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Pandemic got you down? Well the body doesn't have time to waste. None of use are born with gyms and dumbbells PLUS there's virtual ASA!. So, it's time to get MOVING!
Check out these 7 ASA! Motivation Tips, by your very own, ASA! CEO, Akosua Akoto.
If it makes you feel any better, your ASA! instructors are human too! We have to follow these very same tips!
1. Find a friend
"What we need for ourselves, we often find in our support for others."
You are not in this alone! Invite friends, family, or coworkers to join you in your workouts OR get to know your fellow ASA! Fanatics! Hit the chat section in the next class and find an ASA! buddy! They may need you too!
2. Friendly competition
“A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.”
We are and will always be our first competition. But that extra drive is what you get with a little friendly battle. Got your ASA! Buddy? Challenge each other to a full Arms Up track with no breaks. Challenge each other to 3 classes each week! Make the winner pay for a socially distanced lunch, an uber eats delivery, or a little gift with online shopping. Nothing gets you motivated like a little healthy competition.
3. Don’t make it about how you look
"The problem isn't how you see your body. The problem is whether or not you truly treasure it."
Let's face it. A lot of use treat our cars better than we treat our bodies. Is the function of your body really less important than the look of it? No different from some of nature's other gems, like pearls and diamonds; REAL FITNESS has to start from within. It's hidden at first because there's something sacred about real transformation. It takes a little pressure, time, and a lot of work before it's unbreakable. Oh and yea... it is beautiful.
Here is something they don’t tell you. You don’t know what you will look like when you reach your fitness goals. You’ve never been the you that you are today. So how would you know the you of tomorrow? More importantly, you are NOT the IG model. Don’t eliminate yourself from your own fitness journey by making goals according to someone else’s image. If 2020 has taught us anything, it is to live in and appreciate all of who we are in the present moment. When we focus too much on the outside, we miss the amazing progress our bodies are making on the inside. You may not have rock hard abs in 6 weeks, but a steady ASA! program could have you feeling little to no joint pain in a month’s time. If you overlook that and believe you failed because you aren’t beach ready, you may never reap the true benefits of health and wellness. Fitness is about more than what the mirror or the scale will ever be able to show you. Make your ASA! fitness goals about pushing through one exercise at a time with more power and more vigor than the last workout. Ask yourself this: HOW DO I FEEL?
4. ONLY Make Weekly goals
"We can't always motivated. So we must learn to be disciplined"
It takes the body 4 weeks to adjust to a steady workout regimen. Which is why your ASA! instructor repeats a specific ASA! routine for an entire month. They’re getting you ready to switch it up! The next 4 weeks of consistency brings about internal changes like stamina, core stability, and more energy throughout the day. Which is great because by week 5, your instructor has switched it up and shocked you with a brand-new routine! By week 8, after 2 months of persistence and dedication, your body will begin to show external sings of conditioning. By week 12, you are cruising in the fitness lane! SO MAKE IT A LIFESTYLE! Fitness is about creating new habits; and that can only happen one day at a time, and then one week at a time. Stop making goals for next year. We don’t even know what tomorrow looks like. Crush one goal at a time. The ultimate goal is to continue making it to the next, bigger, and bolder goal!
5. Put it on paper
"If you're a human alive in the 21st century, you may need an extra brain for storage. Until science catches up to that need, get a journal."
Map it out! Check it off your list!
Try this:
· Goal 1- Get through this class without dropping my arms and try to hold this squat and whine for as long as I can.
· Goal 2- Push out 3 ASA! classes this week
· Goal 3- Go for a steady 30 days of ASA!, personal workout regiments, and clean eating
· Goal 4- Push for 2 MONTHS!
We get more fit by breaking down one barrier at a time. I mean, seriously, who walks up an entire flight of steps in one lunge? Imagine that. Right now. Imagine that.
6. No more excuses
“We have more ability than willpower, and it is often an excuse to ourselves that we imagine that things are impossible.”
It all comes down to priorities. So, here’s a little brutal honesty and pure fact: If you wanted it, you would have it.
The body WANTS to be better just as much as you do. Time to get the mind on board. Life will always be busy. Work will always be hard. Living unhealthy and getting fit are BOTH hard. But only one has the reward. The choice is yours. You’ll find a way or, you’ll find an excuse.
7. Stop thinking you have no control over what happens to your body
"Your body, like life, is NOT HAPPENING to you. It’s RESPONDING to you."
Sounds like a cool positive Facebook meme, right? Well it’s actually a scientific fact. The human body will ALWAYS find ways to adapt, no matter what the situation is. It will adapt to good habits to the same degree it will react to bad habits. Avoid your fitness goals and give in to unhealthy eating; and the body will respond accordingly. Make the conscious, deliberate decision to make your health and the quality of your life as important as anything else you give your time and money to….and BOOM, the body will respond; accordingly. AND THEN SOME!
ASA! is a way of life! If you choose it, it chooses you.
So, what do you have planned for tomorrow?