You’re stuck at home and possibly trying to maintain your health and fitness with limited resources. Your motivation dwindles. What do you do? We caught up with Rose Peterson, CPT, Pn2, to learn more about how we can get through this pandemic under such uncomfortable circumstances.
The WOD Life: Can you start by telling us a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Coach Rose: I empower overwhelmed moms to shed the weight that’s holding them back from cultivating the life they have always dreamed of. I’m a Certified Online Trainer, nutrition and lifestyle coach. I’ve served my clients both in person in a traditional gym setting and virtually, all over the United States and in the Philippines.
With the recent stay-at-home order, I’ve shifted my coaching to entirely online. At this moment, I feel even more called to help my clients choose and practice skills and habits they want to focus on to maintain their current health goals.
TWL: What’s your best piece of advice for how we can stay healthy right now, even while quarantined?
CR: My number one tip for people to try to stay active is get clear on the exercise goal. Know your why. Is your main goal to incorporate more movement in your day, not to lose muscle mass, maintain your fitness habits, or perhaps focus on recovery or stability movements?
My clients (and myself) are all processing their exercise goals from different perspectives. Some are working from home and are sitting for long periods of time. Some are struggling to find the motivation to keep going on their own since they’re not around the same energy being at a gym, gym mates, or a coach would bring.
Some are taking this time to work on injuries that they’ve ignored or slowing down to master bodyweight movements like scoring that bodyweight pull-up or string together five to 10 strict push-ups.
After you get clear on your main fitness goal, then set up a plan that is super easy, super simple to implement, and set the bar really low in the beginning. These super easy routines (we are talking maybe one to two chin-ups, three set of air squats, or five minutes of pacing to a podcast) get your brain fired up with some small and actionable wins. It builds momentum and helps you maintain the habit of working out from home. Those tiny wins rewire your brain to get out of the comfort hurdle.
One idea I’ve helped my clients come up with is setting a stretch reminder on their phone or smart watch every hour. They let the alert remind them to get up and move for just five minutes only. It could also be for taking some steps around the house, or using a band placed next to their desk to open up their shoulders and back from sitting so long.
For others I have talked to, they have set goals of 10 focused and slow push-ups or one to three pull-ups from a doorway bar. Once you give yourself a week or two of success, there will be less internal resistance to accomplish more challenging or longer workouts.
My second piece of advice is for more advanced clients. There are many creative ways to make a workout challenging by using bands or filling backpacks and large purses with weighted objects. This is also a really good time to focus on stability, mobility, and perfect execution of bodyweight exercises.
Exercising with kids can be challenging, especially if they’re very young and just want to be around you. To avoid frustration, make the workouts simple and quick, around 20 minutes at a time, or even include them. It’s important for kids to be active and if they aren’t in school, they are likely moving less as well.
Toddlers love to be carried or held during squats, or give them a toy pretending to be a dumbbell and work out alongside them. Pre-schoolers and elementary aged children will likely only participate for five minutes before they move on to something else. Older children could benefit from just being active alongside you.
TWL: How can people find that motivation to exercise when they’re really just not feeling it?
CR: In my coaching practice, I not only provide nutrition recommendations and exercise programming, but I’m also their guide to help them execute the desired behaviors or habits they want to implement in their daily lives to make sure they’re set up for success. All of my clients get a weekly coaching call from me.
One common theme that has been coming up a lot in my coaching calls is struggling to find motivation. Motivation is not always there, and during a time like now, relying on developing good habits is so powerful.
We are lucky enough right now that in this country, most of my clients still have access to foods that line up with their goals. Having a good exercise program for at home is not out of their reach either.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BldwtoUhTM6/
However, they’re finding themselves making food choices that don’t line up with their goals or they’re struggling to find motivation to complete a workout.
These are totally normal feelings, especially when dealing with the uncertainty of the current pandemic.
Here’s one suggestion.
Destination Postcard
When a client first hires me, an exercise I do with her is called a Destination Postcard. I originally learned of these three powerful questions through Precision Nutrition’s Nutrition Coaching certification. If you have ever said to yourself or to someone else, “I know what I should do, but I don’t know why I am not doing it,” these three questions below can help you find the motivation you need to get back on track.
- Who do you want to be?
- What do you want to do?
- How do you want to feel?
On a recent coaching call, I reminded one of my clients that she had written that she wanted to be the best version of herself, feel strong and energetic so that she can accomplish a lifelong goal of hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim.
She perked up in the conversation after I reminded her of this. I told her to imagine she is already the person that is strong and energetic enough to hike the Grand Canyon. I asked her, “What would that person do in their day-to-day habits to make sure they can hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim?” She listed out some habits and I helped her narrow it down to the one she could be most successful with right now to help her gain some momentum and get back on track.
She also decided to take my suggestion of printing out a picture or two of the Grand Canyon and placing it somewhere she can see it often. I shared with her that this is exactly what I have done to remind myself of what it is I really want. I want to compete in my sport again and I have a picture in my bedroom and one on my refrigerator of me at my last competition.
By the end of the call, she sounded inspired and reinvigorated to work toward her health goals.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-oQR-tnQwp/
Many thanks to Coach Rose for providing guidance and insight during such a challenging time. For more help, you can follow Coach Rose on Instagram. Keep your eyes peeled for a free virtual day-long nutrition challenge for busy moms, tentatively set for May 2.
