Have you moved yet today?  I’m not talking about getting out of bed … although in our house this morning, that was quite an accomplishment!  I’m also not talking about dragging your butt to the coffee pot for your morning fix … although in our house this morning, that was quite a necessity.

I’m talking about intentionally exercising.  If you haven’t, I’m sure you have a valid reason:

didn’t cross your mind

didn’t have time

too cold / hot / rainy outside

you’re sick / injured

need more motivation

you’ll do it later / tomorrow / next week / next month / next year

you’re perfectly happy with your body now

Let me tell you, I was the queen of excuses and still am!  I didn’t make exercise a priority and so it didn’t happen.  (Combine that with overeating and you end up at 224 pounds, like me!)  There’s always a valid reason to not exercise.  Yesterday, I wrestled with the fact that when I woke up, my hair looked really good.  I mean, I went to the bathroom, glanced in the mirror, and was shocked at how good it looked without doing a thing to it.  It looked like I spent a lot of time getting it just right.

And then, I thought about how every morning after doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred, I’m a sweaty mess.  “What a shame it would be to waste that perfect hair on a workout.  Maybe, I’ll just skip today or workout later.”  But I knew the truth … skipping one day often leads to skipping 2, 3, 4 or more days.  And more than not, when I say I’ll workout later, “later” never comes.  So I took one last glance in the mirror at my perfect hair before pulling it back into a pony tail to get ready to sweat.

So let’s look at those excuses listed above and conquer them!

• didn’t cross your mind – well, it has now … so cross that excuse off your list.  But what about tomorrow.  You have to make a decision at some point.  Will you exercise or not?  If the answer is no, I won’t judge, I spent 38 years with the same answer.  If the answer is yes, then make sure it’s on your mental to do list … or better yet, write it down on a schedule!
• didn’t have time – That’s a lie.  I’ll be honest, and I know you’ve heard this before, but you have time for whatever you make a priority.  You probably manage to eat and get dressed every day even though time is so precious. I do understand saying you don’t have time if your exercise routine is long and you have to drive to and from a gym.  That’s why I love Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred.  I do it in my tiny living room and from start to stop it takes 28 minutes.  Granted, I’m only burning about 200 calories, but it combines strength, abs, and cardio and I see results in my body.  I just don’t get to eat as much in my day.  Jeff and I are going to order Shaun T’s (The Insanity guy) T25 workout.  That’s supposed to be similar to the 30 day shred, but more intense … but still you do it in your home and its 30 minutes start to finish.  You can even do these while watching an episode of Duck Dynasty or whatever your guilty TV pleasure is!
• don’t have a gym membership – You don’t need one – see above, or just go outside and power walk or run.
• too cold / hot / rainy outside – Exercise inside – see above.  Exercise in your living room, yours can’t be smaller than mine!
• you’re sick / injured – Sick, if you are truly sick, then OK take the day off.  But if you are injured, exercise other parts of your body.  Is your knee injured?  Shadow box for an intense cardio exercise.
• need more motivation – No you don’t, you need discipline.  I read once discipline is doing what you don’t want to do.  And you don’t magically get discipline, you simply choose to do what is right.
• you’ll do it later / tomorrow / next week / next month / next year – Really?  If you will do it later, than great, it’s not an excuse.  But right now is yesterday’s later … so don’t you owe it now?  I remember reading a book that talked about how we all like to start something on a Monday morning, or the first of the month, or January first.  And so we put off starting if it’s not the right day.  Well the book said something like, “Wednesday at 4 PM is a perfect time to start, don’t wait for Monday.”  The crazy thing?  It was Wednesday at 4PM.
• you’re perfectly happy with your body now – Awesome!  Good for you.  But exercise isn’t just about appearance.  It’s about making your heart stronger.   It’s about taking care of yourself.  It’s about decreasing depression.  It’s about giving you more energy.  Making your body look better is a bonus side effect.
• your hair looks perfect now and exercising will make it a sweaty mess – Oh, how I sympathize … but I guess you just need to decide what you want more: perfect hair for one day, or a strong, healthy body for life 🙂

And so if I, the queen of excuses, can learn to press on through them, then so can you!  And if you think you have a valid excuse that you want to challenge me on, then I’d love to hear it!

Pressing on together,

♥Becki