Lockdown Dairies, Day 175- How to Honor Your Body with Change
As I type, we have been in Lockdown for 175 days.
I’ve been noticing a shift on some of my social media encouraging us moms to “thrive” right now. If you think because I am a fitness professional I’m going to encourage you that Lockdown should be an “opportunity for weight loss”, please know that I absolutely will not.
I am here to remind you that if you gain weight during Lockdown, it is Okay. We are all grieving and stressing on a chronic level at this point; and you might be feeling frustrated with your body right now. This probably won’t be what you tell your Grandkids about, but lockdown to us has been more pjs and ice cream than personal growth. Most of us moms are really struggling. Balancing kids, career, and Covid truly sucks. I can’t even listen to my old playlists when I workout anymore. I miss the before.
As a reminder, we, as women, fluctuate.
Our bodies are meant to wax and wane. Mine is softer and slower than I like as a result of being stuck at home, and I’m dealing with it. As I’m sure you have also experienced, there has been many times in my life when I have lived in a body that didn’t make me feel confident, or sexy, or strong. Many of us can remember when our hips came in in our pubescent years and nothing fit anymore, or the exact moment when the “hair-tie button trick” stopped working in our first trimester. Bodies, and how we feel about them, will change overtime. I will never tell you that yours should look a certain way. My hope is that with a little movement you might feel more relaxed, more strong, and give you a little joy during this awful period in our lives.
When the Pandemic hit Colorado, I carved out a schedule where I could workout, pack the house up for our move to California, and finish my book. Once we finally unpacked here in LA, it felt like I needed to sleep for a year. I had a really hard time feeling motivated again, but not exercising made me feel sluggish and angry.
Here is what I’ve been doing to make sure I’m regularly working out, and enjoying it.
1- I Stick to a Schedule, even if it’s only 10 minutes.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I work out during the kids’ “quiet time”. I’ll do a combination of Cardio HIIT, weights, and core. Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings I do Yoga, and I try to run at least once a week. Some days I jump with my toddler for 10 minutes, most evenings I get interrupted at least once, but I’m moving my body more. Of course, I also feel unmotivated and sluggish when I start, but I’ll put on a podcast or watch some late night TV make it feel more enjoyable. I make it feel like a treat so it gets done.
2- I’m Revisiting Some Oldies
In the 3 years that I spent being pregnant, recovering from childbirth, and getting pregnant again, I completely let go of my Yoga practice. I’m also back to running a lot more, and visiting the old bodyweight workouts I’d teach in the park.
I’ll never not remember training for many marathons and triathlons once I start off on a run. I’ll never not remember taking my first Yoga class in NYC when I roll out my mat. These are experiences carved in my fibers that make me feel proud of what my body is capable of, without focusing on what it looks like.
You could dust off an old Tae Bo tape and laugh along to those jab-cross-jack combos. You could scale it back to the weights you got started with and feel how much stronger you are now. You could put on some old music (think your middle/ high school favorites) and just dance. You could find a safe place to swim, walk to a beat, or go ride a bike. You can do any of the workouts on my workouts page and try the different modifications. (Most of them require very little or zero equipment.) When you’re playing in the past, think about how far your body has come. How you have changed and how you will change again.
I just hope that in all the chaos in the world, feeling less confident in your body isn’t adding to it. If exercise is something you’re in need of right now, try these out and see how they feel.
Exercise not only keeps us healthy and prevents us from getting sick, but it’s really wonderful for our mood and mental health as well.
Virtual high fives and hugs,
Sarah Ann