Kimberly recently chatted with Coach James about how she came to CrossFit Jungle Gym two and a half years ago for a better lifestyle, how she stayed motivated to workout during quarantine and what she wants to accomplish next.
Introduce Yourself
Hi I’m Kimberly Cerasi – I turned 50 today.
What brought you to CrossFit Jungle Gym?
Just a better lifestyle, I tried all these different workouts and you stick with it for a couple months, and kind of fall off of it. I needed something to kick my butt and get in shape. Two and a half years later and I’m still here – must be doing something right.
Tell us about some of your successes over the last 90(ish) days
That was tough, especially going into quarantine and not getting the push from class. I promised myself I got too far where I was, I lost a lot of weight, I got strong. I pushed myself, I woke up Monday – Friday everyday at 6am and did the workout then started work. I did it every morning.
What was your most recent sign of progress?
There’s a couple, power cleans, for sure. We mentioned right before I was at 60#/65# I wanted to get to 75# I can now do 90#/95#, even if its a 1 rep max. Backsquats, we did it from the rig one day because there was only four of us and even though I was at 130# before I left, I got to 115# which I’m proud of, especially for not doing them at home. Also, deadlifts – I can still lift heavy, it feels good.
What was the biggest obstacle we helped you overcome over the past 90+ days?
Oh, it goes back to quarentine, the fact that you guys did the videos and kept us in check. Getting the messages from (Coach James) every night, “ok this is what I want to see” and then a little reminder the next day asking how’d it go? It was always like, if I missed a workout, I have to tell him(Coach James) why and that wasn’t going to happen – I’m not making excuses.
What are you looking to accomplish in the next 90 days?
I still want to increase my power clean, my goal is to get over 100#’s. My deadlift, I want to get back past the 130#, getting to 200#’s would be awesome, that seems kind of a stretch. My backsquat’s getting to the weight I was at before and heavier. I was at 130# before so heavier than that.
There is a Kimberly sitting at home watching this video, shes in the same shoes that you are in – what do you say to this Kimberly sitting at home?
You have come so far in the last two and a half years and there is so much more in you. So keep going – you can do it.
How do I get and stay motivated? Getting motivated and staying is one of the most important things you’ll need to have success in fitness. To get and stay motivated you’ll have to have some emotional connection to succeeding at your goal. Almost every time somebody that comes here for their No Sweat Intro there has been some life event that said “Hey it’s time to take action now or there’s gonna be problems later”.
Examples of Emotional Why’s
“I need to take care of my child. I’m realizing I’m not physically able to do that in the way that I could a couple years ago. If we keep going on the same track I’m not going to be able to take care of my child the way that he or she needs”. Now, whether your childs care is running around the yard playing with them and giving them a happy life in that regard. Or it’s they have some special needs and you need to physically carry them from wheelchair to the toilet for example. Those things require some physical skills that you’re emotionally attached to.
Busy People
Maybe you’re a really busy person. You own a business and you don’t have time. You haven’t had time to exercise for the last five years and now all the sudden go to the doctor and your cholesterol is really high. Now you’re saying “I’m borderline diabetic and holy crap! I need to do something and I need to do something fast! Or all of that work that I just did on my business for the last five years is going to be worth nothing because I won’t be around to enjoy it”.
6 Pack Abs
If you want six-pack abs… just to pick up chicks. You’ve got to create some emotional connection to that. Do you really want six pack abs? Or is it because you want to pick up a chick and you think six pack abs will help? If you’re wanting to pick up girls you don’t actually want six-pack abs you wanna be able to pick up girls (2 different goals) maybe all you really need is confidence. Either way you’ll need to connect an emotion strong enough to overcome the why not’s that stand between you and your goal. Maybe you just want to look good, so you feel confident, so that you can find your life’s love and live happily ever after.
The hardest part is we need to make connection emotionally with why we want to accomplish any of our fitness related goals. If you don’t have an emotional connection, it’s going to be very very difficult for you to stay motivated for any reason. You need to keep the emotional reason at the forefront of your mind of why you want success and a coach will help you do that.
Staying Motivated
Making Progress
Staying motivated for any real length of time is going to require progress towards the goal. So first you must have an objective measurement of what progress will look like. Then you have to recognize progress when you’re making it. Finally you have to celebrate it. In order to celebrate it you have to recognize it. In order to recognize it you have to measure it. One of the great things about what we do here at CrossFit Jungle Gym is we take measurements, we have benchmarks, and we celebrate wins daily (PR board), weekly (Bright Spots Friday) and quarterly (goal setting sessions).
Seeing Progress
This is built into the service we provide… you can achieve on your own using the same framework. Setting objective goals, measuring them, observing progress and celebrating are built into our service. To continue to have results, this process is ultra important. What’s awesome is if you can see minor little things on day one you’ll build more and more motivation.
Celebrating Progress
An example… “I learned to squat without knee pain and that’s the first time I ever squatted without any pain”. That’s that’s huge, it might seem like a really small milestone but it is a milestone and we should recognize and celebrate that win. All movement in the right direction should be celebrated. We’ve had people who’ve been unable to do daily activities without pain for 40 years. They tend to celebrate these small things more readily. Progress is what helps keep you motivated and any forward progress is better than regression, which is what you’re doing if you aren’t progressing.
Exponential Shift: Double wins
If we can get you to move a little bit instead just sitting at your desk and not doing any exercise for a week. By sitting you’re actually regressing. The gap between not doing anything and doing something or feeling a little bit better it’s widening. If we think about this gap over the course of a month it’s even wider. A year? Even wider! Now consider a daily 5 min walk… those little tiny small wins are actually double in comparison to doing nothing. Seeing that “small” progress and celebrating it… yes we’re celebrating over the first double under you did… it’s a big deal. It’s progress in the right direction.
Example: “I only lost one pound this week”… yeah and if you lost one pound every week for the next year we’re talking about 52 pounds. That is a great result! You have to celebrate them and you have to recognize them or they don’t really exist.
The Worst Enemy of Motivation
If you don’t measure, see or recognize your progress you’re going to end up being salty and mad. You’ll believe “I’m not getting where I want to go and I’m not getting there fast enough”. That’s the best way to become your own biggest enemy. When it comes to staying motivated and you have a body composition goal, measure the right metric. Then recognize progress… if you add one pound of lean body mass, that’s awesome. Then you lose one pound of body fat lost. You’ve made a 2lb swing in favor of better body composition. Though if you’re measuring (incorrectly) with body weight you’ll feel like you’ve made no progress. When in fact, your body composition has changed significantly it’s changed by two pounds.
The Power of Recognition
This stuff is incredibly powerful and you need to know that information in order to continue to recognize progress when it’s happening. This recognition is the difference is success and failure. Success equals motivation, it doesn’t happen the other way around. Motivation can only happen with success. When getting started you need to have a little bit of success. Then you get more motivated and then you have more success you have more success you get even more motivated. It keeps going like that, then the closer you get to a goal the more irresistible it becomes. Most goals have a lot of little steps that happen before the large goal is accomplished. So you have to recognize the little successes otherwise you will become unmotivated.
Not only does like celebrating those small wins keep you motivated it also keeps you happy. You realize that there’s progress being made and that’s the spice of life. To be happy and recognize improvements are being made big or small. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re getting better, you’re getting better. Every time you get better it’s an improvement on your life. Whether that’s in body composition, attitude or getting stronger. Recognize your progress. If you take one thing away from us ever… let it be that you recognize the positive in your life. Be grateful for it, don’t don’t miss out on the bright spots!
