 All right, so I know this revamped channel, I don't really talk about fitness nutrition anymore like I did about five years ago when I originally created this channel. However, I think it very much goes hand in hand with self mastery, being your best self, operating at the best level that you possibly can. And in honor of this month being my 10 year anniversary of lifting weights, I thought it would be fun to get on here and share with you guys the 10 top things I learned throughout the last 10 years of consistently going to the gym and working out. If you're new here, I'm Sarah and I created this channel to help you build a more loving, fulfilling and positive life through self mastery and spirituality. And today we're gonna reverse a little bit and talk a little bit about fitness and those top 10 things I learned over the last 10 years that you can create your best self. Because at the end of the day, it's not only our emotional and spiritual body that create our best versions that we can operate at the best level, but it's also our physical body. So, here we go. All right, number one. And I know you've heard this a lot, but let me go a little deeper into it. And that is making, working out, whatever that means for you, a habit. So think about a habit that you do every day that you feel kind of weird if you don't do. Maybe it's showering morning, maybe it's brushing your teeth, maybe you drink a glass of water in the morning and if you don't do that, you feel kind of off. So what you wanna do, whether it's lifting weights or Pilates or going on a walk or whatever it is for you, you want to create that a habit so it feels weird if you don't do it. So I'll give you guys an example. Like I said, I've been going to the gym for 10 years straight. I only took off five weeks one time because I had surgery and sometimes I just go and I walk on an incline on the treadmill for two miles. But it keeps that habit in motion where it just feels weird if I don't go. So make it a habit, whether it's every other day for you, whether it's every day or whatever that schedule looks like in your life. Number two, find something that you actually genuinely enjoy. This could be swimming, hiking, lifting weights, Zumba, Pilates, yoga, it can, going on a walk, walking your dog, it can literally be anything but you have to do something that you're genuinely going to enjoy. So I encourage you to go out and try different things. I've tried so many classes. I've done Zumba, I'm very klutzy, wasn't for me. I've done some Pilates. I recently began doing yoga about seven or eight months ago and that really stuck with me as well. So I've incorporated that into my workout routine and just find something that you genuinely enjoy that you're not going to dread doing every day, every other day. Number three, and this is one I wish I understood when I first started. And that is that your goals can change. When I first started working out, yes, obviously we all do it in a sense to change our physical body and appearance. But as I started getting into it and creating that habit, my main goal was to be stronger and lift heavier weights and continue to go up. But now I actually don't even train my upper body anymore. I might every once in a while but I've built up enough muscle in my arms, my shoulders, my back where I don't want to build any more muscle up there anymore so I don't do it. Now, some people out there might say, oh, that's so wrong. Well, who's to say what's wrong and what's right if that works for me? I know exactly what type of physical appearance I want and that's the way I design my workouts. You know, there were some parts of my journey where I was lifting legs once a week and then it went to three days a week and now I'm at about two. There were times that I was lifting weights six days a week. Now I'm doing it probably three and then I do yoga and I do a little more cardio than I used to. So just allow yourself to go through the ebbs and the flows of your working out routine. All right, number four, and this is if you do decide or you're already working out on a gym and lifting weights. Please, please, slow down. And once you slow down your movements, every rep that you do, slow down even more. If you find your body jerking to get a weight up, whether it's dead lifts or if you're standing there and you're doing curls and you're swinging your body to get it up or you're swinging your body to get your arms up to do flies, you're not ready for that weight yet and you can cause injury to your body. It is the most frustrating thing that I see at the gym because you can build very high quality muscle using lighter weights. You don't have to continue to go up and up and up and weight. I very rarely go up and weight and I've never lifted more than 10 pounds for my arms or five pounds for my shoulders, but I do the movements very slowly and that includes your ab workouts. Slow because then you are really engaging that muscle. You don't have to lift 50 pounds and obviously it's different with women and men because of the different testosterone hormones, all that kind of stuff that are in us, but just slow down your movement, wait to go up until you feel ready and you don't have to be jerking your body around. That's going to lead me into number five and that is honoring your body. Honor your body when you need rest, whether it's physical or mental. I was traveling for the past week and I came back and I only worked out maybe two or three times that week because I was so exhausted. Okay, and not beating yourself up about that. Honor your body when you're picking up heavy weights at the gym, moving them around and putting them back down on the ground. You know, don't be throwing these weights around because you don't know what your body can handle and you want to properly be moving those weights so you don't injure yourself. Don't injure yourself. Five, that kind of leads me to number six, which is try out that new exercise. Try out that new move that you saw on Instagram or YouTube or TikTok or whatever and you feel like you might look silly or stupid at the gym. I still get that, okay? I still get that sense of fear or anxiety or whatever you want to call it when I want to try a new move but you feel like everyone's watching you and you feel like everyone's judging you. They're not. No one really cares. I know when we're working out, especially in a gym setting or a class setting or whatever it is when you're around other people, often we feel like people are just staring at us or a microscope. In reality, most people are just there to get their workout in and they don't really care what you're doing. I promise. So try it. You might really enjoy it and even it feels weird the first time. You know, there's been plenty of times where I've been doing something at the gym and someone comes and they correct me and I really appreciate that. All right, number seven, where, what makes you feel comfortable or what makes you feel confident or what makes you feel good about yourself in the gym? For some people, this is a t-shirt and sweatpants. For other people, this is a sports bra and spandex shorts. But whatever you decide to wear, it is up to you and what you feel good and positive about wearing. When you're at the gym, whether you're at home, whether you're on a hike, no matter what you're doing. You know, I'll tell you guys, when I first started working out, I pretty much wore like the loose gym shorts and a t-shirt. Sometimes I would go into a crop top and then as I started building more muscle and feeling more confident in my body, I started switching over to longer sports bras and then I got into shorter sports bras. And now, no matter what season it is, I, 99.9% of the time, wear a sports bra and leggings when I work out because that's what I feel comfortable in and that's what I feel confident in. So figure out what works for you and again, it can change over time. Life is all about change. It's cool, it's cool. And while I'm bringing that up, I do want to roll into number eight and that is love your body. Love your body every step of the way. You know, this is probably one of the most difficult steps on here and it's something that, you know, I personally still struggle with from time to time because you know, you're working out hard and you're doing all the right things and you want to see those changes but your body is doing so many incredible things, things that we don't even know about, okay? At all times when we're breathing and we're lifting and we're doing that, our bodies are magnificent, okay? And our bodies respond so well to what we do for them. You know, how we honor them. If we're putting them through a workout, what we're feeding it, what we're doing skin care-wise, all the things that we do for our physical body, again, we're putting spiritual, emotional bodies aside in this video, your body will respond to it. So love your body for that. It's such a beautiful thing. Your body and your mind should be teammates. They are not opponents. So work with your body, love your body, enjoy your body every step of the way. And that, it's going to bring me into number nine, which is please stop weighing yourself. If you want to do it every once in a while, by all means do it. I do probably every few months because I'm curious, but as I'm sure a lot of you have heard before, there are so many things that can fluctuate our bodies, salt intake, what we've eaten that day, water intake, if you're a woman, your hormones, like just so many different things. So weighing yourself really is not a good indicator of what's going on in the gym. You want to be looking at yourself in the mirror, loving yourself in the mirror. And if you need help with that, I will link a video right here that I created about loving yourself every step of the way and overriding those negative thoughts that we tend to have when we are looking at our physical appearance. Your actual weight doesn't really define how healthy or unhealthy you are most times. All right, and number 10, don't turn me off. Don't turn me off. You gotta pay attention to what you're putting in your body. You gotta pay attention to your nutrition, not only for the way it's making you physically appear, but the way that your whole body works and feels and your mental capacity and your brain power, everything revolves around what you're putting into your body. And look, I get it. I am a straight up sugar addict, okay? And it's not great and it's a hard thing to deal with, but notice that when you do eat healthier, you feel great. And not only will you feel great, you'll look great. So my top three things to avoid putting into your body if you really wanna see these results both physically and mentally, cut out alcohol, seriously. Seriously cut out alcohol. I have a video from years and years and years ago all about how alcohol is so bad for you, not only mentally, our decision-making, all of that nonsense that we all know about, but it almost puts you in a negative of working out because it stops what's called protein synthesis in your body. So it doesn't allow you to burn fat or build muscle for up to 72 hours after you have even just one drink depending on your body structure. So if you're only drinking twice a week and you're working out seven days a week, your net is really one day a week, okay? It is that drastic when it comes to alcohol. The second thing is processed sugars. We all know how bad they are. They're hidden in a lot of things. You wanna make sure that you're reading the nutrition on the back of your products that you're eating. Really the best thing to do is to eat clean, which is eating all raw products. Now it's very difficult to do in this society and I don't personally do that 100% myself, but if you wanna feel and look your best, that's all you need to do. So number three, cut out anything fried, okay? Cut out all the fried foods you're eating, the chips, the burgers, the pizza, the fried chicken, all that kind of stuff. There's always going to be healthy alternatives. You just have to research and learn and experiment with them to be able to figure out what you actually enjoy because you don't want to make this so you're not enjoying your life, okay? There's always a little bit of balance that you have to learn to incorporate in and it just takes some time, okay? So I hope you guys found a lot of value out of this video. Again, I know it's not what I'm typically talking about on this channel anymore, but I just felt very inspired to make this because I was so excited and proud of myself that this is like, hey, year 10 that I've been doing this. Let me share some things I've learned with you guys. So if you found some value in this video, please don't forget to like and subscribe so we can hang out again next week and share this with someone who might find this valuable as well. I love you guys so much and don't forget, be limitlessly yourself.