I started spinning almost two years ago. The
first couple of times I went, I hated it. But I knew I needed to add some
low-impact cardio to my exercise routine, and so I gave it a few more times
before I decided if it was for me or not.
Once I started going though, I started to
really enjoy it. Spin classes often feel like (really hard) dance parties, and
it’s difficult to hate doing something when there’s really good music playing.
I also got to really enjoy the “high” I felt after it was over. And finally, I
was lucky enough to find an amazing community to spin with! (Core Spin Club).
Lately, while spinning, I’d find myself
coming up with some funny parallels in my regarding how similar spin and healthy
eating were. So I decided to finally put a list together! Here are 18
surprising ways that spinning and healthy eating are similar:
1. Some
days, it’s enough to just show the hell up!
You’re not going to “knock it out of the
park” every day in spin, and you’re not going to eat amazingly well every day either.
Sometimes, it’s just enough to show up, put your ass in the saddle, do the best
you can, and go home. Comparing a bad day at spin to an amazing day is not going
to make you feel any better – same with less than stellar days of eating.
But the act of showing up anyway when
you’re not really “into it” and doing what you can, helps to cement healthy
habits and it also demonstrates that it’s a priority in your life. “No, I don’t
‘feel’ like going to spin but it’s what I do every Tuesday morning” and “no, I
don’t ‘feel’ like eating the leftovers I brought for lunch today”, but that’s
what I do instead of ordering a burger and fries at McDonald's.
I liken a day of “just showing the hell up”
nutritionally, to throwing a few carrots and cucumbers on the side of my pizza
;) The habit is including SOME type of veggie at every meal. And guess what? I
can definitely do that as the minimum. If we didn’t do what we need to do just
because we “didn’t feel like it” – we wouldn’t get very far in life, would we?
2. As
motivating as your spin instructor may be, they can never make you actually do
the work – that’s 100% on you!
Coaching people to eat well can be very gratifying
but also very frustrating at times. I am sure it’s the same way for spin
instructors. They get up there in front of everyone on their own bike, doing
all the same exercises (while talking!!!), executing a well-planned workout,
and at the same time, try to get everyone pumped up, motivated and working!
In a similar fashion, I get out there in
front of my clients, eating the way I am asking them to eat, execute on my well-planned
program and offer encouragement, support, feedback, and motivation. However, in
both scenarios, that doesn’t mean that everyone is necessarily going to DO the
work. You literally cannot make people do the work, OR do it for them.
3. You
will never regret showing up for yourself
There are some days that you do not want to
work out. You don’t feel like it. You’d rather be at home catching up on 90-Day
Fiancé or hell, even doing the laundry – anything but working out. BUT after
that 50-minutes is up (or 60 if you’re crazy) you NEVER regret the fact that
you showed up for yourself.
The same is true with healthy eating. You
may want to eat that bag of chips or those donuts that “Sally” brought into the
office but you instead choose to eat what you brought in your lunch – and at
the end of the day, you will never regret not having that donut or chips.
Instead you feel proud of yourself, and you know that you can plan for that
treat in the future instead. (Because you are committed).
4. Good
music can make all the difference
You just finished a sweaty climb. And now
that crazy instructor is telling you that you’re going to be doing a jog next
(“you have got to be kidding,” you think to yourself). BUT, when the song that you’re
going to be jogging to comes on, you realize it’s a really good one, and you
somehow manage to pull yourself together and get up there and dance it out. (Current
fave: Dance Monkey - thanks for playing that today, Devon).
The same is true when you don’t feel like
you have much energy to put together a healthy meal or do some meal prep. It just
feels like it’s too much…Until you put on one of your favorite songs and start
a dance party in the kitchen. Who knows where that renewed energy actually came
from! Who cares? Just use it.
5. There
are going to be instructors you love and others who you think are “ok” – but they are ALL
going to teach you something different – and you will be better for it
Don’t you hate it when you’re showing up to
a spin class you signed up for days ago, only to find out there was a last
minute sub? Hah! This is actually really good for you, because being exposed to
different styles of teaching, cueing, music and personality are all really good
for us. We are such creatures of habit.
This is precisely why I share tools and
resources from other experts in the field with my clients. It can be really
helpful to see how someone else explains the same topic. Sometimes someone says
something that just “clicks”. And in spin, sometimes switching it up with
different spin instructors broadens your horizons!
6. Sometimes
you’re going to “borrow” energy from a neighbor, and sometimes you’re going to
“lend” it!
Back again to having your ass in the saddle
and that’s it. Those are the days you are going to be borrowing energy from
those in the class. And that’s perfectly ok because you are going to be
lending it to someone else another day!
My clients see everything I eat, and I see
what they eat. They also have the option to interact with my other clients and my
ambassadors on the app we use. It’s an excellent way for them to get ideas and
inspiration from others as well as “borrow” and “lend” energy from others. It’s
also a really powerful form of accountability and support.
Also, you’re very lucky if you show up on a day that Stephanie does at Lake Bonavista because she has enough energy to share with the entire class!
7. A
distraction here and there can help you stay the course (insert: pumps, dips)
Sure, focus is really important. After all,
it’s focus that makes sure that you don’t fall off your bike in an “attack”. However,
a little bit of distraction can be really helpful too, when you’re just trying
to get through something difficult. For me, this always means a “jog”. Mostly I
hate them because I am not very good at them, and basically I suck wind for a
couple of minutes because I really want to stay on the damn beat. But when you
can distract yourself with some pumps and dips, it really helps.
When it comes to nutrition, I actually
teach my clients the importance of being hyper-focused on what they are eating
– BUT, distraction can be really helpful when they doing related activities
like meal prepping, chopping and cooking. A little bit of Netflix, music or
vino are great distractions for what can sometimes be a pretty mundane
activity.
8. Self-Talk
Matters
“Come on, you can do it!” the spin
instructors shout out. In your head, you think “screw you, no I can’t” – until
you realize that you can and JUST DID and therefore, there might actually be
some truth to this. I love encouraging my clients to persevere because I KNOW
they can. Sometimes we need someone else to cheer us on and then once we have
actually done it a few times, we can no longer agree with statements such as “I
can’t”. Guess what? I have survived 100% of my spin classes, even when I didn’t
think I was going to make it. In a similar fashion, my clients learn that habit
patterns they once thought were impossible to change, aren’t.
9. Surround
yourself with likeminded people
100% of all the people I spin with are
likeminded in the sense that they have decided (at least for that day) to show
up and make exercise a priority.
When you are trying to implement a new
habit or behavior, it’s best to surround yourself with people who have already
done it or share the same priority and goals. I love showing up to a spin
class and saying hi to people I see regularly showing up – these are my people!
We’re the show-up’er’s and do hard shit peeps!
To make any habit change or behavior change
easier, change your environment and surround yourself with people who are already
“doing it”.
10. Be
prepared & set yourself up for success
Have you ever showed up to spin without a
water bottle or sweat towel? It’s so not fun. When it comes to healthy eating,
being prepared for your day/week/month is key. It sets you up for success in
the same way that you show up for a spin class wearing appropriate attire and
having the right “tools” to do the job well.
This part isn’t very sexy. It’s washing
sweaty clothes, remembering to take your bag with a water bottle and sweat
cloth when you leave the house and making sure you’re hydrated for the class
(nothing is worse than spinning a wee bit hungover) ;)
The same when it comes to nutrition. This
means writing lists, shopping for food, chopping and deciding what to eat every
night. It could also mean getting groceries delivered to your house or meals
delivered cooked and ready to your house.
But, in either of these situations, this is
what the job demands if you’re going to be successful.
11. Plan
in advance
Guess what happens when I don’t pre-book my
classes on the MIND BODY app and just decide to “see if I feel like going to
spin” in the morning? Ummmm, yep – I don’t go. Same goes for healthy eating. If
you don’t bring your lunch to work and figure that you will just “choose
something healthy” when you are starving at 12:30pm – the chances are pretty
high that you’re not going to make the best choices.
12. Take
a break when you need it. And then get back up there.
Sometimes you just need a break. Taking a
break often ensures that you have the ability to persevere long term (i.e. the
entire spin class). So when you need a break, you should take one. In spin
class, this might mean sitting while everyone is standing, taking a bunch of
gear off while everyone is adding it, or purposefully getting off the beat when
everyone is on it. But what it never means is leaving the class entirely.
Sometimes, we all need to take the pedal
off the gas for a day or two or week. Maybe it’s been a stressful week , or
maybe even vacation. But taking a break looks a heck of a lot different than
quitting. And taking a break also looks a lot different than saying f&*k
it.
13. Listen
to your own body
In my nutrition practice, I always remind
people that we are going to “begin where you are”. (Because that only makes sense)
Not ONE person who starts my 12-Week program is exactly the same as any other.
Therefore, it’s extremely important for my clients to listen to their own
bodies as we go through the program.
The same for spin. Everyone is at different physical abilities and what works for one will not work for all.
14. Don’t
go “balls to the walls” on the first song. It’s called a warm-up for a reason.
The nutritional equivalent here is
all-or-nothing thinking. It’s when clients plan on “eating perfectly” but lose
motivation because it’s quite simply unsustainable. If you begin your spin
workout working at an unsustainable level right out of the gate, you are going
to get too tired too fast, will probably get way too discouraged, and then give
up coming at all because “it's too hard”. Enough said.
15. It
truly gets easier as your body and brain become accustomed to what you are
asking of it.
What often stops us from pushing harder in
spin class isn’t our bodies, but rather our brains. Our brain wants to protect
us. Your spin instructor is telling you
to “add-in” but your brain is saying “nope, that’s impossible”. But every
single time that I have asked more of my body, it complies. And over time, I
increase what I am capable of actually doing.
With nutrition, sometimes our bad habits
seem impossible to change. But over time, if we ask for “small adds”
consistently and persistently, what we once thought of as impossible soon
becomes our new norm.
16. Some
days are just going to feel easier than others
It’s a strange thing. Some days you feel
like you are on top of the world in spin. The bike feels right, the music is
amazing and you are hitting all those pumps and dips. And then on the next ride
you feel sluggish, out of breath and frustrated.
Same in nutrition….maybe you made an
amazing salad for lunch, said no to those donuts that Sally (that bitch)
brought into the office AGAIN, had a workout and didn’t have any
“snack-attacks” after dinner. Next day you’re grabbing a bar for breakfast
because you have slept in, missed your workout and then your husband calls to
say he’s working late and can’t make dinner (this is not my husband because he
cannot cook, but lucky for you) and you find yourself in bed with a bag of
chips at 8:30pm. You can’t win ‘em all.
But when you have a sub-par workout you
still show up for the very next one, right? In nutrition, you show up for yourself the
very next meal.
17. It’s
supposed to be FUN!
The truth is that you are never going to
sustain anything you hate for very long. You have to find ways to enjoy the
things you know you need to do for yourself. So do what you need to do in order
to keep things fun. In spin, go to the classes who have the instructors you
love, at the times that work best for you. Don’t take it too seriously!
In nutrition, find ways to make cooking
more fun! Maybe that means taking a cooking class with a friend, trying out a
meal delivery service, doing a meal exchange with a bunch of friends, or buying
a new cookbook. Put on some great music while you make dinner or meal prep, and
remind yourself of why you are making this a priority in the first place – get
excited about THAT!
BONUS:
Important work is done in a dark room
Haha – I thought this was funny. I didn’t
mean it in a perverted way, people! I meant that it’s not all about food. Being
healthy also means other things like getting enough quality sleep!
In closing, I should probably note that
“spin” could easily be replaced with other forms of exercise and activity. I
just chose this one because it was (sometimes still is) really hard for me to
do. And a lot of the points I am trying to make today have to do with sticking
with something that may not come as natural or as easy to you as you may like
(like healthy eating).
I hope you enjoyed this. I had a lot of fun
finally expressing all the similarities. I’ll probably have to do a part two
because I know there are more parallels. But I will leave it here for now.
The main take away is that no one can do
the work for you. Surround yourself with a supportive community, know that
every day isn’t going to be perfect, and have some damn fun!!
