Transcript: Almost There: What One Year of Maximum Effort Really Looks Like

31 days to day 365 and all is well. What's up

you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here. Welcome to

More Movement Please, the podcast where I hope

to inspire you to move your body more. So I'm

getting closer to my... 365th day of maximum

effort. And by the time you guys hear this, I

will be much further along, much closer to the

day 365, because as I've told you all in the

past, I actually batch these episodes and I record

them whenever I have a chance. So that's why

sometimes I'm a little bit behind in terms of

what year versus what is actually going on at

the time. But I'm really excited that I'm approaching

this year milestone. It means a lot to me. And

I think the biggest reason that it means so much

to me is because I did spend nearly two decades

being inactive. And it's so important to me that

people get active now. I mean, regardless of

where you're at in your journey, it's time to

get movement in. It really is. And so if you're

listening to this, I really hope that you have

worked out today. And if you haven't, I hope

you'll find a way to. Movement has truly changed

my life and it can change yours too. And I am

just, I'm so grateful for every bit of soreness

that I have in my body right now because the

soreness from working out is so much better than

the soreness that I used to have from not being

able to move. I remember how much it hurt to

just take a flight of stairs. I remember how

much it hurt just to go from the parking lot

to... the front of the grocery store or walk

around the grocery store. And I'm just really

thinking a lot about how far I've come in the

last year and how hard it's been. I mean, I bet

you weren't expecting me to say that, but it

really has. It's been a very hard year. It's

been very difficult to do all the things that

I've done to get to where I am. And I've got

a long way to go. I'm nowhere near where I want

to be. on my fitness journey I have a lot more

that I intend to achieve I want to be able to

you know not only get the 20s all the time I

mean yeah I am very grateful that I finally can

do the 10s as my small weights and the 20s as

my big weights but I want I want more I want

more I want to lose more inches I I would like

to see if I could get into a small pair of pants

I would love to wear the cute dresses and and

all the things which I know sounds like a vanity

metric but you know what it's it's one of the

things that I desire and you have to figure out

what it is that inspires you what is it that

makes you want to move and for me it's not just

that I want to be in the cuter clothes it's also

that I want to be able to live my life without

pain like I mean It's funny how you don't really

recognize how much you take things for granted

until suddenly you can't do them. I mean, the

days that I have had the debilitating pain where

I couldn't work out, those days were absolutely

devastating to me. And I want to make sure that

I have more days of movement than not. And as

I get older, I want to be able to continue living

independently. And I know that Working out is

the ticket. It is the way that I will be able

to carry the groceries in. It's the way I'll

be able to vacuum. It's the way I'll be able

to mop my floors and cook my meals and walk around.

And it's simple things like this that I really

think people take for granted because the moment

that you can't do them, it's like, holy crap,

man, how did I get here? I guess that's why I've

been so adamant about having this podcast and

sharing my journey is because I'm seeing some

people around me that are starting to have trouble

with movement. And some of it is because of health

related issues. Some of it is age, you know,

a bunch of different things. And as I'm watching

this with certain people, especially people I

love, all I want is to like tell them to get

up and move. And some of them, I'm sure they're

getting tired of me. I've sent messages to them

like, hey, I want you to go work out today. Hey,

I want you to go for a walk or or do some jumping

jacks or do some sit ups or or do some wall sits

or, you know, just anything that you can do to

get some movement in. I really want you to do

it. And it's not because I'm trying to get everybody

into fitness just like I am. It's nothing like

that. It's more that I don't want. you guys to

have the pains that I've had in the past. I want

more people to feel good. And that's the whole

point of this, right? It's not about vanity.

It's about functionality. It's about making the

rest of your life the best of your life. It's

about making it so that you don't have to depend

on others to take care of you. And that's kind

of been a big thing for me lately is just as

I'm watching. And the people around me age and

and go through some of the things that they're

going through, especially the things that I see

could have been prevented. It's like it makes

me that much more adamant that I'm going to go

to the gym. It makes me that much more adamant

I'm going to go for that hike or I'm going to

go and do those standing Pilates classes or whatever

it may be, because that is important to me. I

want to be able to live independently without

having to expect someone to take care of me.

And it's not to say that I don't have anybody

that could take care of me. It's more that I

don't want them to have to. And so I guess for

me, the big thing is the more I think about how

this last year has gone, the more I think about

how I'm preventing myself from being a burden.

And I want that for everybody. I want everybody

who is listening to this to move your body more

so that you can take a flight of stairs. I want

you to move your body more so that you can walk

around your home and not feel pain unless you're

feeling the pain of a workout. Because like I

said, the pain of a workout is so much better

than the pain of not being able to move. So I

want you to be able to mow your lawn or mop your

floors or vacuum your house or whatever the case

may be. I want you to be able to do it without

pain and to not have to depend on others because

you physically are unable to do it. If you can

move your body, I want you to move your body.

Like I said, as I get closer to this year milestone,

it just, it's really been a lot of reflection

thinking about everything that happened before

and everything that's happening now and how I'm

so excited for the future. How I, I'm grateful

and excited to see what I can do next. And though

I won't be, you know, sharing weekly updates

of classes, I do fully intend to keep sharing

accountability posts. And that's why I started

the group that I created. And I really hope you

guys will join. We don't have that many members

yet, but I'm looking forward to getting more

people in so that we can talk about, you know,

what it's like to change your life through movement.

And so if you want to join the group with us,

I'd love for you to join us. It's famousashleygarant

.com backslash group. That'll give you all the

details you need to know about how you can be

part of this. I want to have you have a place

to hold yourself accountable. And it's completely

free to join. And the reason I'm doing this is

because I really want, like I've said from the

beginning, I want this to be a movement of movement.

I want this to be something where we can all

talk together about what we're going through

and the struggles that we're facing and the truth

about fitness and how it's going. Because I know

it's a difficult journey. I know this because

it's been a hard year. And I want more people

to talk about it and feel comfortable talking

about it and just be honest with each other and

ourselves about what we're going through. Because

having people root you on and cheer for you as

you work on your fitness goals, it is just everything.

It feels so good to have people cheering you

on. And I mean, I'm not going to deny that whenever