Motivational Monday!

Here we are SIX months into the new year! If you are anything like me, you sat down at the end of 2013 and set some great goals for 2014. 
Are you still running towards those goals- knocking down anything that is standing in your way or have you given up and gone right back into your old ways?

Change is hard. The definition of change is to "to cause to be different; to transform." That is not an easy task. Usually by the time you are ready for change, you are already in the contemplation/preparation phase of change. (shown below is the 5 stages of change) Usually where we get stuck is the action part - which is 80% of the way toward your goal! Putting action behind your goal is one of the hardest steps, but essential for your success. No matter your goal or resolution, take some time to review them and see where you might be in the stages of change and continue to fight for your dreams! :)

If your New Year's resolution was to get healthy/lose weight/fit into those skinny jeans...check out my Motivational Monday workout! All you need is your body and 20 minutes! No excuses :) When you finish the workout, comment below how it went :)

Share this blog post with your friends to help get them moving and motivated as well!

Motivational Monday Workout

M is for Muscles

Start with 25 squats to get the heart rate increased and legs warmed up!

O is for Obliques

Hold a side plank for as long as you can (Repeat on other side)

Goal: 1 minute at Level 3

N is for kNeeling push ups

10-15 push ups (regular if you can)

D is for Dips

Dips help target the triceps- the muscle on the back of your arm.

You can use a table, chair, or just the floor.

Do as many reps are possible!

                                

A is for Abs

Hold a plank as long as you can!

 Goal: 1 minute in level 3 position 

Y is for Yep, we are going to do this again! 

Repeat this circuit 2x's if you are a beginner, 3-4x's if you are intermediate, or 5-6x's if you are advanced!

Good Luck!

Look back for more weekly workouts!

XOXO

Sarah

ACSM Certified Health Fitness Specialist

How did I get here?

Happy Hump Day!

It's time to switch gears! With all the recent baby talk, setting up doctors appointments, filling out countless medical forms... I'm ready to switch gears! I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately and couldn't help but ask myself...
How did I get here?

I will never forget being a miserable, freshman engineering student at Purdue University in the fall of  2004. I never thought much about "what I wanted to be when I grew up" because so many people told me, "You would be a great engineer." I mean, I did love math and enjoyed learning about science. I was in the top 20 of my class (of only 117) and had followed the typical "path to success." Most of my family went to Purdue and I grew up a Boilermaker. What I naively came to quickly realize was that...

1. Engineering at Purdue is not easy, at all.

2. My brain doesn't work like the brain of an engineer.

To say I was miserable my first semester at Purdue is an understatement. I cried EVERYDAY. Seriously. (My mom has kept most of the pathetic emails I sent begging for her to come pick me up to come home.. for good LOL) After I realized I was stuck at Purdue for at least a year, I spent nearly every night looking up different majors. For the first time in my college career, I started really thinking about what I wanted.. what would make ME happy? The night I stumbled upon Health and Fitness was like my Oprah- "AHA moment!"

I remember asking myself, "I can get paid to workout and help others achieve their goals?!?" COUNT ME IN!! I immediately switched majors at the beginning of my second semester and haven't looked back since.

My journey in this profession has allowed me the opportunity to work in many different settings and states. I started out as a Personal Trainer at a small fitness center in Raleigh, North Carolina called Forever Fitness in June 2008. My experience here was one that has yet to be topped. I had such a fun work environment and met so many amazing people, including my best friend, Michelle, and her husband Todd!

My first day at Forever Fitness in June 2008!

Michelle & Todd: Love them! :)

I lived life to the fullest. I made tons of mistakes, but I wouldn't change a single thing about it.  I learned so much in my first two years that set me up for success as I ventured all the way to the Windy City of Chicago in May 2010. I love the fast-paced, busy lifestyle. There is never a dull moment and I was reunited with all three of my college roomies- Sara, Mal, and Dharma :) My love for Chicago didn't help the expensive cost of living and after working two jobs for 10 months and 7 days a week..I decided it was time to come back home to Indy. 

Working at Pure Vibes Fitness in Chicago in 2010 :)

When I arrived back at home, I was lost. I had just left a toxic relationship, didn't have a job lined up, and was back to living with my parents at the age of 25. I worked to cover my bills as a part-time server and beverage cart girl at the Brickyard Crossing during the warm summer months while I took my prerequisites to apply to the University of Indianapolis for my Master's in Occupational Therapy. 

 Everything changed on May 1st, 2011. 

Barry and I's first picture! May 1st, 201

Barry and I had known each other for awhile. We first met when I was in college and he was teaching at Speedway. I was working at the Brickyard Crossing as the cart girl and he was working as a cart barn boy over the summer ;) We had exchanged some back and forth comments which always left me with butterflies in my stomach, but we were at two completely different points in our lives. After our summer of working together, I returned to Purdue to finish my senior year and he continued to teach and coach at Speedway. I would occasionally run into him when I would be home from North Carolina. At a friends Christmas party in 2009, we talked for hours, but again, the timing wasn't right and we continued living our lives hundreds of miles apart.

 When he walked into the Buffalo Wild Wings that Monday evening in May, I remember the butterflies quickly returning. I was just finishing up my shift and decided to stay after and hang out with some friends of mine, just a couple tables away from Barry. (I'm no dummy!) It didn't take long for him to come over and join us. After some awkward flirting on my end, I was "showing him how to use his iPhone" and put my number in there (smoooooth, I know) We went out that Friday and have been together ever since.

In the process of finding the love of my life, everything in my career seemed to come together easily. Speedway opened up it's first gym, Anytime Fitness, and I was able to come on board as a Personal Trainer in May 2012 after deciding not to attend graduate school. (Paying off student loan debt for the next 20 years didn't excite me!) I'm now a Health Fitness Specialist with NIFS and loving the change to corporate fitness. I'm also building my Advocare business and looking forward to starting our family :)

Life is good. 

I am very blessed. 

Anytime Fitness Speedway Run or Dye Group

Barry and I enjoying our day in the Advocare suite at the track!

Third times a charm... Right?

They say good things happen in threes. The "rule of Three" is a writing principle that suggests things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, and more effective that other numbers of things.
This holds true in slogan "Go, fight, win!" or The Three Stooges.   

So, when my doctor prescribed us to three months of clomid in November to increase our changes of getting pregnant, I was very optimistic! I thought it was just that extra piece of the puzzle we needed to have the advantage. (Kinda like having the answers to the test before you even sit down and take the exam) I was anxious to start right away and followed Doctor's instructions to a "T", but Month 1 ended just like most before it, in disappointment and tears.

 Month 2- I was 100% convinced I was pregnant. I had every symptom in the book. I even told Barry, "I know I'm pregnant. I don't need a test to tell me!" I had thought for months that we would get pregnant before the end of the year, so of course December would be OUR MONTH! That month hit us in the stomach, like a punch that "knocks the wind out of you and you aren't sure if you are going to be able to get back up from" type of punch. I felt defeated.

 I didn't even want to take the clomid in January, but knew our doctor would ask and I wanted to make sure I could confidently say that we followed all instructions and it didn't work. Barry and I already started talking about our next step and didn't give this month much thought. I was starting to accept the fact that we need to see a specialist and get more answers... until the day "Aunt Flow" was supposed to show came and went without anything happening. All the sudden I had hope again. My thoughts raced, "Maybe I just needed the distraction and God was going to bless us with our baby and spare us the physical and emotional pain of seeing a fertility specialist." Each day that passed, my hope grew bigger and bigger. Even a negative pregnancy test ...(OK, three lol) couldn't bring me down from this new found hope, until Monday night...

 ...There she was. I immediately fell apart. My thoughts bounced from, "This can't be happening" to "Why me? Why us? We are good people that will raise this baby with all the love and care a baby could ever need or want!" I went from angry to sad and right back to angry all evening. I cried til I had nothing left.  My amazing husband, God bless him, just held me all night. We don't even have to say anything now, what can you say?

After having a couple of days to digest everything, today we made our next move and scheduled a consultation with a fertility specialist. This is a very scary step, but we are ready for the next step in our journey!

 Thanks for all the support, messages, and encouraging words :)



                                             

And a little TTC humor.. :)