4 Mindset Shifts I’ve Made to Feel Better About At Home Workouts

I don't love working out at home right now during coronavirus quarantine. I miss my gym ritual and routine.

Since I've been living in this place of loss and grief over my gym workouts it has made me view exercise differently than I'm used to. That change is changing my body confidence over all. I spent some time journaling about my relationship with my workouts to find solutions. These are some of the mindset shifts I’ve made to feel better about at home workouts.

But, before I dive into the mindset shifts I can't express enough gratitude for my friends in the fitness industry who are showing up daily to host workouts online. Without them, millions of people would be really missing out. So really you guys thank you (I'll type up a blog post of my favorites!).

For me though, working out has always been a solo act.

I've made it a habit to pick a workout program and follow it. I used to mostly make them myself although now I'm lucky enough that the boyfriend writes my workouts. He was originally my exercise physiologist, that's how we met.

I just always loved the ritual of going to the gym. It started at home. I'd begin playing music if it wasn't already. I'd write down my workout in my fitness journal, maybe mix up a pre-workout drink and then head to the gym. Dancing in the car? A warm up for my warm up.

Then I would get to the gym and actually do my warm up, after the routine bathroom, selfie check and a dedicated foam rolling session.

I work out the best in a semi-busy gym with my music playing in my AirPods, heart rate monitor catching my every BPM, following my fitness journal which is basically my personal trainer.

Extroverts, maybe you feel me on this one. Something about the way people move and do their thing in the background kept me focused on my own. It's like listening to white noise when you're reading. Just enough distraction to keep you focused.

But at home? I don't have that background noise. I just have me and my boyfriend no more than 10 feet away from me. Not going to lie, I get self conscious because I can hear my music over my breathing, but I know he can only hear my heavy breathing. And it's not like it's the good kind of heavy breathing if you know what I mean.

So working out for me is really sub-par. If I could just wake up in love with jump squats and burpees like in my early 20s I'd be all about the IG live workouts. But I've been into weight lifting for so long I just want to lift heavy shit and be surrounded by other people lifting heavy shit.

I miss moving around a gym and being inspired to do a different move because a new piece of equipment became available.

But here's the reality: I love the gym and I don't have it right now. And because my gym routine is what has kept my body in a composition I love without it, I'm not loving my composition. So I've really had to grapple with this and hopefully what I'm sharing helps just one other person feeling this experience.

For the record, it's not that I can't workout. I'm still working out regularly, but I'm just not loving it and I have always loved working out.

I've been trying to figure out why do I love working out less when I am home? The best way for me to solve internal problems like this is by heading to the journal. I came up with these mindseet shfits about my workouts at home so I can start liking them more and at the very least just stay on track.

Mindset Shift 1: Accept It

To accept is to acknowledge or say yes to. So I've made the mindset shift to finally say yes.

Yes, this is my new normal.

I accept that right now my gym is my home.

It’s my living room.

It's my dining area.

It's my backyard.

It's my neighborhood. 

Because of this mindset shift, I've also began to accept some of the unexpected perks of this like...

My new gym is free.

There is no dress code.

I can and do wear my sports bra, even though there's some extra padding around my mid-section that I'm not loving right now.

I can workout spontaneously. This is a fun experience.

For example, I had no intentions of lifting at 9:30 am one morning, but I picked up my barbell (because it's sitting in my dining room right now) and 45 minutes later, I had crushed a weight lifting workout from my April At Home Workout Program. That was a surprise. Which leads me to the next mindset shift.

Mindset Shift 2: Adapt, and Adapt Often

To adapt is to make something new to be suitable for the now. These days during the coronavirus, every day feels like there is new news. So, I've had to adapt and adapt often.

Once I was able to finally accept that my home is now my gym I've had to ask myself how can I adapt?

1. What areas of my home can I adapt to be more gym friendly?

2. What parts of my routine can I adapt to include an at home workout?

Working out used to be a prize for me. Work all morning and day then celebrate with movement afterwards. At the time of this blog post, I've adapted my daily routine so that a new workout time can stick.

Side note, this is a real challenge for me. Adaptability is my lowest Gallup Clifton Strength, so I've really had to flex that adaptability muscle to make it stronger. I think it is getting stronger, because I am staying on track with my workouts. I've just had to make some adjustments....speaking of adjustments

Mindset Shift 3: Adjust

To adjust is to alter or move slightly in order to achieve the desired fit or appearance or result to be achieved.

I've made some major adjustments! And When I journaled I planned out what adjustments I would make. Here are some examples.

1. I can move my furniture around and my at home to create space.

2. I have workout equipment that's mobile so I can move it around wherever I want to workout.

3. I can move my workout to the outdoors on nice days which is really enjoyable.

4. I can move my actual workout days around in the week, which is nice and jives well with my ever-changing work schedule.

5. (this ones a biggie) I finally adjusted my physiologist prescribed workout program to be an at home workout.

Before Coronavirus closed the doors to my gym, physio wrote me a workout program to help me reach a new set of fitness goals. There's a lot I can replicate at home but many of the moves I have had to adjust. I had to adjust the periodization of it all because I just can't lift the amount of weight I was originally programmed to lift.

 Mindset Shift 4: Add New Goals

Notice I didn't say change. I don't want to change my goals. That's because when I set goals there's a strong compelling reason why behind it. And just because I've had to accept, adapt and adjust to my new workout routine, doesn't mean I'm ready to let those goals go. So instead, I am adding to my goals.

My newly added goals will be a priority for now, while I wait for gyms to open back up. This means that I won't be measuring my progress in terms of strength gains but I have added cardio gains.

Here are some of the new goals I have added:

1. Run 2 miles a day or 14 miles a week.

2. Discover a new park or neighborhood to run in each week.

3. Walk / run 20k+ steps a day.

4. By the end of April, be able to run a mile in my prime heart rate zone in under 8 minutes.

5. Practice yoga 1 time a week.

Accept, Adapt, Adjust, and Add New Goals are the 4 mindset shifts that have made me feel better about at home workouts.

Because I made these mindset shifts, I was able to plan an entire month of workouts for April and I am happy to report, I've mostly stuck with them.

I'll put the link to that April At Home Workout Program here in case you want something to follow!

If you liked these mindset shifts, please share this blog post!