Transcript
I mean, the truth is that if you're working out,
it is like one of the best ways to get over cabin
fever, to get over mental health issues, to get
over feeling kind of blah. And that's that's
kind of what I've been using exercise for. Welcome
to More Movement, please. What's up, you guys?
Famous Ashley Grant here. This is the podcast
where I hope to inspire you to move your body
more. And I've got to tell you, I'm still looking
at some snowy conditions. It is. It's crazy.
I'm so ready for the snow to be gone. You know,
the funny thing is I grew up in Tampa, Florida.
And the idea of snow was something that you traveled
to go see. And it was a novelty. And now that
I'm living in a state where it snows, like there
are some days where I absolutely love it. And
I get excited by the fact that I'm indoors and
not able to go anywhere. But ever since I got
serious about fitness. Oh my God, you guys, I
can't stand being indoors. I want to go to the
gym as much as I can. It drives me up the frigging
wall that I have not been able to go to the gym.
And yes, I know what some of you are probably
thinking. I probably could get there. In fact,
I've gotten several messages from several people
that I could probably get there. And the truth
is, if I really tried, I probably could. But
the reality is that I was a little bit nervous
about trying to drive on my roads in my neighborhood.
I'm looking at a lot of sheets of ice and I've
watched several of the neighbors like fishtail
in just right in front of my window. And I don't
want to do that. And because I can work out online
and because I do work from home. Not having to
leave, I'll take it for right now. It does kind
of suck. I do really, really want to get back
to the gym. I mean, please do not misunderstand
anybody who knows me, knows that I'm an extrovert.
I love to be around people. I get excited by
it. I freaking love it. But yeah, I haven't wanted
to put in the risk that would be required to
get to the gym. And it sucks. I miss my girls.
I miss them so much. I miss some of the guys.
I miss soul. much of the group fitness and working
out in person. And I'm really looking forward
to getting back into the gym, but I have to just
continue harping on the fact that I am just so
freaking grateful that I can still work out from
home online. The only thing that I will say is
it does kind of suck that I have smaller weights
at home. I've never wanted to invest in dumbbells
until now. And I hope I won't ever need them
again. I have a set of threes and I have a set
of fives and I have been actually. Trying to
hold them together to, you know, get closer to
what I normally am using at the gym. In previous
episodes, I've talked about the fact that my
smalls are eights and my bigs are fifteens. And
I will often use twenties whenever I can or whenever
I feel like I'm able to. But this week, you know,
or this past week of only being able to use threes
and fives has been a little bit, you know, a
little bit weird. And so I've actually been adding
in extra reps. One of the things I did on Saturday
is I actually added weights to my Zumba routines.
The Zumba class that I was taking online, I added
the threes to it. I was using the threes for
a lot of the dances. Helped a lot because, you
know, I was still putting in a bunch of reps
and still, you know, getting the good feels that
I was hoping for to continue feeling like I'm
actually working my body. And I can tell you
that even though I've been using smaller weights,
I am still feeling the feels like I'm feeling
like I'm actually working and moving my body.
And that was the goal. And one thing I have been
doing, though, is I've been like using multiple
weights in my hands to do some of the exercises
so that it'll be closer to the weight that I
have at the gym. But I have to tell you guys,
like the main reason I wanted to record today's
episode is the mental health aspect, right? Like
I've been having some pretty significant cabin
fever, especially since, like I said, I have
missed my gym people so much. I've missed my
gym buddies. And I'm so freaking grateful for
the fact that I've been able to work out because
it has been the only real thing that's been helping
to keep some of the cabin fever at bay. I won't
say it's keeping it all at bay because Lord have
mercy, I cannot wait to get out. But I... I'm
really grateful that I've had the movement because
I can tell when I've been sedentary too long
now. Like if I go several hours where I haven't
moved or haven't gotten up or started, you know,
stretching or squatting or something, I can feel
it now. And one thing that's actually kind of
funny is my husband will sometimes even say to
me now, have you worked out yet? Because, you
know, he knows that if I haven't, that's when
I start getting kind of mean. I don't mean to
be. I really don't. But I'm definitely nicer
whenever I'm working out. I'm definitely nicer
whenever I've gotten my movement fixed for the
day. So that's really been helping me a lot.
And so if you're stuck at home, stuck inside
like I have been, and you're looking for something
to give you some good feels, some warm feels.
do some movement, man. Like go on YouTube and
find, you know, a stretch class or a dance class,
or there's a lot of videos I've seen that are
full body workouts with no equipment. I've seen,
you know, body weight workouts where you're using
your body as the weight to be able to, to get
in a good exercise. So I highly recommend you,
you do that because. When we move our bodies,
we just feel better. It triggers things in our
brains, sends out all those good feels, all those
good chemicals. We get the endorphins. We get
the dopamine hit. We get the serotonin hit. We
get all those good things. Our cortisol levels
go down. We feel less stress. It's the best thing
you can do whenever you're starting to feel those
bad feels. And so if you haven't worked out today,
I highly recommend it. Here's what I'm going
to be doing for the rest of the week. Today is
Monday. And so my goal for this week is to, at
some point. God help me get back to the gym.
But in the event that I don't, I still plan on
working out every single day. I will be doing
my Zumba classes. I will be doing my low impact
cardio classes. I'll be doing my stretch classes.
I'll try out some more walk in place classes
and report back. I'll be doing Tabata and all
those good things that I absolutely love to do
to move my body and work my body. That is the
goal. That is my plan. And so I hope this inspires
you to move your body too, because... It is the
best thing for you. It really is. It is amazing
the difference that it has, the impact that it
has on your brain, on your physical health, your
mental health, your emotional health. I mean,
it's honestly even helped my emotional health.
It makes me feel more regulated emotionally.
So onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you
worked out today?