Has your workout lost some of its passion… have you lost some of your fire? You might be separating your body from your soul.
When it comes to fitness, if your routine is just about sets and reps, you can get lost in an emotionless routine and will find it harder to stay fit because you will just be sweating… but without passion. To make fitness a real part of your life, you need to make a connection that requires both your BODY and SOUL. Because if it connects with you emotionally and spiritually, you will do it with passion, you will do it more often, and it will change your life…every day.
Between family and work obligations, do you find it hard to see yourself as the individual you are? Has doing things out of duty turned your fitness routine into a “duty” leaving you exhausted instead of energized after a workout?
It’s time to make a deeper connection. I always say “getting fit is hard…staying fit is harder.” To stay fit, you have to have a real connection to what your body is doing or you won’t stick to it. It’s not enough to “just workout” if you want to make this a part of your life for the long haul. Today I want you to figure out what your soul is attracted to when it comes to fitness.
The type of connection and attraction I’m talking about is like falling in love…it will energize you, you will feel you’re a part of it, invested, and that the other person is to. That’s the kind of passion you can create for fitness: going beyond the workout to have an EXPERIENCE.
Beyond the Sweat
You can find exercise routines anywhere: from gyms, to the internet, to the best and worst personal trainer. And when you get fixed on doing the same sets and reps, it’s easy to lose the emotion and the experience. So how do you go beyond?
Movement. Music. Mantra.
When I integrate the right movement, music, and mantra, I have a spiritual experience. It frees from my problems, my stress, my pain. It’s my salvation…it’s my ‘medicine’. You can tell because my head will be bowed and my fist will be pumping.
The music hits me emotionally, I get goose bumps and my body has to move.
The movement gives me a physical outlet for the emotion pouring out of me and connects my body and my mind.
Then finally, the mantra or the message starts to echo inside of me…it inspires me, it gives me something to reach for, and brings clarity to why I am doing this.
I can feel the ascension begin and the connection between my body, mind and soul.
One of my passions is Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that incorporates fluid movements, beautiful music, and inspiring meanings and mantras. There is so much to capoeira beyond the martial art; the unforgettable people and mentors, the Portuguese language, the Brazilian culture, the musical instruments, the singing… capoeira goes beyond the sweat and feeds a part of my soul. Another passion of mine is spinning. The right music matched with the physical act of climbing, cruising, and everything in between, creates an energy in the room that hits me in my gut and makes me feel alive. These feelings create the mantras and messages I give to my students… and myself. It’s powerful and has changed my life.
You can’t get a fitness “experience” on a piece of paper. It’s about being vulnerable, digging deep, and investing your mind, body, and soul into what you’re doing. It’s the commitment that gives you more than you imagined. And the more you give, the more you get.
What’s your fitness PASSION? Let me know in the comments below.
Time is precious…So is your body. If you’re ready to start SWEATING WITH SOUL, then join the tribe of people doing my workouts, seeing results and transforming from the inside out in just 20 minutes a day!
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Thank you Veronica!
Sweating with Soul is my favorite way to sweat! I’m glad you get to experience that as well…many people just do fitness for aesthetics and I don’t think they get the true value it can offer. The Brazilian martial art/dance I train in, Capoeira, is the best way for me to sweat with soul. It’s also one of the best bodyweight forms of exercise I’ve ever found. Not sure if you’ve ever tried capoeira or what types of bodyweight training you do, but I just released my new program the 20 Minute Body that has all 20-minute bodyweight HIIT workouts, including capoeira, as well as 20-minute healthy recipes. You can check out some of the workouts at 20minutebody.com. Keep walking your talk and keep sweating with soul! Brett
I just started doing more yoga myself for the exact same reasons. I actually could not squat all the way down without losing my balance when I started. The weight training and kettle bell training I do as well, is a good balance because I like feeling the resistance of the weights to push against and control. It’s much different than cardio training or stretching, but it’s all part of a holistic training approach and as you said…staying young! I also like doing my martial art of capoeira because bodyweight training is one of my favorite forms of exercise…there’s a freedom to it. Not sure what types of bodyweight training you do or if you’ve ever tried capoeira, but I just released my new program the 20 Minute Body. It’s all 20 minute bodyweight HIIT workouts, including capoeira, as well as 20 minute healthy recipes. You can see some of the workouts at http://www.20minutebody.com. Good luck with your training and keep walking your talk! Brett
Thank you Adell! I have more posts coming soon, but I’ve been busy working on my new program the 20 Minute Body…it’s all 20 minute bodyweight HIIT workouts and 20 minute healthy recipes. I just launched my new book that has a lot more of my philosophy and approach toward fitness and life. It’s been busy, but very grateful to share the new program with you. I’d be honored if you took a look and shared any thoughts about it. Please visit http://www.20minutebody.com. Brett
Hey Robyn!
Thank you for being a part of my RevAbs program and congrats on doing so well in it…makes me proud 🙂 I glad you paid your dues with me for all 90-days in RevAbs and also got to see me on The Biggest Loser. I get the feeling you are someone that pays it forward to help inspire others. I always say, if you want to be inspired…go out and inspire someone else and it will come back to you tenfold. It would be great if you wanted to share your results, my team is always looking for people to help promote that have paid their dues and gotten great results. We know that will help inspire others to do the same. If you want to share your results and/or before/after photos, please post them to my Brett Hoebel Facebook page or email us at SuccessStories@20minutebody.com.
My new program just launched called the 20 Minute Body. It’s all 20 minute bodyweight HIIT workouts and 20 minute healthy recipes. If you like RevAbs, I know you will like this program as well. Please visit 20minutebody.com. See you in the REVzone soon 😉 Brett
I hope your Pilates classes are still going well and you have continued your percussion style teaching with Hip Hop. When I teach class I always use my voice like a percussion instrument and has definitely help create a signature experience with my classes. I like how you’ve connected you movement to the breath…that’s key with all the sports you’ve done. As a trainer and Pilates instructor I’m sure you do a lot of bodyweight training. If you get a chance, take a look at my new bodyweight HIIT program, the 20 Minute Body. It’s all 20 minute workouts and 20 minute recipes. I always appreciate when other fitness professionals get to experience my programs and give their thoughts. Brett
Hello I just want to say thank you!! I have been doing your Rev Abs program for over a year…I am in the best shspe ever…Brett you have truely been an inspiration to me almost everyday!!. I feel that you have been my personal trainer for that I’m grateful 🙂 I watched the season of the Biggest Loser and you were great then too. I have always watched that show because its amazing what you all do for people ..so it was to see it was you and your program when after my friend talked me into buying the Rev Abs.
So I do hope you get this and thanks again looking forward to the text one!!!
Robyn
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate your efforts
and I will be waiting for your further write ups thank you once again.
Pushing myself in general physically connects me to my center. When I swam a race in the Hudson River it was surreal. But the actual stroke, and the glide, connected me to me heart and my breath. It’s a “moving meditation” is the term.
When you are cross country skiing, it is similar to swimming, because you have that push off and glide. And your stride is coordinated through your breath. Same when I rowed crew. So it was very similar to swimming in the Hudson. When I was only in 7th grade,I got a silver medal in the Canadian National Marathon, but I was on a team with three other girls, so when they added our millage and adjusted it for our age, we ended up with a silver medal. So it was just me and the trees, actually one of the last people still in the race (I missed the award ceremony) in some national park in Ontario, but very connected to something bigger.
Its being in tune with the “heart beat of the world” in a way, because you feel like you are only a small part of something much bigger.
So fast forward to now, being a Pilates teacher, a mom and a trainer, what does it for me is Hip Hop. There is a darkness to Hip Hop that reminds me to accept the world, good and bad, and that it is OK to just be who you really are because things are exactly as they are supposed to be.
Which is also why I have percussion my Pilates classes, the drum beat pushes you to work from your center and connects the movement to something higher. And it also shows me that I have limits and I am only human.
Yoga is my very important workout. It releases tightness, stress of my body and mind.
My body needs to stretch constantly to avoid joint pains. When I started to take yoga classes, I could not kneel. Then I started weight training including kettle bell. I felt good to swing and snatch the bell. I remembered I had liked to leap when doing the broad jump long time ago. As long as I keep working out, I don’t feel much joint pains.
Recently, I started jump rope. I like to jump by closing eyes so that I can concentrate on jumping without thinking anything.
I was not a native athlete, but exercise is now necessary for my life to keep me stronger from aging!
Stated so well! I cannot believe how eye to eye I saw this article with your vision. Everything you wrote strikes me the same way. Music definitely touches my soul and it’s a feeling I can’t explain to anyone. I’ve tried and no one gets it, unless it happens to them too.
My othrt passion in fitness is to inspire others. I love when people see me happy and energenetic and want a piece of that. So, they start out by asking what I do day to day…then they come back and ask for suggestions…then eventually they are carrying that same glow. I love impacting others in a positive way, spreading the love and taking part in starting a confidence and healthy trend…even if it is small scale.
Great article!