Transcript: Why Group Fitness Is Just Better (Sorry, Solo Gym People)
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Ashley reintroduces herself and the podcast, noting she's returning to the gym after roughly 10 days off and explaining her new schedule of only going Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
Time to get back on the horse, as they say. What's
up, you guys? Famous Elsa Grant here. Welcome
to More Movement, Please, the podcast where I
hope to inspire you to move your body more. So
today I am headed back to the gym after, goodness,
what is it, 10 days? I've kind of lost count
as to how many days it's been, but it's been
a minute since I was last at the gym. I told
you guys before that I have made a new rule that
I'm basically only going on Mondays, Fridays,
and Saturdays to the gym. That doesn't mean I'm
not moving anymore. It means I am still moving,
Ashley recaps a hike she did with her husband, describing the unexpected difficulty of changing terrain, soaked feet, and blisters — plus her decision to add weighted wristbands to the hike.
but just moving differently. Yesterday, I went
on a hike with my husband, and y 'all, it was
effort. It was maximum effort because I think
I've told you guys this before whenever I was
doing my recap of my trip to Florida, but there
is something so different about walking a trail.
with changing terrain than there is about walking
on a sidewalk. I mean, I can easily walk a couple
miles on a sidewalk, no problem. But going up
and down like a changing terrain with rocks and
mud and just all the stuff that makes you have
to take intentional steps. it's a lot of effort.
And by the end of it, I had so many blisters
on my feet. I honestly did not expect to get
as many blisters as I did, but the area that
we were walking was significantly more wet than
we expected. And so by the time we were done,
my feet were soaked and I mean, it was, it was
pretty rough, but it was worth it. It was definitely
worth it because getting those, those moves in
outside of the gym while also, you know, still
doing some form of, of actual effort is what
I'm after and I decided yesterday to add to the
challenge I added weighted wristbands to my arms
while I was doing my walk on in the hike because
it just it was necessary y 'all like it was definitely
necessary for me to get an extra effort while
I was putting in Well, effort. But it helped.
It made me feel really good to be doing strength
training while also hiking. I enjoyed the hell
out of it. I've really been liking as much hiking
as we've been doing. It's been really joyful.
Getting my husband out and active has been a
goal of mine. And so having him work out with
me has just been... Really lovely. And so I enjoyed
that. And then the other thing I started is I
Ashley describes a personal challenge she started to accumulate 365 extra minutes of effort, doing 10-minute sessions of calf raises, planks, and wall sits across three days — with breaks, not all in a row.
started doing my additional minutes leading up
to day 365. I'm trying to get in 365 minutes
of additional effort. But I did 10 minutes of
calf raises the first day. 10 minutes of planks
the second day. And then yesterday I did 10 minutes
of wall sits. And now I'm, I'm do need to make
it clear. I'm not doing these 10 minutes all
in a row. I am, you know, taking breaks because
I can't handle 10 straight minutes of any of
that. But my arms are absolutely killing me.
My legs are killing me and it's a good hurt.
It's exactly what I was looking for. It's a good
thing. This is, this is good effort. And today
I think I have to do a 10 minute. I want to say
what I saw in my, my exercises was. a dance dumbbell
workout. I got to look again. I pulled all of
them and put them into a spreadsheet so that
I wouldn't forget what I had to do. If you've
heard this podcast before, you know that I put
so many things into my calendar and so many things
into spreadsheets and things like that to keep
my ADHD brain in check. It's really important
for me. But yeah, so I'm about to go into the
gym and do Zumba and low impact cardio. And I
will check back in and let y 'all know how it
went. Okay, guys, I'm back from my Zumba and
my low impact cardio and toning class. And y
'all, I got to say, what I've said from the beginning
is still so, so, so, so true for me. Group exercises
are what I need personally. Because on my trip
Ashley returns from her Zumba and low-impact cardio class and reflects on how working out with other people makes time fly compared to her solo Tabata session in a hotel gym in Pigeon Forge, which she says 'sucked.'
to Pigeon Forge, I did work out in the gym at
one of the hotels. And I did, you know, a Tabata
class by myself. It sucked. It's not as fun to
work out by yourself as it is to work out with
other people. It's funny to me how fast the time
went by whenever I was with other people compared
to when I was working out by myself. It's just
wild to me because I blinked and the instructor
said, we're going to stretch. And oh my goodness,
like. two hours later and I feel like a million
bucks. I'm just so happy that I was able to work
out with my people because I love, love, love
working out with people. And if you're anything
like me and you need group accountability, I
want you to join me in my group. Please head
over to famousashleygrant .com backslash group.
We are doing this. We are going to have a group
and I'm excited about it. It's completely free
to join. We're going to start it out simple with
just accountability check -ins. And there will
be a paid tier. I'm not going to lie to you guys
and make you think that this isn't coming because
obviously doing all this content, I do have to
make money because this is my job. This is what
I do for a living. So I'm giving you guys a heads
up on that. And the free portion of this will
always be free. I'm not going to ever change
it to paid only. I will always have this portion
completely free. So head to famousashleygrant
.com backslash group and you can join the group
today. And I'm really excited about this, you
guys, because it's something that I personally
need is accountability check -ins. And I want
to give that to other people. I really want this.
I mean, I've said it from the beginning. I want
this to be a movement of movement. And so thank
you guys for the feedback that you've given so
far that you are interested in having a group.
I'm tickled pink about this. I can't wait to
see what happens with it, what we're going to
do with it. And I'm also stoked to report that
my favorite instructor, Rhonda Good, is going
to be showing up occasionally and doing Q &As
and talking all about different aspects of fitness,
the truth about all of the things that influencers
are saying to us, and basically just sharing
what you need to know about fitness. I'm so excited
for this next chapter of the More Movement, Please
podcast. And I just can't wait for y 'all to
join. So famousashleygrant .com backslash group.
And I will see y 'all in there. Onwards and upwards,
my friends. Have you worked out today?
Ashley announces a free online group at famousashleygrant.com/group for accountability check-ins, is transparent about a future paid tier, and shares that her instructor Rhonda Good will occasionally join for Q&As.
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