Faith, Fire, and Focus

Are you one of those people who just absolutely hates exercising?

I was one those people for long time. Exercising was hard and I found it boring. I never had the time, with working as full time teacher and student. Not only did I have to complete my own homework, but I still had to grade papers from my students. I made excuses left and right until I hit my rock bottom. I had gained 30 lbs and was very unhappy with myself.
When I started at Aerial Dance I strictly took pole classes and I absolutely love my pole classes! Recently I have been venturing out into the other fitness classes Aerial Dance has to offer. I have taken Vertical Barre, Pole Flow, Fabric Fit, Fabric Fun, and Aerial Conditioning.  Each class has something different to offer. I would really like to try Bendy Babe! I have not had the opportunity to take one yet :(.  For those of you who are new to Aerial Dance I have included a like to the page that describes each class. Here is the link https://aerialdancepoleexercise.com/classes/flexibility-conditioning-classes/
 
You will hear the instructors say time and time again that if you want to see more progress in your poling you need to take conditioning classes. In the last month that I have been taking more conditioning classes I have found that my upper body strength is growing even more than before! YAY for me! I never had muscle definition in my arms before, but now I am starting to see them!
The question I have for you is how do you go about finding your fitness? I can’t answer this questions for you, but these three steps helped me find mine.
 

1. Focus

Focus is setting goals and working towards them. As you begin an exercise journey you need to set goals. I am not talking about “get skinny in a week goals.” I am talking about setting obtainable goals. My first goal was to find a way to exercise that fit my life style and that I would stick with. Previous to Aerial Dance I worked at the YMCA in childcare. I had a free membership FREE, but guess what? I never went to exercise. As soon I was done with work my first thought was to get home. After leaving the YMCA to become a full time teacher in the Wisconsin Public School System. I absolutely regretted not taking advantage of the free membership.
After trying yoga, cycling, Zumba, and even at home exercising.  I found that I couldn’t to stay with any of these forms of exercise. This is when I finally put my insecurities aside of what people would think about attending Aerial Dance. I had found my place to accomplish my goal!
My goals now are to increase my strength and focus on practicing various pole poses, spins, and inverts. The great thing about my goals is that they are continuous. I am not beating myself up over not getting a move on the first try or feeling defeated because I do not have Superwoman strength. I have seen so many changes in my body composition and mind set after beginning to exercise. I continue to use my focus to push myself further. What will be your focus?
 

2. Fire

This is not like the fire you sit around on a beautiful summer night. This fire is finding motivation to reach your goals. This can be extremely difficult. We all have those days where we don’t want to roll out of bed. In order to meet your goals you have to be intrinsically motivated. No one is going to keep you accountable but yourself. Of course there will be people to cheer you on along that way and this will help motivate you some and pick you up on days when you fire is burning small. When you are lacking motivation, I find that best way to re-motivate myself is to think about the progress I have made and the goals I have met! I like to do this by taking pictures of my progress not matter how small.
 

3.  Faith

Lastly you need to have faith in yourself that you can and will accomplish your goals! Each small goal that you meet is a stepping stone towards your big picture goals. As I started my journey I did not have very much faith in myself. I had a lot of negative self-talk going on and it was not helping my focus. Taking time for myself, reflecting, meditating, and speaking with my fitness instructors helps me restore my faith in myself. This helped restore my fire and my focus to meet my goals. The picture below is a evidence the my Faith, Fire, and Focus are keeping me on track to meeting my goals.
 

 
At the beginning of my journey, my goal was not to lose weight. My goals were to find myself again, but this time I wanted to find a better version of myself, I wanted to become healthy, build strength, and minimize negative self-talk. I am very proud of my journey thus far, but I know I am still in the beginning and have a long road ahead. There will be bumps and I am ready to overcome them.
 
Remember that you need to keep your FAITH, your FIRE, your FOCUS and you will accomplish your goals!