Hello everyone. How are you this week?
This week I thought I would reflect on my life and share with you all why I am so passionate about all of this fitness and health stuff.
I truly believe that living for your body and mind and not for instant gratification and external validation is the most fulfilled way to live. That’s my opinion. Live your life the way you want to and do it unapologetically.
I dedicate my life to learning and educating myself on everything I can about fitness, nutrition and health. Everything that I learn and believe in I implement in some way into my life. You might think this is extreme. I am sure there are many people who think so. It’s what I love and I’ll live this way until my last breath. I mean, what else are we here for but to enjoy, love, experience and FEEL.
So, where do I begin. I have been active my whole life.
My family has always been very active – hill walking in Scotland, cycling, skiing, swimming, running, triathlons, gymnastics. Being active is something I have been lucky enough to be very familiar with. I know not everyone has this privilege and I am forever grateful for this.
As a child I HATED walking and cycling with my family. I loved swimming and gymnastics and playing sports. Believe it or not my mum used to feed me starbursts to get me up the Munros. How times have changed!
When I was 10 (I think) I was in a gymnastics club and I really liked it. This quickly ended because I broke both of my writs falling of a garden shed. Have you ever heard of anything like this?! I had two massive casts on each wrist for a long time.
Then I was asked to join a swimming club. My dad taught me to swim before I ever got swimming lessons and I suppose It was something that always clicked with me.
I swam in a club for 7 years and competed in many competitions. I really loved it for a long time. It taught me irreversible good swimming technique. I am so grateful for this now!
I grew tired of the intense training that it required when I entered the dreaded teenage years. If you are a teenager, I’m sorry. What a nightmare that time was for me. When I was a teenager, I loved it. Looking back, it was a nightmare. Sorry mum.
Maybe a year after stopping competitive swimming my brother took me to the gym. I was intrigued. I probably started the gym for body image and not health reasons. I went regularly and got pretty strong and experienced. Due to my experience with exercise, I was already pretty athletic and strong. I really loved the gym and I still go today and have done for 5/6 years. It is incredible how much my body has changed from the gym. I gained so much muscle and strength – more notable than any exercise I took up before. My all-time PR for squats is around 130 kg. However, it didn’t do much for my cardiovascular health. I went to the gym exclusively for a few years before starting up swimming again after a long break.
I started up in a small way at the pool a few years ago for health in particular. I fell in love again. I loved training for me and for my own goals on my own schedule. I am definitely a lone exerciser. I think it’s very much an internal battle. When I train with other people I can’t concentrate in the same way. I train with Jacob but we always do very different things. That works for us.
That brings us to yoga and meditation. I started yoga and meditation about 6 months to year ago. Yoga is amazing. Yoga feels so amazing on your muscles and bones and meditation is like therapy. I do a yoga and meditation session every day and love it! Right now, I’m trying to do inversions and the splits. It is very challenging. Wish me luck 🙂
My exercise routine now looks like this:
4 x a week in the pool – sprints, distance, drills. I mainly focus on distance training for stamina and the cardiovascular benefits. I also like it better.
3 x a week in the gym – I train legs. I have trained upper body in the gym for years and my upper body is muscly. To be honest with you, I don’t want my arms to get much bigger. My upper body is in constant strain with yoga and swimming.
Everyday yoga and meditation – It is my therapy and it’s amazing for recovery and muscle and bone health. It helps me to be present in the moment.
I love this routine and I love exercise. I love the way it makes me feel and what it does for my health. I am so grateful to be privileged enough to be able to exercise and have access to everything I need. Thank you, universe.
Being active my whole life has taught me so much. Discipline, motivation, resilience, mental wellness, coping strategies, self-care and self-love.
What types of exercise do you do? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you very much for reading.
Last week’s podcast episode is a short, half an hour chat about change. Link to listen below:
Let's Talk Health with Mairi 