PUSHING YOUR LIMITS

Think you’ve hit your ceiling? You haven’t, I promise. I know that many of you are completing the January Program this week...congrats!  Have you noticed that you've pushed yourself and have become stronger, or maybe you're still modifying and doing your push-ups on your knees after 3-4 reps? If you have pushed, have you noticed that your body has changed?   

Most women come to SLB with the desire to change their body and become the best version of themselves.  When developing new workouts, my main goal is to increase your lean muscle mass, keep you interested and make you happy so that you can push yourself to become your most powerful.

We focus on increasing your lean muscle mass because that is a major catalyst in decreasing overall fat. We achieve this through cardiovascular resistance training via Cardio-Cheer-Sculpting. And boy, does it hurt at times. Have you ever heard the saying, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger?” At SLB, most of you learn how to push through your (good) pain and allow it to help you gain strength and earn the physical and mental results that you're striving for. 

Many of you become frustrated, or stop when an exercise becomes painful – not injury pain, but the burn that occurs when you are fatiguing your muscles. Tbh, you can’t find your limits without testing them, and you can’t test them unless you’re willing to push through the good pain. If you can breathe and you’re not injured, then you’re absolutely fine to keep going. Don’t have heart rate anxiety. Breathe through the uncomfortable, because it's at that exact moment when you're creating changes in your body. 

If you never change your diet for the better and do the same workout everyday (with the same modifications) and never push through the burn or leave your “comfort zone," you will never see change. So, in light of completing the January Program this week, make it your goal to channel that pain and strive to get in that near perfect breakdown, one more set, OR - hold that half plank for one more rep.

Here are some simple mental tips that work help you push through your workout:

Break it up. Think about tackling the workout in smaller increments. Cutting the full length into two, 25-minute halves is a lot less daunting and you won’t have that pit of dread that usually starts brewing long before you press play.

Stop watching the numbers Be present! It isn’t all about the numbers. Just like a watched pot never boils, staying fixated on reps, how many minutes you have left or how many calories your burning will only make the time pass more slowly, and will keep you from ever getting fully mentally “in the zone.” If it’s a hard habit to break, put a piece of tape over the time counter on your screen or your HR monitor.

Go beyond aesthetics Sure, having a killer bod is an incredible side effect of SLB, but for a lot people, “wanting to look amazing” isn’t something that they’re actually emotionally connected to. I’ve found that thinking about strength is more powerful when you’re trying to power through a plateau.

Know your why I say it all the time, but it’s so important to know and connect with your true north and set goals.

Really feel it Find something you enjoy about what you’re doing. I always like to feel like I’m punching above my weight. You’re doing SLB because on some (sick, masochistic) level, you enjoy it, right? Remember what you “like” about it so you enjoy the sensation of building muscle rather than just thinking of it as just a painful experience.

Be grateful for the body and mind that allows you to move When I teach live and our hearts are in our throats I always remind people what a privilege it is that they can move. It’s easy to forget that working out is a gift. Some people have physical limitations that prevent them from being able to move so be mindful that you are lucky you get to do 100 squats and lunges today!

LAUREN BOGGI'S AT-HOME FITNESS STORY

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my mom and I exercising in our basement.  Everyday she would head down the steps to break a sweat and I would follow her.  If I close my eyes and focus I can still recall the smell of the room, feel the cool humidity in the air and the way the thick striped exercise mat felt against my back.  After a few minutes of stretching, These Dreams would quickly become interrupted by Jane Fonda opening with, "Are you ready for a workout!?"

From the time I was six until about nine, I would mostly watch, and make my mom laugh by repeating every word of Jane's Original Workout, Tamilee Webb's Buns of Steel and all of the Aerobisize videos (obsessed), while she pushed herself to the absolute limit.  By the time I was fifteen, I was down there on my own and that's when my love affair with fitness really began to take shape. 

Fast forward to the summer before my freshman year of college.  I was scouted and received an invite to tryout for the SEC Division 1A University of South Carolina coed cheer team (and would win a full scholarship if I made it).  I had six weeks to get into the best shape of my life.  I needed: The body, serious athletic endurance, a six minute mile at minimim, a back handspring, a back tuck, a layout, stellar jumps, to stunt really well as a flyer (I was always a base) and dance really, really well.  And you know, the ‘it’ factor. Sure, I was captain of my high school squad, and an NCA All Star so I was far better than most, but I needed to be better than 600 or so other young athletes from the south who had spent their entire lives training for this and working at a much higher level than I had for the past ten years in the northeast. 

So I did what I knew always worked.  I headed down to my basement studio and sweat my ass off everyday.  I danced, did circuit training, lifted weights, and did exercise videos.  I measured myself, and studied my movements in the mirror in my sports bra and underwear.  As I gained strength and confidence, I watched lean muscle take the place of fat.  I never once thought that what I was doing was inferior, less effective, or an "at-home exercise program."  I was training, and I was training HARD. 

Back then fitness studios didn't exist and gyms were filled with "weird" weight lifters and cheesy group step classes.  Home was where I broke a sweat; where I could focus on me and work as hard as I possibly could without anyone watching. 

Even long after my cheer career ended, and I ran fitness studios (Lithe Method) for eleven years, I never stopped training at home.  In fact, I worked out entirely at home throughout my pregnancy and about three quarters of my workouts were at home while I operated Lithe. 

I'm a fitness expert and I love a really great studio experience, but there are many advantages to sweating at home.  The hardest part is getting started.  You really don't need to go anywhere or pay a lot of money to get an amazing, top-notch workout. A few benefits of at-home fitness and Studio LB: 

Home = habit
You're already there.  You can create consistency and habit without going anywhere.  There's a real honest truth to training at home.  It's you against you.  You're stripped of excuses, so the only thing that's stopping you is YOU.  Find your strength and become stronger than your strongest excuse. 

Studio LB = quality over quantity
Studio LB Streaming gives you two new 50-minute workouts and two, Under 30 minute Quick Burns every week. My expert programming is indispensable for achieving an athletes body and is next to impossible to imitate or achieve in a studio setting (I tried for years). 

I'm a big believer in quality over quantity.  I train you rather than have you be in charge of programming your weekly workouts.  Why?  Because you'll end up doing what you like vs. what you really need and may create muscle imbalances.  Many people think that they want access to hundreds of workouts all the time vs. three-four new workouts each week, but the reality is, most people will become comfortable and do the same three workouts on repeat.

Home = fits your life
Group exercise is fun and can be performative for some, but 99% of people tend to hold back in a group setting without even realizing it.  They often hide out in the back row (trainer can't see you), workout in layers of baggy clothing (same, and you can't see you), rarely look at themselves in a mirror (zero connection), or grunt (break through and push it!).  Studios certainly have a more social quality than your home can offer, but hear me loud and clear... Being social does not make your workout effective. Often, the opposite is true! 

Home = freedom
In a group setting, your time spent resting or doing is largely determined by what I call the middle (other people) in class as is your choice of exercises. Unless you're taking a private session, your instructor is also teaching to the middle.  At home, you're free to work at your level without group water breaks.  And, you can take Studio LB wherever you go. 

Home = the results you truly desire
To get the results you really want, fitness must not be taken lightly.  Most studio members are not in that mindset.  They focus on the fun, social aspects of exercising with other people, rather than focusing on their own body and the effectiveness of the workout. 

Home = safe space
When you're in your home, magic can happen if you allow it to.  You're in your safest space, so push yourself as hard and as much as you want to.  Nobody is watching.  I think that you'll find that it leads to your most productive workout.

Xx
Lauren