5 Tips to Train for Your Life, Not Your Swimsuit
Have you heard? It’s Guest Bloggers’ Week! And today Jenny Schatzle is teaching us how to take no sh*t — from ourselves. Jenny has worked with celebs like Cat Cora and Dwight Howard and has a 6-week program in Santa Barbara (nutrition + mindset + fitness) that has helped many of her clients see weight-loss transformations of more than 110 pounds, but most importantly, Jenny has seen her clients go from depressed to over-the-moon ecstatic about their lives. Read on for her top tips on getting in shape for your LIFE — not for your swimsuit.
There is a lot of hype about swimsuit season, no matter what time of year it is. As the owner of a fitness program, I see what sells … “Beach-body ready,” “Summer’s almost here … Are you bathing suit ready?” Let’s be honest; these words create panic in our own heads. When we read these titles most of us think: BATHING SUIT (panic), NO I’m NOT ready for summer, I won’t look good in my suit, I’m FAT, I have to lose weight.
Why is our own SELF JUDGMENT the worst and harshest judgment? We are so hard on ourselves, constantly picking apart what’s wrong with our bodies and what we need to change. Who cares what other people think when you already think the worst about your own body? We have created for ourselves a society that goes into vicious cycles of dieting, body shaming, pressure and self-UNacceptance in an attempt to get what we think (or what society thinks) is the perfect swimsuit body.
What if we rewired the whole bathing-suit-season-is-here-are-you-ready theory? What if we started training for LIFE — for the LOVE of our own well-being and for self acceptance? It’s time we create change from the inside out NOT the outside in. The perfect body (Is there really such a thing?) comes from when you get YOURSELF right. When you turn the focus to your mind and soul the body will automatically come with it.
I am creating a message, a movement and taking a stand. Your body is yours and shouldn’t look like anyone else’s, so I propose a new kind of training plan …
5 Steps to Getting Ready for LIFE, Not Your Swimsuit
1. Change the way you listen to the media on how you should look. Most of what we see in the media is Photoshopped, has gone through a million filters and is airbrushed — yet we still think that is what we should look like. The voice of the media on how you should look speaks so loudly that sometimes you should choose to not listen to it.
2. Change the way YOU think about how YOU should look. You’re strong, curvy, voluptuous, fit, healthy, vibrant. You are AWESOME. How come other people believe that about you more than YOU believe that about yourself?
3. Change your bullsh*t. Stop feeling sorry for yourself about what you don’t have, or how you have too much to do or how people don’t treat you right. Burying yourself in guilt, shame, food, procrastination and self-loathing doesn’t make anything better or make it go away. When you realize that you’re more than your excuses and that you are worthy of putting yourself first, your BULLSH*T turns into GREAT SH*T.
4. Change the toxic people in your life. If you surround yourself with people who suck all the energy, health and happiness out of you, let them go. Letting go of toxic people can be difficult (especially when it’s family) but know you will never change anyone else, so it’s your responsibility to do what’s right for you.
5. Change your self talk. How come you will tell your best friend, family or even a co-worker they look amazing, they are awesome, what a great person, friend, hard working person they are yet you would NEVER say that to yourself? You are what you say you are, so start saying you are good enough.
Which tip inspires you to be your best? —Jenny Schatzle