This week at the gym I saw a man dancing in between his sets.  Dancing maybe an understatement, he was rocking out to his routine and having the time of his life doing so.  People started at him, and he was unfazed, in the zone, enjoying every minute of his workout, breaking a sweat, and enjoying himself.  I was able to work out out until the week before I delivered my baby, and found it kept me feeling like myself despite the growing belly I was carrying.  Now three months post postpartum I’m enjoying the challenge of getting back in shape, and regaining my body.  Getting back in shape is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, and I’m enjoying the mental challenge of pushing myself and proving to myself that I can. It’s a challenge to find the time to workout, and to stay motivated to keep going, but as the title of this post says, “Results, not Excuses”. It’s printed on my husband’s high school baseball tee shirt I’ve slept in since our college years, and a saying which translates both in our personal and professional lives.

As I’m getting my groove back I tried something new with my girlfriend Anna, we headed to Swerve Fitness in NYC. It’s different from any other cycle class I’ve ever been too as it’s setup to be a team inspired cycling studio. Riders are divided into three teams that compete against each other.  The studio uses tracking technology which displays your personal score, however only the team average and top riders each sprint or hill are displayed.   You receive points based on how hard you push yourself, they use the phrase, motivation without intimidation.   My stats are displayed below, I pushed myself as hard as I could, and I think for my first time cycling post baby, the results were pretty good! Once I got the hang of it, and figured out that the more I pushed myself the more points I got, the more I challenged myself.  As a college athlete, I’m an overly competitive person, and seeing my bike number on the screen as “winning” numerous sprints the second half of the class really motivated and pushed me to work harder.

I loved the class and the social aspect of receiving my stats is an added bonus.  Now that I’ve got the ability to track my performance over time, I can’t wait to come back and work harder to reach my personal best! If anyone is interested in trying it out let me know, the studio does a great referral program where we’ll both receive $50 credit towards future classes, I’ll gladly send you the link, just email me.

Whether you are dancing around at the gym or cycling and singing out-loud to the beat always remember to have fun and commit yourself.  To get inspired you need to remind yourself of the end results of your labor, whether it be working out, or achieving another goal in your career, and to do so you must change your thoughts to change your world.

Results, Not Excuses Folks…