Body - Heidi Powell

DAY 1 - BODY

Your body is not Amazon Prime—there isn't a 2-day fix.

I’ve boiled down this training to the most effective and empowering strategies, lessons that focus on loving, developing, and strengthening your body.

Sneak Peek of Day 1’s Agenda:

2 essential daily practices to feel healthier and more comfortable in your own skin.
The magic formula that will change the way you see yourself in the mirror… cue more confidence.

Read the full video transcription:

Get the idea of changing your body out of your mind. This isn’t about weight loss, it’s not about flexibility, it’s not even about looking good in a swimsuit.

If we set out with that intention, then we’ll just be disappointed when the results don’t come immediately. Again, your body’s not Amazon Prime. I hate to say it, but it’s not gonna’ arrive in 2 days or 5 days.

So, if you get the idea of changing your body out of your thought pattern, then how should you think about your body? That’s the question.

Read The Entire Transcription

‍Focus on wellness, not fitness, to reach your optimal health.

Or in other words, just focus on being healthy. Focus on feeling great instead of some vision of “fitness” or some number on the scale.

Because the truth is there is no magic number, there’s no number on the scale or size on the clothing rack that will make you love and accept your body. And I know It’s hard to believe. But I think it’s important to share with you that even though this is what I do for a living, I still struggle with body image issues, I struggle with negative thoughts, and I struggle finding motivation to go to the gym too. I know, it’s hard to believe.

So, if you’re stuck in a pattern of negative thoughts, here is the magic formula to change your perspective. It’s just one word, and it’s gratitude.

When I have a negative—or what we call “lack”—thought, when those things creep into my mind, I have to remind myself of every single thing I have done right—what I have to be grateful for: I am healthy. I have a functioning body. I am able to go to the gym. I’ve had four babies. I’m recovering now from injury, faster than I was before. And you have to find those things too that you appreciate about your body right now.

Wellness is about learning how to love and appreciate the process more than the destination. Love where you’re at right now.

Download Today's Worksheet:

Here's today's challenge:

List 5 things—five—that you love and appreciate about your body.

Once you have these 5 things written down on your worksheet, I want you to try reviewing this list every single day as a part of your morning routine. I promise you it will improve your body image and your self-love over time.

Here's today's Affirmation

My body deserves to be treated with love and respect, and I am enough exactly as I am.

Here is the complete schedule.

‍BONUS POINTS: REPEAT TODAY’S AFFIRMATION TO YOURSELF OVER AND OVER AS YOU COMPLETE YOUR 5-MINUTE ROUTINE!

This combination of a mental shift and physical activity is a truly holistic approach that will really make these ideas stick for you.

Today’s workout:

Day 1 has arrived, and we are ready for my first 5-minute workout challenge followed by all the other challenges we’re going to talk about.

Guys, all I need of your time today is just five minutes.

Let’s first talk about the workout challenge:

All right. Slow and steady, we’re going to start this off easy. Now, keep in mind before I give you the workout:

The workout was actually created to totally scale to your ability level. So, if I give you this workout and you start to feel like, “This is just too difficult. I don’t know if my body can handle it,” trust me, you can.

And I’m going to teach you how to scale each of the moves either up or down, based on your ability levels.

Now, today we’re actually going to stick to three foundational movements.

We’re going to be doing push ups, swing ups, and air squats. Nice and simple.

We’re going to be doing a 5-minute challenge So, you set the timer for five minutes. You’re going to do as many rounds as possible of this little circuit as you can.

So, we’re going to be doing 5 push ups, 10 swing ups, and 15 air squats. Again, do as many rounds as possible in that five minute period of time. Now, if you get into this and you feel like you can only do two rounds in five minutes, that’s ok. Don’t even worry. Go at your own pace—you are here to push yourself. Don’t let anyone around you guide what pace you go out at.

Now, if you get into this and you’re like, “Heidi, this is such an easy workout.” Well, I’ll tell you this: You need to push yourself harder. You need to do more rounds because this workout, in and of itself, is difficult for even me and my husband Chris. It’s an intense workout. Push yourself. Pick up the pace.

Now, let’s talk about scaling each of the movements.

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Push ups:

A traditional push up is done on your hands on one end and toes on the other. Keeping that nice rigid body position.

If you need to, scale it. If five push ups are too many, or even eight push ups are too much, do not hesitate. Go ahead and drop to your knees and perform a push up there.

Now, if even that is too difficult, do what we call a baby up. Start at your hips. So, start lying completely on the ground, your hands next to your nipple line, and then push up keeping your hips on the floor. That’s what we call a baby up.

And it is the first move we have everyone do when they start on their transformation when coming from a sedentary lifestyle.

Swing ups:

Now, let’s talk about a swing up. A swing up is another word for a sit up. If you can do a full advanced swing up like I’m doing here, go for it.

However, if you need to just kind of go at your own pace, just go ahead and swing up using your arms, to create that momentum and touch as high up on your thighs as you can.

Wherever you are now, it’s more than ok.

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Squats:

Now, let’s talk about a squat. A traditional air squat is the way I’m doing it here where you have your feet shoulder width apart, toes pointed out, and you drop back and down with your butt and with your knees tracking over your toes.

If you cannot perform a squat with proper form, then I would love for you to scale down and go ahead and use a bench or a sofa or a chair to kind of support your weight as you sit down, and then push off of that sofa to stand up.

If that is too difficult, or if you have knee issues, I want you to go ahead and lie on the ground and do what we call a bridge up.

So, you’re still going to work those glutes and hamstrings, but you’re not going to put any pressure on your knees.

So, that is your workout for today.

I want you to challenge yourself. Push yourself, but also pace yourself because this might be the first time that you work out in a really long time.

Five minutes. I’m telling you.

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You may do the five minutes and want to keep going, and I am more than ok with that. Keep going after the five minutes. Try this for ten.
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But, when you complete the entire five minutes, give yourself a huge pat on the back because you just did more today than you have done yesterday. So, good job on that.