Have you ever been stuck in a loop where you take several steps forward and then experience a setback of some sort only to have to start over from square one, or maybe even some place BEFORE square one?
I can understand that experience. I found myself there for more than a decade after serious injury derailed my fitness. Until I redefined fitness and made incredible gains!
I’m Cyn, Founder of the Mind Your Matters Redefining Fitness Podcast and SassFactor Fitness. A growing community of fitness enthusiasts who’ve experienced injuries, illness or other life experiences that have interfered with fitness.
When Life Has OTHER Plans…
The goal is to regain fitness after life had other plans. And let me tell you, life has had some OTHER plans for me!
As an athlete and first responder, I’ve suffered multiple sports and work injuries. And as I’ve gotten older, it’s gotten harder and harder to recover. The training protocols I’d learned as a young competitive athlete, no longer seemed to work. You know those long punishing sessions of old school gym workouts. Grueling
cardio sessions that leave you about to drop in a pool of sweat, with little to no attention paid to flexibility, Range of Motion, or body movement patterns.
Sound familiar?
Nagging chronic injury and pain linger. Time and capacity are packed to the limit with responsibilities, leaving no energy for self. Friends and family think you’re crazy for even trying to regain and maintain former fitness levels…And the medical industry seems to have all but dismissed persistent pain as a result of simple aging added to “overuse” injuries.
This was my experience. And tends to be the prevailing “diagnosis” and “prognosis” for most Americans over the age of 35. In fact, I was told to give up my activities of choice, especially running, and “do something else.”
Maybe you’ve had a similar experience.
Fighting a Losing Battle
I felt like I was fighting everything and everyone around me, including myself, to do the activities I loved and to get fit. And I was losing miserably. In December 2018, I’d found myself in pain, severely overweight, constantly tiered, irritable, and demoralized. And I couldn’t get any help from doctors. I thought I was stuck. That this is it, and I would never get my fitness back!
But I was wrong.
It was in this low, lonely, dark place, in pain, beating myself up for once again not sticking to my exercise plan the way I thought I should have. I heard a voice in my head say, “STOP! You’re looking at it all wrong.” The traditional “no pain, no gain” method of beating my body into submission and shape was bringing more pain and injury, and less fitness and agility, into my life.
Listening to well-meaning people who had also been mislead and applying what I previously learned and had worked in my youth, had only brought me inconsistent results and routines I could not sustain physically, mentally or emotionally, and left me feeling defeated.
I was too exhausted from the demands of my life to stay committed to a program that really wasn’t working anyway. And it was further draining me.
Small Change, Big Results!
I learned that with a small perspective shift and an approach to fitness that was different than what I’d been conditioned to accept, my movement improved, function increased, and my fitness restored quickly. All without ever having to grind and punish my body. Or deprive myself of food or sleep, sticking to a regimen that wasn’t in alignment with the life I desired.
That small perspective shift helped bring BIG change. And I realized that fitness isn’t bound to just working out. Nor is it bound to working out IN a gym. The success or lack thereof starts with the mind and spirit and continues with functional body movements in ANY environment.
While challenging yourself is healthy, punishing your body doesn’t work. Not long term. And your mind and spirit need nurturing also. Particularly in THIS season of life, after experiencing injury, illness, or the gift of living life longer. Without nurturing, the mind and spirit become neglected and in trouble. And while they’re in trouble, NO fitness plan will stick.
I rejected the status quo. I told the doctors their narrative wasn’t my story. And I dove into recent developments in fitness research and science. I shifted my focus and was able to develop a method that helped me, in a little over six months, shave more than 45 minutes off my half marathon time. WITHOUT knee pain after running!
I lost more than 50 pounds. Got back into activities I, and quite frankly my doctors, previously thought I had to give up forever! And felt better than I had in more than a decade!
Redefining Fitness
I’m now sharing what I learned with you and other people who may benefit from a new way of approaching health and fitness. Redefining Fitness so you can Reconnect with yourself, Restore your inner Athlete, and Fulfill your fitness potential after injury, illness, or other life events had other plans!
Now this program will NOT keep you from ever falling off path.
Life will continue to present challenges. Y’all know Life be Lifing in these health and fitness streets, and we can’t always control what’s thrown at us.
But this method WILL help get you back on track painlessly when things go sideways.
To get started on your journey, check out the latest YouTube videos at Mind Your Matters, with SassFactor Fitness, to give you some tips and tools to get moving again.
Until next time, this is Cyn with SassFactor Fitness, Reminding you to Mind your Matters!
♥️🦾🧘♀️Live a Pain Free Fit Life!
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