Avoid Beach Body Panic – Part I

Posted by Valerie Waters on May 24, 2010 in Uncategorized

It’s that time of year again when beach body panic beings to set in…

I am getting tons of emails with urgent pleas: which program is the best, which diet works the fastest, etc. I will address the specifics of what diet and exercise is best in part II, but right now I want to start with what I feel is the most important part of getting your best body. It starts with getting your head in the game. I have shared some of this before but it bears repeating:

1. Decide unequivocally that you will get in shape.

Not you “should” or you “wish”, but that you must absolutely must start right now and get fit. In the words of the Yoda, the wise Jedi Master, “Do or do not, there is no try”.

2. Take immediate and massive action.

In the beginning your goal is very fragile. You want to stay true to your decision by adding one action on top of another. Soon, these new behaviors will become automatic, but in the beginning, you need to fight for your goal.

In “Blue Crush”, one of my favorite ‘girl power’ movies, there’s a scene where the lead character, Anne-Marie (played by Kate Bosworth) is in a surf contest at Pipeline with pro surfer, Keala Kennelly. Anne-Marie is clearly psyching herself out so, Keala paddles over to help her. She tells Anne-Marie that she is going to help her get a wave but she had to follow her into the line-up where massive 20 foot waves are breaking. Then, Keala says to Anne-Marie, “I’m going to tell you to go on a wave and when I tell you to go, you gotta go. You gotta paddle your little heart out, you can’t hesitate, you can’t pull back, you can’t hold back. No fear, alright? If you hold back for a second, you’re going to eat sh*t.”

Your consequences for not following through on your decision may not be as dire, but how many times have you made a decision and not followed through? How did that make you feel? How are you going to feel this time when you do follow through and you feel tighter, lighter and sexier on Memorial Day? How about when you keep going and you can rock the pool party on the 4th of July or on Labor Day? Which feels better – not following through, or achieving your goal?

So I just want to say, “Paddle for that metaphorical wave, paddle your little heart out. Don’t pull back and don’t give up! You can do this.”

I will be here to encourage you and cheer you on!!

3. Get clear on your intentions.

With Memorial Day weekend only days away, you may not dramatically  change your body, but you can still make a difference. Set an intention to be 5 pounds lighter. Remember, when you write your intentions always state it in the positive with the end result in mind. So, for example, if you weigh 140 pounds you would write, “I intend to weigh 135 pounds or less by May 30th”. Then follow this with intentions to help you achieve this, such as, “I intend to eat clean and minimize sugar and processed foods”, “I intend to bring my lunch to work 4 times this week so I don’t leave my nutrition to chance”, “I intend to do 3 ‘I Want My Bikini Body‘ workouts this week”. You get the idea. Now, I want you to post your intentions where you will see them and read and visualize them 2 times each day. Ideally, first thing in the morning and again before bed.

4. Be willing to be humbled.

Often times new clients will feel self conscious or uncoordinated when learning new moves. I know a few people that prefer not to go to the gym for fear of embarrassment. I would like you to take comfort in the fact that you are probably not as uncoordinated as you think. You may simply need to run the pattern when attempting a new move. I find it takes about 8 to 10 times to get it right. If I don’t over correct a client, they will just find the groove somewhere around the 8th rep. If you are learning something more complicated like hip hop dancing, martial arts, surfing or mountain biking, then you have to be willing to get a little humbled. Unless you played a lot of different sports when you were a kid, it might take more than a few tries to get the hang of it. You may fall, you may look silly, you most likely will be out of your comfort zone but that’s okay! A few years ago, I wanted to start cycling and was trying to master the clip in pedals. I can’t tell you how many times I fell over in the parking lot! Recently, I got back from surfing where I had some spectacular falls in 2 foot surf. If I wasn’t willing to be a little bit humbled by my lack of surfing talent, I would never get to experience the joy it brings me.

5. Rock your inner J-Lo (or George Clooney).

You may not have your perfect body by Memorial Day, but how you feel about it and how you carry it makes all the difference. I don’t know George Clooney, but he seems very comfortable in his skin. He seems to mostly keep himself in shape but even pictures where he’s less fit show a confident and sexy man. Years ago, I trained Jennifer Lopez (before she was J-Lo). She was heavier than she is now and obviously called me because she wanted to make some changes. But even while working to make changes, she had extreme confidence in her body. When we met for the first time, she didn’t come in with baggy clothes or with a shirt tied around her waist trying to cover her sizeable derrier. On the contrary, she had on tight, white pants, and a belly baring top, and the first thing she said to after “Hi, I’m Jennifer”, was “I have a big butt, I like my big butt, guys like my big butt and I don’t want to make it smaller!” I said okay, and proceeded to design a program that would tweak what she wanted tweaked, but keep her bodacious behind intact. I do believe that she almost single handedly revolutionized how we view butts in America. What I learned from Jennifer Lopez is that when you feel good in your body and embrace your curves (even while making changes), most people will see you as you see yourself, sexy and confident!

Now that you’ve got your head in the game, meet me back here tomorrow to  get your specific action plan. Let’s have a rockin’ summer and get this party started!