Sometimes you just have to do the hard things.

Hello and happy Friday. I hope this day finds you well and happy. 

A few weeks ago I woke with a light bulb moment of clarity to simply do the hard thing. That was basically it. Try doing the hard things you don't want to see where it gets you.

I can't even specifically remember what morning it was, I want to say a Monday but I can not say for sure. My alarm went off and my head told me to try the hard things I didn't want to do and see what it got me. Without a moments hesitation I climbed out of bed and got to working on my goals. Every morning since I've woken up with the mantra of "do the hard thing" and I can't even begin to express the difference it has made! I'm accomplishing goals I've been working at for years. When I want to stop I remind myself to do the hard thing because its so worth it. I've increased my run distance, and my speed, strength and stability goals are being met and surpassed and can I just say confidence is being reigned in as I am walking around trying not to ooze all my bad ass-ness all over the place. I've encountered situations I would have missed had I quit instead of kept going and I can't imagine having missed out. 

"Doing the difficult things you've never done awakens the talents you never knew you had."

~Robin Sharma

What made this morning different then the others when I would hit snooze and roll over. I don't know. I REALLY wish I could tell you. I think it was just my time. My time to set a new pace for myself, dig deep and discover a new part of myself, my time for a change. Whatever it was, I am so thankful to have unleashed it and I hope your moment comes soon. Whatever you are facing I highly encourage you to do the hard thing and see where it gets you. 

Please believe....

 .... And handsome boy ...

Much Love

~Amy

#2016ofeverything

Happy Humpty Hump Day Friends

I hope you make the best of it!

Today marks day 2 of our 2016 of Everything Challenge.  

If you can't see it clearly, the goal is to complete 2016 of each exercise in 31 days. This was inspired by Jesse Itzler, author of Living with a Seal, which I highly recommend, especially if you are completing the challenge with us. I have already pulled some mental toughness to get through some push-ups from this book, you really won't regret this read!

So today is day 2 and I am already appreciating my efforts...hello arms!!!! How are you feeling?  Louder then my soreness is my pride in what I have already accomplished! I'm totally walking around feeling like a badass, if you're doing it I hope you are too!

I have been so excited to receive comments and messages from people committing to this challenge. I can't say how much I appreciate having teammates along for this ride. I am not going to lie its not going to be easy, but it's totally going to be worth it! 

This morning my daughter asked my how workout was, I replied;

"It was rough but I got closer to my goal time. I was actually on pace to reach it but the last 50 burpees really got me."

She gave me a completely blank stare, then we both threw our heads back and just laughed.

"Mom that's ridiculous, but good job!"

I'm looking forward to more crazy conversations and I'd love to hear yours and see your after pictures, #2016ofeverything .  It's not too late to join us, in fact I've already done the math for you. If you start today you need to complete 67.2 of each exercise daily for the rest of the month and you've got it! Now how exactly you do .2 of a burpee is up to you, but you've totally got this! Don't wish you had joined us, spend the rest of the month wishing you hadn't! 

Have a wonderful day friends!

~Amy

Visit us at SRL Fitness

2016 of Everything

Hello and Happy weekend! 

First I would just like to say thanks for stopping by and reading. I know you didn't have to and have lots of other choices, so thanks for choosing us! 

So 2016 Of Everything, Curious?

A few weeks ago I read a book, Living with a Seal, by Jesse Itzler, after my sister recommended it to me. I loved the book, I was inspired and motivated by the book in so many ways, and was so sad when it was over. So what does one do when they finish an inspiring book and want more? Read more books? Well yes! Literally I've maxed my library account out! But we also seek out the authors and inspiration on Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, ect, or where ever we can find them and connect or gain more information and knowledge. 

So I hopped on good ole' IG, Searched Jesse Itzler and 100mileman pops up. I scroll through his pics and I see this...

My first thought is, 'OH Game on!' I can totally do this! ( I feel I will be eating these words by at least mid March. ) So in 31 days I will do 2016 Squats, Burpees, Push-ups, Dips, and Sit-ups. 

But really who wants to do this all alone? No man is an island and all that good stuff. So I am recruiting you to join me. We kick this off Tuesday March 1st. I've got a handful of people committed and am hoping to add more to our crew. We can share in our accomplishments, struggles, pains, and success! 

Yes I know this sounds hard and I have already had several debates over which will be the worst. But  sometimes doing the hard thing is so worth it. Pushing yourself and seeing where you can get is such an adventure. I sincerely hope you will join us!

Something New

This was my thought this morning when my alarm clock went off.

 Well not exactly but almost. My actual thought was something along the lines of;

" Hey girl, you've tried rolling over and sleeping in, you know what that gets you. Why don't you try the other option and see where that takes you."

At 4:30 in the morning this was light bulb moment, jump your butt out of bed and get it girl! So I did and I feel amazing. 

I had an awesome workout! I mean kicked my butt, way to go, high five to me!!! 

I found myself pushing just a little harder this morning, because, 'well I am obviously already a bad ass, getting up and getting it done, I can totally push it harder.' 

That mind set it what had me squeezing out extra burpees at the end even though I already felt done. I am so proud of my effort and that I got up and got it done. 

Later while showering ( quickly before my arms quit working or my legs gave out ), I started thinking about those silly new years resolutions. 

How you doing with them? Have you successfully crossed any of them off? Making progress? Still working at? Are you finding the results you wanted? Of have they been forgotten?

My answers were a mixed bag. There were some yes's and no's to all of those questions. I also realized some of them have evolved or become mute. I've created a new list of goals and challenges for March. I am way excited to work towards their completion and incorporation into my life. Darn leap year with its 29 days in February!

I would love to share in some of these challenges with you and support you in yours. I have a challenge I will be sharing later this week that was inspired by one of my fitspirations and celebrates 2016! You know you want to do this with me! 

 But seriously, no matter if you join me in mine, or create a goal to work towards, let's get there together.

 Please comment below, on Facebook, Instagram, or you can email us Sistersreallifefitness@gmail.com  your goals ( when you know them ) and lets reach some new things together! 

~Amy

Barre Workouts from back in the day!

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Hello, ... if anyone is still out there....Yes I am aware I suck at this blogging thing, but I am always thinking about it. Things like, Hey slacker get back to blogging, Or lady who never blogs don't you think you should...you know things like that.

I have been busy working on lots of videos and hoping to bring some new ways to connect and workout with more of you....I'm not going to lie technology overwhelms me and baffles me but I'm working on it.

So in the process of working on videos, I looked through some old files and found some old gems of barre routines I use to teach in Richmond, VA.

Watching those routines brought back all the memories of the amazing friends who came and made the classes the wonderful memories they are. The laughs, sweat, groans, inappropriate comments, bonding, stretching, and growing we all experinced during those classes are memories I cherish and recall often. For sure those are some of my favorite good ole' days!

Many of those fabulous individuals  are currently snowed in,  so I thought I'd share a few of the videos so they can get up and move around a bit while they wait for the snow to melt. I am still ( very slowly ) uploading more videos to this playlist, so make sure to check back.

 Barre Workout Videos

If you were a part of those classes, thank you for all the wonderful memories and good times! Miss you all greatly. Have fun in the snow and then warm up with some of these!

Much Love

~Amy

Yoga for December

Greetings from my desk and a giant cup of coffee.  I hope this Monday morning finds you fabulous. 

I am extremely excited to bring you today's yoga salutation for our 31 days of Yoga.If you've been following along, we have a week under our belts ( or yoga pants ) now and my hope is that you are enjoying it. This challenge was started from the inspiration of one of my personal training clients. 

Looking for something to keep moving in the right direction while keeping it achievable for the month of December, when life seems to get completely out of hand. I knew I wanted something stretching or yoga based to bring us back to calm and rational human beings. Combined with many discussions we have had about exercising during commercial breaks when we were children, short salutations went off like a light bulb in my head.

If it hasn't been made obvious, I am an avid football fan. My family picks winners for every NFL game and I am the only one who cares, but I make them do it anyways. I am probably wearing my teams sweater at every given moment and most certainly have their knee socks on as I type this! ( Go Steelers! ) Stay with me I do have a point here....I typically commit to stretch for so much of the game, or hold a plank for a commercial break, or foam roll for 1 quarter, ect. I take the opportunity to not just sit on my butt but benefit my body while enjoying ( or screaming ) at a game. So with that thought in mind I thought of all the different flows of yoga I could complete during those breaks as well. Or during the commercial breaks of the wonderful Christmas movies we try to squeeze in with the family. 

So with that thought in mind #DecemberSalutations was born. Short yoga flows that can be completed once or several times through to bring a little calm, stretch and strength into your day and night. 

Now I am no yoga genius, but I know a little and am always learning and am happy to share what little I do know. I know many brilliant yogis ( is that a word? ) and would love and happily welcome any guest videos they want to share. But until they do you get to flow with me. 

After week 1 I thought it would be lovely to combine all the salutations we have completed into a longer flow, about 2 1/2 minutes, still easy to complete during a commercial break. So without further ado I give you Week 1 Yoga flow. I hope you enjoy!

Youtube

Have a wonderful week and join us on Instagram to see the daily #December Salutations.

~Amy

Visit us at: SRL Fitness

I've got your move for Monday!

Hello Beautiful! Happy Monday!

Here in the low country there is no sun to be seen only lots and lots and lots of rain. 

I'm rather happy I don't need to head downtown because from what I hear a boat would be the best way to traverse those roads. Perhaps we can all just imagine we've been transported to Venice and all our streets are made of water. I've always wanted to go to Venice perhaps this is my moment! 

Alright let's get on with our move for Monday. Sing it like Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5 and it sounds even cooler! 

So when I first got up this morning the only move I wanted to even think about doing was corps pose.

Try it, it's AMAZING you won't regret it!

However that's not really getting us up and moving now is it. 

So I decided to be influenced by this months Plank Challenge. Today I give you the Reverse Plank.

If you're following this challenge on Instagram or Facebook you know this was the challenge for yesterday, but I really wanted to discuss this one a little bit more. 

There are several options for this position and I personally find this plank one of the most challenging, ( However it should be noted I honestly think planks, ALL OF THEM, are one of the most challenging exercises ever! ) In my opinion between the 2 options shown above, I find the "Easier" option harder then the first, but give them a try and let me know what you think. 

This move requires LOTS of glute contraction, arm strength and core stability.

 Please make sure that you are not locking your elbows out or hyper-extending them. While I encourage you to push your limits and not give up at the first onset of fatigue. You also need to realize when form is suffering and make appropriate adjustments to keep your body safe.  If you are concerned with locking your elbows out you can always take the move down to the forearms. 

I spend the whole plank time concentrating on pushing my hips up  towards the ceiling as the arrow indicates so I don't start to sag in the mid section. 

Now for my people that think this is just way too easy. Try the Reverse Plank Flow. 

Rotating in and out of this position will not only provide a wonderful core exercise but have your triceps talking like WOW! I absolutely love this move!

Let's aim for 1 min.

 Pick your position or go for the flow.

 If you completed this plank yesterday. Try to add 10sec to your time.

Hope you enjoy my friends and would love to hear how much you enjoyed this move! 

Happy planking and happy Monday!

~Amy

Visit us at Sisters Real Life Fitness