Hello, my name is Pam strand.

I'm your podcast host, and I'd like
to welcome you to the longevity gym.

I'm glad you're here.

And I am looking forward to sharing
with you my thoughts on how we go

about getting our head in and keeping
our head in the game of fitness.

Over the years of working as a personal
trainer, I have learned that success

during the fitness journey has almost
nothing to do with physical ability and

everything to do with your mental game.

It's what goes on inside our heads
that keeps us in the game and

calls the shots, regardless of
what is happening with our bodies.

I saw this lesson at play during
most of my adult life, as I watched

my mother age with dignity and
grace, with a little bit of grit and

determination thrown in there for fun.

On her 80th birthday, she told me
that she had led a wonderful life.

Yes, she told me there were a few
bumps along the way, but she had

had a great life and was looking
forward to living several more years.

The few bumps in life that my mother
was referring to, at least, or at least

what I thought she was referring to,
were being a widow at age 51, having

both hips and both knees replaced,
and surviving a bout of cancer.

Despite what life sent her
way, my mother kept going.

At her funeral, my brother described
her as the epitome of a frontier woman.

She was someone who was determined, strong
minded, self reliant, and as far as I

know, never turned away from a challenge.

I'm not sure she even viewed those
bumps in the road that she referred

to on her birthday as challenges.

She just kept going because she enjoyed
living and she saw life as being

filled with opportunity and the energy
generated by her perspectives positively

influenced her life and those around her.

But how did she do that?

Here's what I learned from her and also
learned from my clients who have been

most successful in their fitness journeys.

Number one, live unencumbered.

And by that I mean unencumbered from
the judgments or by the judgments of

how things should or should not be.

That just bogs us down.

Living from the perspective of what
Is fair or not fair is draining.

And the more that we can let go
of judgments, the more energetic

and positive we will feel and the
more we will be able to accomplish.

My mother was a master of this.

For her, life was a matter of
deciding what you were going to

do about an event or situation.

She was not one to ruminate on why
something happened to her or why

life didn't turn out differently.

Sure, she felt deeply about life
and didn't push away her feelings

or emotion, but she accepted the
current situation or the current

circumstances and moved on from there.

She didn't worry about the past
and didn't get too hung up about

what the future was going to hold.

One of the most important things we can
do on a fitness journey is to let go of

our perceptions of how we're supposed to
be, what we're supposed to accomplish,

and what the journey should look like.

It doesn't really matter how fast
you used to run or how thin you

used to be, nor does it matter
that you've always struggled with

your weight or feel like a failure
because of what happened in the past.

Those thoughts only cloud
our current journey.

Accept where you are today.

And I know sometimes that takes a
lot of work to get to that level of

acceptance, but when we accept where
we are, and that doesn't have to mean

we like it, but when we accept it, the
burdens of the past and the negative self

perceptions and all that crap that gets
in our way, all those burdens go away.

You are where you are, and
that's the starting point.

The starting point is not
where you were 20 years ago or

even where you were last week.

Accept where you are today and then ask
yourself where you want to go from here.

Then take action.

The second thing that I learned from
my mother and my successful clients

is own your thoughts and beliefs.

Many people abort their fitness journeys
because they're not just, they're just

not feeling it, or they feel intimidated
or deem themselves a failure because

it's harder than they thought, or
they weren't perfect out of the gate.

Others don't even start because they
believe they are unmotivated, lazy, or

simply too out of shape to even try.

I find it pretty interesting that
some of my most successful clients

Aided exercise and found it boring,
but they kept at it anyways.

They had a knack for taking responsibility
for their thoughts and beliefs.

And when they did, they recognized
the power of shifting their views.

Their thoughts were their thoughts.

And when they owned that.

They also owned the fact that
they could shift the way they

believed, or the way they thought
about exercise and the journey.

Their workouts became a dose of
preventative medicine and a savings

of medical costs down the road.

They created a perspective that regular
exercise was changing their lives and

their bodies one workout at a time.

That was fun for them.

That kept them engaged.

Change your thoughts and
beliefs, shift your energy, and

find a new level of success.

We are only going to be as
successful as our thoughts and

beliefs will allow us to be.

The third thing that I learned
from my mother and my successful

clients is be inquisitive.

My mother was a lifetime learner,
whether that was taking a class at

the local community college in her
eighties, learning to ski in her

fifties, or seeking out purposely,
seeking out a view different than hers.

She lived with an
inquisitive and open mind.

She simply valued learning.

New knowledge was important to her,
and whether she ultimately agreed

with what she learned or not, she
valued the experience of learning,

and that served her well as she
aged, especially with her fitness.

My mother was always active,
walking, swimming, mowing the

lawn, and fishing, golfing.

Yeah, I did say fishing.

She loved to fish.

When her arthritic knees forced
her to give up golfing, she

switched to swim classes on cardio
machines and lifting weights.

When it came time to move to a
retirement community, her fitness

became frequent walks up and
down the hallway on her walker.

Keeping an open mind serves us
well in our fitness journey.

It brings a willingness to
change and generates more

creativity and resourcefulness.

When your knees or back hurt, instead
of giving up, keeping an open and

curious mind enables you to work around
the situation and find new solutions.

With an open mind, we can more easily
and more positively move through the

inevitable ebbs and flows of the journey.

And when we do, those ebbs and flows,
give us new insights that help us

make the journey even more successful.

The energy in our life that comes
from our thoughts and beliefs either

holds us back or moves us forward.

It predicts the way we experience
life and what we achieve.

This is particularly true in fitness.

If we believe we are losers, our
journey is going to play that out.

If we believe we are winners, we will win.

Where our minds go,
our bodies will follow.

Let me ask you this.

What is one thought or belief that gets
in the way of your fitness journey?

And what is one small shift in that
thought or belief that you can make

that can open up a new door and create
a new opportunity for you and your body?

Think about that.

And then email me and let me know
what thought or belief you're going

to change and how you're changing it.

My email address is Pam
at strand fitness online.

com.

It's also in the show notes below.

And if you haven't already, I invite
you to sign up for my newsletter.

It's a great way to stay in touch.

You can enter your name and email address
in the form in the show notes below.

I email about every two weeks
sharing tips and suggestions and

my thoughts on how to be successful
and over overcome challenges.

I also highlight new podcast episodes and
announce ways that we can work together.

I'd love it if you were
part of my email community.

And with that, I want to
say thank you for tuning in.

I hope this episode will help you make
your fitness journey even more successful.

I'll see you in the next
episode of the longevity gym.

Have a great day.