I Cried on a Mountain Last Week: How Should I Celebrate 1 Year of Maximum Effort?

I mean, what do you do to celebrate milestones?

What's up you guys? Famous Asha Grant here. Welcome

to More Movement Please, the podcast where I

hope to inspire you to move your body more. Today

I want to talk again about milestones because

I am less than two months from a pretty big one.

And that is my one year anniversary of what I'm

calling maximum effort in fitness. And why is

this such a big deal? I have told you guys before

that before I got serious about fitness, I was

barely working out three hours a week, like barely.

And now I'm working on an average of, I'd say

about 13. And that is obviously a much bigger

amount than what I was doing a year ago. And

that's why I've been so adamant about celebrating

every milestone. I celebrated when I hit 100

days. Hell, I celebrated when I hit 30 days.

I celebrated when I hit... a hundred classes.

I celebrated when I hit 200 classes, 250, 300

classes, et cetera, et cetera. And I really want

to go big for the one year anniversary because

it means so much to me. Like it's such a big

deal. I just got back from a vacation where I

was able to do some hikes to see some views that

this time last year I wouldn't have been able

to do. And just a couple of days ago, I went

on another hike that It would have been laughable

for me to even attempt to do the hike that I

did because it was a lot of effort required to

get up to the top of that mountain. And the view,

like whenever I got up to the top and I was able

to see the overlook, I got really emotional.

And it's strictly because like, yes, okay, the

view was absolutely gorgeous. But the fact that

I was able to get up there is what made me emotional.

Because I couldn't have done that this time last

year. I literally could not have done it. And

so I've been thinking about how am I going to

celebrate the 365th, I guess you'd call it, Day

of Movement. And so Day 365 is Monday, July 13th,

2026. And that makes exactly one year from the

day that I got serious. Because I got serious

on Monday, July 14th, 2026. That's when I...

went balls to the wall and took so many classes

that it made my head spin. And I remember that

first week so clearly, like how wild it was that

that first day I was like, oh, that hurts. And

then I slept really, really well that night.

And that week I. Barely remember eating because

I was so exhausted and so like shocking my body

that I just kept drinking more and more water.

And I don't remember eating very much. I just

remember like being bound and determined that

I was going to get in as many classes as I could

that week. And I did. And I was so. so damn proud

of myself at the end of that week. And then the

next week I went back and tried to do as many

classes as I could. And then I settled into an

average of 13 hours a week. And when I think

back to where I was less than a year ago, it's

really, I don't want to say humbling because

that doesn't feel like the right word, but it's

honestly jaw -dropping. It's insane to me. I

can't even wrap my head around how much has changed

in a year. And when I think about it, it's like

one of the things that I never in a million years

would have imagined came from this was starting

a fitness podcast. That wasn't even on my radar

whenever all this started. And I've said before

that the reason I started recording it is I felt

like... I needed to have some sort of documentation

of what was going on, what I was feeling, what

I was going through, like a digital diary, if

you will. And when my instructor let me interview

her, I was like, OK, I've got to share this publicly.

Like people need to know what I'm going through

because this message matters. Like it's what

it's what old Ashley really needed to hear. And

some of the things that have changed since then

is that I've gotten a lot more clear on where

I'm headed in my career. Things that I. didn't

see I see now I've been working on building my

personal brand with my husband and and we've

been kind of overhauling the business a little

bit like I'm a I've told you guys before I'm

a content creator that's that's my main bread

and butter I do a lot of ghost writing for various

clients and I do like social media management

and all kinds of different things for for other

companies but I've been really really putting

in more effort into doing it for myself as well.

There's been a joke a lot of times that I'm like

the cobbler who doesn't have shoes, because I

do so much for other people that like, I don't

do much for my own, my own brand. But I've been

really actively working on changing that, not

just through this podcast, but you know, through

the through the last year, like as I'm getting

clear on what I want to do and where I'm headed.

And, and so that's why I've been so serious about

celebrating all these milestones. I celebrate

every single milestone because it matters. Like

it really matters to, to show up for yourself.

You don't want it to become a complacent thing.

You don't want it to be something where you lose

momentum. You want to keep like enjoying those

moments because It's it's what fuels me. It's

it's what makes me be like, damn, like, look

at everything I've done. And when I look back

on all the things that have happened, you know,

dropping four pants sizes and and losing a significant

amount of weight and getting stronger to the

point that I can hold, you know, 10 pound dumbbells

and 20 pound dumbbells for my small and big weights.

And when I think back to the fact that I was

using threes and fives whenever I started, it's.

It's mind blowing to me. And I'm just so incredibly

grateful. So I had posted on Facebook asking

people like, hey, how do you think I should celebrate?

And some of the answers that have come in already

have been kind of funny to me. One person said

that I should have some ice cream. And I commented

back that if I was going to celebrate, I was

thinking espresso martini and tiramisu cheesecake

because that's like that's like a favorite dessert

of mine that I very rarely indulge in. Another

person said that I should do 365 squats, 365

pushups, 365 of everything. And that got me tickled.

And maybe I will do something like that. I definitely

intend since that is a Monday and I will be at

the gym, I fully intend to have a full day of

movement. That is my that is my plan. I will

be doing Zumba and low impact cardio and toning.

And then I don't know what other classes happen

on Monday, but whatever they are, I fully intend

to to be moving. Yeah. So that's one thing that

I'm thinking. But I'm curious. I want to hear

from y 'all. What do you think? What should I

do to celebrate this big milestone? Because like

I said, I really want to keep adding fuel to

the fire. And I want to keep being the person

who is trying to inspire others to move their

bodies more. And I think that's why it's so important

that I keep building things up and keep I don't

want to say bragging, but showing off that I

am showing up because, you know, I had one person

tell me earlier this week that because of this

podcast, they were fueled and motivated to start

really putting in their own maximum effort. And

that just, when I tell you that made my day in

a way that I wasn't expecting, it really did.

It's why I want more from this podcast. It's

why I want more from this movement of movement.

I want to see this become so much more than it

currently is. I already have plans that I've

been working on for creating a fitness planner.

I've been talking about a book. I've been, you

know, I've been, I've been discussing all kinds

of different possibilities of, of things I can

do to make this so much more than just a podcast,

because I really want to, I want to inspire people.

Like I really want to inspire people to move.

And when I think of how much it's changed my

own life, I want that for others. So, so hit

me up at famousashagrant .com backslash fitness.

You will find all kinds of stuff on there where

you can check out. past episodes, but you can

also reach out to me. You can send me your feedback

as to what you think about the show. You can

send me your own fitness journey. If you want

to be on the show, you can drop a voice note.

Or if you're in the fitness industry, I'd love

to hear from you too. What are your tips? What

are your ways of continuing movement? It's so

crazy to me that I'm looking at my workout sheet

right now, and I've had more than 700 workouts

since I started this less than a year ago. My

running total classes is 624. That's nuts to

me. That's wild. And I want this for other people.

I really, really do. So hit me up, famousashlagrant

.com backslash fitness. Tell me all the things.

How would you celebrate? How's your fitness journey

going? And what are you doing to keep yourself

motivated? And what are your milestones? What's

going on with you? I can't wait to hear from

y 'all. And I can't wait to share what I'm officially

going to do for my one year milestone myself.

And thank you so much for listening. I appreciate

every single one of you. You guys are the absolute

best, like the messages and the voice notes and

the comments and the shares. I appreciate everybody.

And onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you

worked out today?