@tigerlily27 Me too! Working out is my best defence against stress and anxiety.
Do any of you just NOT have defined goals?
- Thread starter mayne70
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- female fitness
@mayne70 Mine are always changing. I joined a rounders team which I love a lot, so I now do jogging once or twice a week on a rest day from weight lifting to improve stamina. I eat high protein balanced diet but do not count calories. For me right now my main goal is to stop binge eating (which is going well), build muscle, and find love for sport and exercise. Sometimes wider more general goals are just fine 
mommytoisabella
New member
chaosensues
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@mommytoisabella I absolutely love this mindset!
mommytoisabella
New member
@chaosensues if you want to hear this but in a more legible way, i learnt this concept from Emmanuel Acho's book Illogical (Chapter 11). But if you Google "Emmanuel Acho setting goals" you can here a smaller version of his take for free ))
(wishing i bought the kindle version and not the audible rn so i could just paste the content here)
))(wishing i bought the kindle version and not the audible rn so i could just paste the content here)
@mommytoisabella The no failure part is a definite bonus haha
@mayne70 Yeah, me. I started lifting to get a better butt, realized that my goals in that regard are kinda unobtainable and now I lift for the health and progress, but without specific numbers in mind. Might really be the age lol. One benefit of this is that I don't sweat it when I miss workouts, as long as over a longer period on average I get my once-a-week maintenance lifting session in - everything else is a bonus.
It's nice to exist in this state, so much less stress regarding my fitness.
It's nice to exist in this state, so much less stress regarding my fitness.
poormansprophet
New member
@mayne70 Sure. I lift because it’s my hobby. If studies came out tomorrow saying it would take years off my life, I’d keep doing it anyway. If I were getting massively bulky (I’m not), I’d still do it. It boosts my mood, mental clarity, and I like the feeling of my muscles purring after a workout. My goal is to simple: to keep lifting 4 days a week until I die.
@poormansprophet All the best !!!
heartofberries
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reasonwithme
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@heartofberries Ding ding ding! This is what I am here for. I know at my age that fitness is important, and if I want to live long I need to be active in ways that I enjoy. So I lift as big as I safely can, I train as regularly as possible, and I cross my fingers that I will live longer bc of it.
@heartofberries Same! And release stress and boost endorphins at the end of the day. I may not feel it happening on the daily but I know regular workout is helping achieve this and by that I am protecting my mental health .. I fear depression and anxiety creeping in, so working out is sort of taking care of the brain chemistry.
jesusislord4ever1968
New member
@heartofberries Love this!
@heartofberries This is me too - in the past I've struggled with motivation and consistency and so I dropped all specific measurement based goals and made my primary directive: be active in some way every day, have fun. And it's gone so much better, and while I'm not a muscled goddess, I'm also no longer in daily pain with multiple migraines a month from sitting at a desk all day for my job. Win-mutherfreakin-win!
heartofberries
New member
@heartofberries Thank you! I still get the migraines around my period, but it's really been a game changer to find some things that helped my posture and therefore tension in shoulders/neck! So funny, the things you get used to when they come on slow.
tenantfile
New member
@tenantfile I'm sorry to hear you are also dealing with migraines - they are the worst! I'd be happy to share. And I'm sorry this is really long, hopefully there's something useful for you!
My main issue was posture due to sitting at a desk. I was sticking my head out, and shoulders rounded forward. The main things I read about that needed fixing were increasing core strength, stretching out the chest and front of the shoulders, and strengthening the lats. For me, my chest and front shoulders were tight, which pulled my shoulders forward. Then my lats became weak and my traps took up the slack. It got so bad I couldn't do any kind of overhead lift because I would default to using my traps, which would cause tension in them and my neck, causing a migraine. I'm telling you this because it was specific to me, and if it sounds similar to what you're experiencing, then the exercises may help. If your situation sounds different, it might not help so much.
So now, what I did:
M W F:
core work (10-15 minute targeted), and gentle back and shoulder strengthening / stretching (15 -30 min)
T Th:
5x5 strong lifts, slow, very focused on form, especially core and lats.
In between sets, I do some of the arm stretches I learned.
And for a long time I replaced the overhead press with gentler lat strengthening exercises: downward dog, holding plank while pinching shoulder blades together and then pressing through shoulders (I'm not sure of the name of this move, but it's in one of the video names I'll share), dolphin press. I'm now doing overhead press with light dumbbells and getting no headache, so yay!
The M W F work is a bunch of videos I cycle through on the fitness app FitOn. It's free, just has annoying popup ads (no ads in the videos though). I have the videos I mention below favorited and then I just pick two or three to do in the morning. I modified a LOT on the ab workouts.
Abs: the instructor Kenta has a bunch of great ab routines that are easily scalable (for example, early on I kept my head on the ground and just used my legs for many of the movements, because crunching up the shoulders and neck was too intense and would trigger the tension for me). Names of some of his ab videos in no particular order: Crunch Time, OMG Abs, Ab Assassin, Hello Abs, etc - side note, Kenta is so cheery and excited, I enjoy his vibe haha.
Back and shoulder: the instructor Vytas has a couple great ones I cycle through. In order of preference they are titled Shoulder Stretcher, Perfect the Posture, Move Better. He probably has other ones but I've found the stretches and light strength work in the first two to almost directly address my issues gently and effectively.
And that's pretty much it. I will also say one of the best cues I've come across for shoulder posture related stuff is to imagine you are holding a piece of paper in your armpits and squeeze it. This naturally draws my shoulders away from my ears and from rolling forward as well as triggers lats instead of traps.
Sorry again it's so long, I hope it helps!
My main issue was posture due to sitting at a desk. I was sticking my head out, and shoulders rounded forward. The main things I read about that needed fixing were increasing core strength, stretching out the chest and front of the shoulders, and strengthening the lats. For me, my chest and front shoulders were tight, which pulled my shoulders forward. Then my lats became weak and my traps took up the slack. It got so bad I couldn't do any kind of overhead lift because I would default to using my traps, which would cause tension in them and my neck, causing a migraine. I'm telling you this because it was specific to me, and if it sounds similar to what you're experiencing, then the exercises may help. If your situation sounds different, it might not help so much.
So now, what I did:
M W F:
core work (10-15 minute targeted), and gentle back and shoulder strengthening / stretching (15 -30 min)
T Th:
5x5 strong lifts, slow, very focused on form, especially core and lats.
In between sets, I do some of the arm stretches I learned.
And for a long time I replaced the overhead press with gentler lat strengthening exercises: downward dog, holding plank while pinching shoulder blades together and then pressing through shoulders (I'm not sure of the name of this move, but it's in one of the video names I'll share), dolphin press. I'm now doing overhead press with light dumbbells and getting no headache, so yay!
The M W F work is a bunch of videos I cycle through on the fitness app FitOn. It's free, just has annoying popup ads (no ads in the videos though). I have the videos I mention below favorited and then I just pick two or three to do in the morning. I modified a LOT on the ab workouts.
Abs: the instructor Kenta has a bunch of great ab routines that are easily scalable (for example, early on I kept my head on the ground and just used my legs for many of the movements, because crunching up the shoulders and neck was too intense and would trigger the tension for me). Names of some of his ab videos in no particular order: Crunch Time, OMG Abs, Ab Assassin, Hello Abs, etc - side note, Kenta is so cheery and excited, I enjoy his vibe haha.
Back and shoulder: the instructor Vytas has a couple great ones I cycle through. In order of preference they are titled Shoulder Stretcher, Perfect the Posture, Move Better. He probably has other ones but I've found the stretches and light strength work in the first two to almost directly address my issues gently and effectively.
And that's pretty much it. I will also say one of the best cues I've come across for shoulder posture related stuff is to imagine you are holding a piece of paper in your armpits and squeeze it. This naturally draws my shoulders away from my ears and from rolling forward as well as triggers lats instead of traps.
Sorry again it's so long, I hope it helps!