“Fitness for life…”
Shared by Breanne Smedley
This Saturday, I attended an Orangetheory Fitness class.
For those unfamiliar, it’s a one-hour workout based on your individual heart rate zone. You strap on a monitor and rotate through blocks on the treadmill, rower, and weight floor.
The goal is to keep your heart rate in the “orange zone,” which equates to 84-91% of your maximum heart rate.
During this specific class, I ended up rotating to the treadmill for the final block.
My heart rate was already up from the previous two blocks, and I was ending with what I find to be the most difficult part of class-running on the tread.
Ask me to run on a treadmill by myself for 15 minutes and I’d be bored out of my mind and want to stop after 2 minutes.
But, run on the tread with an OT instructor barking instructions while competing against my last “base,” “push,” and “all-out” speeds…and somehow it becomes my thing!
We had a few series of 60, 45, and 30 second “all-out” sprints followed by short recoveries. My goal was to hold a 10 mph speed for every one.
I was doing okay, until the final couple.
Then, there was that small, faint voice in the back of my head.
It’s the one that comes around when times get tough. When workouts get hard. When I get stressed. When I want to give up.
It told me that it would be okay if I just went 9mph for the last 30-second all-out sprint.
“9mph is still pretty fast, and you did all the others at 10mph,” it justified.
I had a choice.
Stick to my goal, or listen to the voice.
Stay the course, or settle.
Be the person that does what she says, or gives up at the sign of adversity.
“Get ready for your FINAL 30-second all-out!” Our instructor yelled.
“3, 2, 1….ALL-OUT!”
I pressed the 10mph, then bumped to a 10.1, just to see if I could.
I watched the time on my tread.
“Okay, only 15 more seconds…”
“Yes, last 5 seconds…I can do this!”
Until our instructor shouted…
“You know what, you’ve already gone for 30 seconds, let’s make it a full 60!”
“NO!” I almost shouted out loud, if not for my heart rate now creeping into the “red” zone.
But, there was no stopping now. I’m not going to be the person to turn off my tread and walk for the last 30 seconds. No way!
“FINISH!” I told myself.
Sweat was flying off of me, my legs felt like they could give out.
Then, the sweet sound of
“3, 2, 1…shut it down”
Done.
I did it. And I surprised myself. My body was able to do double what my mind told me I could.
I flew through the rest of the day feeling awesome.
I had the endorphins pumping, of course.
But I also had proof. Proof that I can do more than the limits that I put on myself.
This is one the of reasons I love fitness.
Over the years, my forms of exercise have changed with the seasons, schedules, and my interests.
But whether it’s half-marathon training, swimming, yoga, CrossFit, Orangetheory, or just getting outside and hiking, the result is still the same.
Exercise pushes me to my limits, then creates new ones.
It’s a constant cycle of breaking barriers, challenging what I thought I was capable of, and improving my physical and mental health in the process.
It lends perfectly to what I strive to do in other areas of my life.
In my profession. In my goals to improve as a leader, wife, and mother. In the beginning stages of a business.
In all of these areas of my life, I have put “limits” myself. The inner voice that tells me I’m not doing something right, that I messed up, or that I won’t be able to achieve what others have.
Physically pushing myself past these limits on a daily basis proves to myself that I can break limits.
I get to look into the eye of the beast. The beast that holds me back from being my best self. And every time I tell it to back down, I get stronger.
I will always commit and prioritize exercise in my life.
My mind, body, business, and relationships depend on it!
#DaringlyResilient
#MindfullyEvolving
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