The internet is aglow with images of tennis superstar Serena Williams, who currently graces the cover of New York Magazine.
To say her body is exquisite is an understatement; Serena has six-pack abs to die for.
Watch her play tennis, and you’ll shake your head in amazement at her athleticism.
What About The Rest Of Us?
Well, as for me, I cringe when I see what I call “my mushy middle.” I could certainly stand for a little less body fat and a lot more muscle.
I struggle with effective time management, and sometimes my gym time is sacrificed on the altar of blogging and podcasting time.
Le sigh.
I have my weeks of getting into the flow of carving out time for trips to Anytime Fitness; relentlessly pushing myself to get up and go; no excuses.
Something happens to throw me off my exercising game – let me correct that statement and take responsibility for my actions – I allow things to happen and thus throw me off my game.
Monday night was almost one such night, until I remembered the catch phrase and mantra of blogger Kawanda Lamb, a new friend I met at Podcast Movement 2015.
Her mantra?
Do It Anyway.
Kaywanda created these baby blue wristbands featuring the words #DoItAnyWay, and she gave me one when we met.
Monday night when I looked up from my laptop the clock read 9:15. Surely it was too late to go to the gym and be fresh the next day.
Of course I happened to be wearing the wristband darn it and my eyes fell on that hashtag.
#DoItAnyway
I got up, and I went.
And you know what? Once I pushed past the resistance and got in my car, I was fine. When I walked through the doors and got on the elliptical, I felt even better.
So, what’s the thing in your life you need to tell yourself, “Do it anyway?”
Go ahead and push past procrastination, push past negative self-talk, push past laziness – and do it anyway.
Join in the Fray: What’s the thing in your life you need to tell yourself, “Do it anyway?”
Kaywanda Lamb teaches single moms to do it anyway! To visit her blog, click here.
The Swirl World Team is committed to sharing 365 days of inspiration in 2015. Our goal is to help you stay motivated and inspired by bringing you positive, uplifting images and corresponding thoughts.
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Copyright ©2015 Michelle Matthews Calloway, ASwirlGirl™, The Swirl World™, The Swirl World Podcast™, The Swirl World Inspiration Daily™, Swirl Nation™, All rights reserved. Quotation photo property of The Swirl World™. Photo of Kaywanda Lamb used with permission.
Yep, being on an incline, stopped, going up, is the big test. Driving in San Francisco is like the GRE of stick shift driving.:-)
I checked my settings; the comments nest 10 deep. I’ll have to check to see if I can get that increased.
I had an “old school” teacher giving me driving lessons – preventing the car from going dead was one of the big lessons to learn, as was knowing what to do if you were stopped on an incline. That was the test of whether you had truly mastered the gears – if you knew how to shift and manage the gears quickly enough to move the car forward – and not roll back on the car behind you!
I see the message, but again it has no “reply” at the bottom.
So how do you know about the “car won’t go dead”?
Two thumbs up. love it! Indeed, if you roll the settings away from you, either L or H, you go into an easier gear. Away means fingers over the handle bars pointing away from you.
Jeff thanks for point that out – and let me know if you see this message. It means I need to adjust the settings for comments. *Now to find where that is in the dashboard . . . .*
And also if you do that “hit the gas let go of the clutch” thing correctly, the car won’t go dead . . . . (ask me how I know)!
Now those are biking gear rules I can remember! *Two thumbs up*
Replying to this one, since your latest has no reply button. What took longest was to get over shyness and really hit the gas when letting go of the clutch trying to get into first gear. That;s by far the hardest part to get, If you’re parked on an uphill. Use your parking brake, release it when you’ve let go of the clutch and are stepping on the gas. One really good thing: stick shifts slows down fast when you take your foot off the gas, your engine does a lot of the braking.
Re bike gears: the confusion is that for the front, smaller is easier, for the rear it’s the other way around. I am down to only one error a month or so.:-)
I’m glad to hear it took you a month! I was trying to learn in one session. LOL! I do ok as long as I’m on country roads without much traffic. I need to get to the point of mastering it so I can drive regardless of the setting. Funny you said you make errors when shifting your bike gears – one of my cousins has gotten into a couple of fender-benders because she forgot she was driving an automatic instead of a stick, and vice versus. Thankfully, nothing major and we’re able to laugh about it.
It was about this time of year many years ago that i first learned to drive a stick. Took a good month, lots of gear and tooth gnashing but it got done.:-) And i still make errors re bike gear shifting.
All of that makes sense yet I already know it will take some practice for me to get coordinated enough to remember that. Kinda like me trying to learn to drive a stick shift – I can GO just fine but don’t ask me to slow down and stop! Tee hee hee . . . .
And something else i forgot, i keep remembering little details. Some settings overlap. Numbering the rear ones 1-5 with 1 being the largest, and the front as L or H (low, high), the settings thus go from L1 to H5, but if you’re in L3, it makes more sense to go to H2 than to L4, L4 and L5 make little sense. The reason is that L lines up with 1, H with 5, and it’s not very efficient to have the chain too inclined, settings which keep it relatively straight are better. I tend to pretty much stay in L2,3, and H2,3 when in the city. Makes no sense to be in L if going downhill, unless you are anticipating imminent turning into an uphill. My bike has 6 settings in the rear and 3 up front, my bad, made an error earlier, the 3rd front setting is smaller than your L, is meant for big hills, lots of them here the further east one goes in town, our hills top out at 2000 feet.
Now you know what to do.:-) Like swimming, bike riding and walking/hiking get your entire body involved and coordinated. At least if you’re doing it right. For what it’s worth, i rarely use the highest gear combo, pretty much limited to a situation when you’re going down a big hill and are racing someone.
Ha! I’ve experienced both of those; very disconcerting to say the least.
I’ll have to try the different gears to see how it feels. I bike for leisure but I’d like to get better at it, if that makes sense. Even though I actually enjoy working out in the gym, a good walk (or stroll) or a good bike ride can’t be beat.
Forgot this key point. If your pedals are spinning like a runaway wheel, you;re in too low a gear. If they’re really struggling to go around, too high, though that’s real easy to pick up on, due to strain.
I know how you feel re temps. I grew up in New York, know all about hot, humid summers, though New York is a spa compared to the South.
Yep, that’s one my students got right.:-)
Gears should be selected based upon one’s comfort. Going uphill is good exercise, but if you do it in high gears you’re straining both yourself and your bike’;s gears. Small gear in front and big gear in rear is the easiest, (that would be the lowest setting) and vice versa. Go out and try them. BTW,not good to just use one gear, tends to wear it out faster. And use gear lubricant once in a while.
Yikes! That IS a bike-bike; I have no idea how to use rear gears or even how they work (can you tell I keep my 10-speed bike on one speed – the one it came on?? Lol!). My biking is limited to neighborhood streets and parks; riding on terrain would be a very interesting change and a good challenge. How cool for your students to get you a bike; to me that shows they really felt connected to you and knew what you would like and use.
Oh, for 80 degree temperatures . . . . . Le sigh. 🙂
For sure gym time is a useful antidote to chair time.:-)
I have a bike-bike, 3 front settings, 5 rear ones. it’s a mountain bike but i usually ride it in town, though there are lots of streets here that are as rough as trails, and lots and lots of hills, having extra low gears helps a lot. And it’s rarely real hot, we’re spoiled, we think it’s hot when it goes over 80. I got this bike as a gift from my students 21 years ago, excellent taste on they part. IF i’m going out in open space, i prefer to walk/hike through it vs riding a bike, which requires constant looking at the trail surface instead of what’s around me, though riding is a good way to get to lots of places where i like to hike.
All true! 🙂
Jeff, do you have what I call a “bike-bike,” or the old-fashioned kind (10-speed or less)? I’m just curious. I have the old fashioned kind (a 10-speed) and I enjoy riding, but a bike is useless for me in this Louisiana/Texas heat. I got a Fitbit as a gift in January and it’s helped me increase the amount of steps I take everyday. Natural activity is best; thankfully going to the gym helps me to reduce stress and fight off the effects of the number of chair-bound hours I spend at work and working on the podcast & blog.
Oh,, and i left out swimming, yoga, and if it can happen,(best within a relationship) good healthy sex
I don’t spend any time in a gym, and my body looks really good, proportions-wise, muscle tone, stamina,….. I get plenty of exercise riding my bike (like Serena apparently likes to do:-)), hiking, gardening (especially weeding), walking, and dancing hard (at least once a week). We evolved as a hunting-gathering species which often practices dancing rituals,, not as a chair-bound one, so engaging in our natural activity should help us maintain our bodies in excellent shape, barring some sort of medical/biological condition.