and will continue to experience. And those experience will end up being the motivation to continue to put one foot in front of the other, right? To continue to come back after having to take a rest day or, you know, going on vacation and saying, no, I want to get back to it because not only am I seeing the value and how it's improving my everyday life, but I feel better when I do these things compared to when I don't. You see what I'm saying?
00:18:46
Speaker
And so that's kind of one of the reasons as to why i really like to kind of help as many people as possible shift their focus from how small can you get, right? Dieting and restricting to how strong can you get, right? How strong can we get by seeing how much you're capable of lifting? How strong can you get by seeing how much you can fuel your body to continue to get stronger, right? So not dieting and restricting, but fueling and strengthening at
Perception Shift: Fitness as Life Enhancement
00:19:15
Speaker
the same time.
00:19:15
Speaker
So I hope that you were able to remember throughout this episode, the goal of getting stronger is to get strong for life. It doesn't matter if you are at a crossroads in your life and you're recognizing the importance of, yes, you know, lifting heavy weight, but also what about mobility? Also, you know, what about other modalities of getting stronger that improves not only your quality of life, but also,
00:19:43
Speaker
helping you get the most out of life by knowing I can do this because i am strong, right? And not wondering if you can do it. And so i want to encourage you to not look at exercise as something that you have to do Rather, it's something you get to do, okay? And the earlier you can get started and get curious, evolve. Getting stronger should not be as difficult as I think a lot of times it is made out to be, okay? If you are able to devote something three days a week.
00:20:16
Speaker
That is incredible. That is an incredible investment of time, right? You don't have to go to a gym. You can work out at home. It doesn't have to be every single day. We want our rest days. And also, you know, taking rest days allows you to shift your focus to whether it's other types of activity, right? Different kinds of activity that you might enjoy.
00:20:36
Speaker
um or other parts of your life, right? Because like fitness is supposed to enhance your life, but it's not supposed to be your
Promotion & Closing Thoughts
00:20:42
Speaker
life. So maybe meal prep, maybe it's sleeping maybe it's insert any other part of your life here, right? I am offering 50% I'm going for all of my listeners for the next Train With Me program that starts on June 29th. Train With Me is a training membership that I offer. And basically what it is, it's a seven-week progressive overload style training program that you can do at home or in a gym. You can do a three-day workout week or you can do a four-day workout week where we're basically practicing the same movements over the course of those seven weeks with the intention of doing more. More might mean handling more weight or more might mean more range of motion, right? Getting a deeper squat, right? Making your reps a little bit bigger.
00:21:31
Speaker
More might mean more of an attention on your technique. So better focus on your technique versus getting you know, just kind of getting through the the reps and going through the motions, right? And so all of that to say, i want to give each of my listeners a opportunity to try your first month at 50% off with the discount code BASICS, okay? I will put the link to sign up for the three-day or four-day in the caption of this episode with that promo code. The new Train With Me program starts on June 29th, It is a no contract based training membership because I am not trying to hold you hostage. I want it to be your choice to keep going and and and improve your quality of life and get stronger. And also the only commitment you need is the commitment to show up for yourself. Form checks are also included. And the goal is that we are just simply lowering the barrier of entry to invest in your health, right? To invest in the number one resource that is going to help you get more out of life, which is your muscle. And so I hope that this episode was that for you in some way, shape, or form. I hope that this episode was a helpful resource to just kind of help you shift your perspective to look at movement differently and not necessarily a means to an end and not necessarily something that we have to do and not something that we only do when we are working towards something ah specific, but doing it
00:22:52
Speaker
in allowing yourself to evolve and just seeing where that takes you, right? To get fit and stay fit. And so I hope that this was helpful for you. and with that, get strong and stay strong. Have a great day.