What does fitness mean to you? #BeMoreHuman by Reebok

With my re-evaluation of fitness I have been really thinking about what fitness means to each person. Serendipitously, I recently received an email request to share Reebok's #BeMoreHuman message with all my Flexines, and I had to smile at the included graphic (below). I received compensation in exchange for this post but honestly how could I not share it regardless!



I wish I had known Reebok was going to have such a great commercial (read: containing a pole reference) so I would have thought to tune into the Superbowl for once--if it does not have figure skating or pole dance, the sporting event is wasted on me. I immediately thought of all the sporty pole dancers out there but as I clicked on I discovered a bit more.



You can take the HUMAN SCORE test from Reebok and find out a bit about your own fitness motivation and goals. It asks you to choose between two options, much like those Facebook quizzes to find out which movie character you are, and gives you a score at the end. I fully expected to get a score that matched a couch potato but instead I got this:

The description reads, "Brain Buffs do more than keep their bodies fit - they actively work to regularly challenge themselves to think big thoughts way outside the box. And they are rigorous thinkers inclined to do their own research." As it turns out, I do feel that fitness is an intellectual pursuit for me. It got me thinking about how much that means to me, and how special it is that I can engage so many sides of myself through pole fitness and a new fitness pursuit I am planning to share with you all soon. This multi-faceted quality of fitness is what keeps me going, both in fitness itself and outside of it.

What about you, what were your results?

How I Accidentally Ran 5K | Coping Skills for Anxiety

A few months ago I almost posted this--a post about anxiety and being cut short--only to be interrupted again. This blog is dear to me and I hate to put in the 25% that I have the time to so... that day I put in that 25% and waited for the perfect opportunity to finish. Fall became winter while I added "tomorrows" to my self-imposed due dates--until I read a post that put a spark back into me. Alex Beadon posted about overcoming your fears and I realized that I need to post this NOW in its current state of imperfection. I am not the only one out there struggling with schedule demands, anxiety, or recurring perfectionist issues so if you have been there or are right there with me now I hope this will kindle your spark, too:

Run, run, run.

Crunching to a stop in front of my house I had no idea just how far I'd run, but I knew it was far more than the short circuit I had planned. It's life or death for me. My fitness loves keep me sane and safe and this time was no example--I laced up because too many days had passed me by without being able to type a sentence, do a pole climb, or read a chapter. One grey moment strings to the next and I found myself drowning in doubts, analysis paralysis.... anxiety.

So I ran. The treadmill or my pole room have become snazzy clothes racks--I get as far as the warm up and then sweetest baby cries or the stupid phone rings or I remember to go find freelance work before that bill is due. Outside there is the crunch of fall leaves, the night sky unfolding into infinity, and lung-fulls of  autumn magic.

There is nothing for feeling alive quite like an autumnal run.

If you could ever fall in love with the endorphin high of running it will happen by steps. Turn on your favorite song for moving until you have to get up and just go for a block. This block melts into the next and at a steady pace you forget that you could ever live still in one spot. Drink the air, the sparkling stars, the beat of your heart and your steps running into one, until you move because there is music and not to reach a destination or check off a distance. Fitness is a lifeline to finding yourself again and it re-connects you to your heartbeat, your thoughts, and your inner self.

The next thing I knew I had run to the library and back--a distance I looked up and, sure enough... I accidentally ran 5K. It is truly magic what you can do when you let it just happen.

Getting past fear

It is and it is not true that I do not have time for what I love. I get stopped over and over, never having the solid block of time I want to really get everything just right. When I read that post on Alex's blog I kept asking myself how fear is connected to this anxiety. What I realized is that I am not afraid of failing, but of being mediocre. It is not that I lack time to do a pole work but that I lack time for a full pole workout and in just the same way I have time for a paragraph but not a start-to-finish blogging session. I think often we set a standard for ourselves that we think we have broken down in manageable steps but we forget to allow ourselves to put in 25% when that is all there is time for. I see so many other polers get into serious pole ruts or neighbors that have not worked out since college athletics--we all just want to find this miraculous moment of time when we have time and motivation.

My message for all you Flexines out there, and for myself as well, is to allow yourself to take it slow, then take it slower. I am going to keep stringing together my 25%'s. I hope you allow yourself the same love.