Category Archives: Mantras
Exercise Hurts, Quitting Hurts More
Since many of our BCx workouts are timed workouts, with short bursts of intense exercise, one thing I say often is “You can do anything for 60 seconds”. That is because, when I was in boot camp, those were the words I held on to. I knew, no matter how bad it hurt, how winded I was, or how weak I felt, I could do anything for 60 seconds.
Of course, when THAT 60 seconds was done, I had to do another 60 seconds of something just as brutal – but at least it was something different. And, I knew, once again, I could endure THAT for 60 seconds too.
1 Out of 24
The fact of the matter is, if we really think about how little time we actually have to work to get such a great lasting reward, we could truly begin to celebrate the pain.
The pain is evidence of change. If we can look past the immediate discomfort and focus on the other 23 hours of freedom, where we get to bask in the results of our hard work, we can clearly see that the small amount of time in the gym is a small sacrifice for what we get out of it.
Honestly, 1 hour, out of the 24 hours God gave us, is not that much to ask. AND it’s not work without pay. It’s work with BIG pay. THAT’S the reality.
“But It’s Hard”
BUT (Yes, here’s the “but”), we often get too wrapped up in the immediate pain and fatigue. We feel sorry for ourselves, we think about how rough we have it – how hard workouts are, how hard it is to lose weight, how sore we are, how fat we feel, how hard we work, how tired we are, how many responsibilities we have, how everyone else seems to have it easier, and we think of just about everything else besides this one fact: As much as this sucks, quitting sucks more.
The repercussions of quitting hurts. You know that commercial that says “depression hurts“, well so does fat. Fat hurts. Being unhealthy hurts. Feeling weak hurts. Injury due to weak and tight muscles hurts. Aging and muscle deterioration hurts. Losing confidence hurts. Losing mobility hurts. Losing independence due to health hurts. Feeling like a failure because you truly failed and gave up hurts. All the repercussions to quitting on yourself, and your health, hurts way more than the worst workout you have ever had.
Next time you feel like giving up. Whether you are just tired of trying to lose weight and you can’t seem to get it right, or you want to quit your workout program because it’s too hard, NEVER forget that QUITTING will hurt you even more.
75 Fitness Motivational Quotes
People who succeed in weight loss and fitness, don’t have extra energy or super powers. They have as many excuses as anyone else. They wake up feeling tired and lazy. They get frustrated and depressed sometimes. They are tempted to skip their workouts, and are tempted to give up and give in. They may have times they feel weak or defeated. They feel many of the same feelings people feel that cause them to quit. The only difference is, they don’t allow their feelings to get in the way. They don’t quit.
How do they do it? How do they hang in there, keep pressing on and finding the motivation to keep showing up? I think, often times, we have to keep talking ourself into not giving up. We must fight those feelings, fight our negative thoughts and literally argue with our fat, lazy, hungry, self.
I am constantly in an argument with my flesh – but I refuse to let it win. AND, the fit Bonnie is strong and has convincing words to beat the lazy Bonnie.
In this blog, I share some of my own thoughts – AND I share quotes from my facebook and twitter friends – real people fighting the fit fight with real words that really work.
15 things I tell myself to help me get my fat lazy butt in gear:
- You know you’ll feel better if you do it. And you’ll feel horrible if you don’t.
- You really don’t have a choice.
- You need to stop now and do it. You’ll be so glad you did.
- You know what you want, so you know what you need to do to get it.
- If you really want “that”, you really need to do “this”.
- It’s such a small sacrifice for such a great reward.
- Are you really going to let fat win?
- Do you want abs or not?
- You don’t have to be perfect, but you can be better.
- Don’t let your enemies watch you fail.
- I want to be fit and healthy
- Working out makes me feel like a super hero
- You need to just do it because it’s the right thing to do, whether you feel like it or not.
- Your husband is hot. Don’t be the fat wife.
- You you’re gonna preach it, you better live it.
The People Speak
I know I’m not the only one who has to talk to herself to get her butt going, so I yesterday I asked my facebook and twitter friends to complete this sentence below. I got SO many fantastic responses, I decided to share them. SEE, you are not alone! We all talk to ourselves! ha 
And some of you guys are saying some really great stuff!! Check it out…
“Today, I woke up tired & unmotivated – but then I remembered these words_________________”
Alexie Elizabeth Messer True happiness is being able to smile at yourself in the mirror…when you are butt naked!
Nadine Armstrong Just show up!
Christopher Borders I made a bet with Alfonso AngryTrainer Moretti to beat his time on a 500m Row. I didn’t beat his time but I got a new PR.
Joann Rosalia I’m worth it!!!
Ashley Brock Gibson Starbucks is in walking distance (Ashley, I’d definitely run for Starbucks!)
Carolyn Caruso ”that mile isn’t going to run itself”
Dan Pedley You vs you
Bart Mazzarella Stay the course! Only losers quit!
Laurie Duncan I’m gonna get sexy! lol Not quite as inspiring as all the above.
Sig Wynne-Evans Your cancer is most likely because you are overweight. (said by my dr last year when I had uterine cancer). Gets me to the gym EVERY TIME-
Brian Loff ”It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to get done.” 
Tracy Piko U can do anything if u want it bad enough. My dad rest his soul always told me that
Tavia Collins Smith If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results. – Jack Dixon
Kellee Murphy Get up!!!! make the bed so you don’t lay back down, get work out clothes on. I made it to the gym today and even met a new friend and she and I plan on meeting there again! Great day!!!
Jennifer Rataj Fat people make excuses. Fit people make time.
Nicole Hamilton Gonzalez This isn’t a choice. This is who you are and this is what you do.
Joy Cook Bouget Just do it. You’re lapping everyone on the couch!!
Becky Puckett Shealy No one’s going to do it for you
Mia Hann …I don’t get paid unless I show up?!!
Gayle Winrow ”Quitting is NOT an Option”!!!
Kylie Cole Just f…… Do it!!!!!
Khari Espinoza ^^ And that’s why I sign up for races all the time- Khari Espinoza I have a race in less than a month!!
Natalia Balandina Giving up is not an option!
Karen Robinson Why am I so tired and unmotivated… lol! Then I perked up! Lol
Kimberley Nash You must work for what you want.
Keala Keahi Vasconcellos My why my children
Kanoelani Patterson I got this!! Nothing worth having is ever done easily so get up & let’s do this thing!
Michael Petrosky . . . Own it Brother, own it !!
Lizzie Flintoff Then I remembered that I had boot camp at 6am and then pole class straight after! Gym done and dusted! YEAH!
Cindy Walter Rhoads Nobody is going to do it for me!! Today i will be the best i can be
Sean Jaftha What would Bonnie do?!
Lori Emm I always feel so much better after I workout
Gary Whitaker Embrace the pain. Finish the drill.
Kionna McNeal-Rowe Get’er dunn!!
Danielle Streich If you think you can or you think you can’t…you are right!
Amy Frazier Goleski Too damn bad!! : )
Melody Cordero Summer’s coming!
Rick Crosby There’s no quit in this boy
Andrea Uribe Unmotivated is a feeling. Feelings are just feeling and if you ignore hem they will catch up.
Ashlie Wynne ”How bad do you want it?”
Trish Tague Burnett I am responsible for me. I get to choose the best option for me and that is choosing my health!
Marcela Rhodus Dreams don’t work unless you do.
Sabrina Reitmeyer ”mom you’re the best”
Nell Lovorn Rela Just do it!!
Amanda Theresa Caravello More sweat now, less jiggle later
Friné Velilla Why don’t you burn more calories?
Meghan Boeckman make it count..
Linda Mcleod Every day above ground is worthwhile, so get to it!
Clinton Fuller Gotta get at it cause I won’t see the changes I want to see sitting on my ass!
Susan Brenner-Stutsman I fight on, I fight to win! Margaret Thatcher
Patti Ambrosia McLean ’STEVE WILL MAKE YOU DO BURPEEEEESSSS!!!!!”
Emme Green ”It starts & ends with me”
Andre Owens This is a day God has given me. I will rejoice and be glad in it
Judy Whitehead My goal is to keep going and get fit!
Brian Stolze Don’t Give up!! Don’t Ever Give Up! Just DO It……- Debbie Tosti @debbietosti15h today is a new day!
- Geraint Roberts @Gezzyroberts15h man up!
- TNCOWBOY7 @JasonSkelton715h I have not one pair of pants (out of probably 50) that I can get on. More important,my son is 9 so I need to b around awhile
- Damian Hunt @damian_hunt16h …winners never quit, quitters never win!
THANKS AMANDA FOR SHARING THIS!
It was so good, I made a fitness mantra pic out of it! More to come my peeps!
Tough Women: 4 Ways to Build Power, Strength & Confidence
Strong Enough for Men, but Made for Women Too
I always liked the the Secret deodorant slogan “strong enough for men, but made for a woman” but I think it also exposes another secret – the belief that strength is normally only made for men.
Of course we know there are strong chicks too, but I think a lot of women just think they were born that way. Some of the toughest chicks aren’t tough because they LOOK tough – they are tough because they ARE tough. Just like Demi More in G.I. Jane, tough comes with a price. She had to train hard to do the stuff she had to do in that movie – from doing intense workouts, obstacle training and even prepping mentally to shave her head. People aren’t just born that way, they are made that way through enduring tough tasks. The tougher the task, the tougher you become.
Watch this short video clip, and tell me that doesn’t make you want to learn how to do a one-armed push up!
Do You Know Your Own Strength?
While I believe, if most women were honest, there is a side to them that would love to be tough and powerful. But, many women struggle with the self-confidence to grow in this area. This is even more of a problem when a woman is overweight or not in good shape. Ironically, one of the best places to fix that (the gym) makes many women even MORE insecure so they avoid it at all cost, or they save it as a last resort. Well, NO MORE! It’s time for you to become the POWERFUL, STRONG and CONFIDENT woman you desire to be! And I’ve got news for you, it doesn’t include pink rubber weights!
If you want to discover power, strength and confidence, it requires training that requires you to be powerful, strong and confident. If your training doesn’t CHALLENGE these areas, don’t expect to CHANGE those areas. Sadly, many women “ease” into their workouts because they simply don’t know how powerful and strong they really are. Why? Because they just don’t know their own strength – because they’ve never really tested it.
4 ways to toughen up & gain more confidence:
Up your weight. I can’t tell you how many women are not even touching the surface of their own strength. They literally don’t know their own strength. However, if they were to up the weight, they’d be surprised to find they can do the same number of reps with the heavier weight. Would it be more difficult? Sure! Would it be possible? Sure! You’ll never know how strong you are until you try. Don’t worry about bulking up. Most women don’t have enough testosterone to gain manly muscles. - Test your strength. Once a week, choose an exercise to test your 1 rep max, which is the maximum weight you can lift in one exercise. Normally, we are doing multiple reps of a weight, so the weight has to be light enough for us to repeat the exercise 12-15 times. But what if all we have to do is one repetition? That’s the idea of the 1 Rep max. Some of the best exercises, according to Bodybuilding.com, to use to test this are bench press, squats, deadlifts, clean and press, military (shoulder press) and bicep curls. Use Bodybuilding.com’s 1-Rep Max (1RM) Calculator to find out what your 1-rep max should be. There is nothing more empowering that lifting a heavy weight – even if it’s just one time.
Try something new. If you are constantly staying in your comfort zone, using the same equipment or practicing the same training style, you will likely stay the same too. Venture out and try new things. Even if you discover you don’t like something, you will gain power from the knowledge you gained from trying it. Sure, you may feel a little dorky or awkward while you are learning it, but you will walk away feeling amazing.- Do what the boys do. If you are constantly gravitating to aerobics classes and the women’s section at the gym, you are missing out! There is a reason guys are tough. They do though things – and so can you! For instance, flipping tractor tires is tough. Your hands get dirty and it’s hard work, but it’s an amazing workout and you’ll feel great when it’s done. The same goes with exercises like bench press, dips or pull ups. These are often exercises that never make it on a woman’s workout schedule. Sadly, it’s not because the women can’t do it. It’s because they never even try to do it. Make it a regular practice to incorporate tough exercises into your program.
20 Tough Activities & Exercises
Try a handstand (and practice it)- Test your 1RM for bench press
- Take boxing or martial arts lessons
- Do a mud run
- Do something untraditional like flipping a tractor tire or doing wall-ups
- Take a intense boot camp program
- Practice olympic lifting
- Take a gymnastics class
- Do a 5K, half marathon, full marathon or triathlon
- Climb a rock-climbing wall
- Take a grappling (wrestling) lesson
- Test your speed in a quarter mile (sprinting, not driving!)
- Practice push ups, pull ups and dips
- Train with kettlebells
- Take a power yoga class
- Practice batting at the batting cages
- Do a tabata workout (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)
- Try a new sport – like surfing, skiing, cycling, mountain biking or swimming
- Play catch – football, softball or even frisbee (and GO ALL OUT to catch it!)
- Play with the boys. Play a coed ball game, workout with the guys, go to a car show and do something guys do. And don’t just show up – take that time to learn more about what you are doing. Whether it’s a drifting race or skin-boarding, knowledge is powerful.
8 Tough Workouts
Tractor Tire Training
10 Tire Exercises - If you’ve ever wondered what you can do with a tractor tire, here’s your answer!
Conditioning Tractor Tire Workout - Be ready for your heart to be POUNDING!
Tractor Abs – Learn 5 ab exercises you can do with a tractor tire.
Improve Your Push Up &/or Pull Up
Even if you can’t do a pull up or push up, THIS will get you stronger.
Savage Training
Try an untraditional workout, designed for mud runs and people who don’t have gym equipment.
BCx Wallup Workout
Climbed walls lately? Today’s your day! Try this crazy fun workout to boost strength and stamina.
Try a Kettlebell Workout
Learn some kettlebell basics.
Grueling Get Ups
Try this awesomely intense Turkish Getup inspired workout and get your sweat on!
Subscribe today to get more motivation tomorrow!
CLICK HERE to see more motivational mantras!
Strong in the Gym, but Not in the Kitchen?
I’ve never heard anyone say “I feel so fat, if only I could be stronger in the gym”. No, that never happens. What they say is, “I’m so fat, I just wish I could be stronger around food”. The fact is, what we do in the gym is the easy part. It’s what we do in the kitchen that is tough.
We need food. It’s fuel for our body – BUT we have to learn to control food like we learn to control a weight. Think about this: When people first lift free weights, their weights are all over the place. Every movement feels a little unnatural. Newbies are shaky, wobbly and unbalanced. Lifting weights takes a certain amount of practice, which require repetition. Then, once we are able to control the weight, we work to improve, increasing the weight, and improving our skill.
We could use some of those same principles in the kitchen. We must first do what comes unnatural for us. For example, you may need to force yourself to eat 5-6 times a day at first. Like trying a new exercise, we have to try new things with our diet, like counting calories or making protein shakes. Then, you have to practice those things over and over – yes, you heard right. We have to practice eating healthy. You will practice new recipes and try new snacks – and just like when we practice anything else, we will not always get it right. So we keep working on it.
Look at the definition of what practice:
Practice: repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency. “Practice makes perfect.”
Don’t you think we could all use more practice when it comes to eating right? This means we have to REPEATEDLY keep trying to improve our eating habits, even when we fail, until we are proficient in healthy eating. Like anything else, it will take work. We can’t rely on shortcuts or happenstance. But, just like the work we put in the gym, the work we put in the kitchen comes with a great reward! You will get stronger.
You CAN If You WILL
I woke up today to stormy weather. Thunder and lightening woke me up. Steve left the house to go to the gym this morning around 4:45am to train his first client, Corinne. When he arrived, there was no power. It was storming like a hurricane and completely pitch black for blocks. Did that stop them? Nope! Steve pulled out a flashlight and they trained in the dark.
So next time you think you have an excuse to skip your workout, remember you can do whatever you want if you want it bad enough. 9 times out of ten, it’s not about whether you can, it’s just whether you will.
How much time have you wasted contemplating something you know you should do?
How much time do we waste creating excuses to get out of what we need to do?
How many times have we spent more time thinking about doing something than actually doing the something?
We sure wast a LOT of time!
Listen, if you WANT to be fit, quit wanting and start working on being fit. Whether you can or not rarely is even a question. It’s just a matter of whether you WILL. As long as you make your workouts optional, you are allowing your success to be optional. Quit wasting precious time. Just show up!
Unleash Your Super Powers
I don’t know about you, but I have SO done this. I get to that point, after maybe overeating or just feeling lazy, where I lay in bed imagining myself better, stronger, healthier, faster and back on track. Sometimes I feel like I could just pop out of bed that very moment if I could (but I hate running in the dark, so that ain’t gonna ever happen). BUT, I keep imagining me lacing up my shoes, getting pumped at the gym, making a salad and doing everything I need to do to start the day off right …tomorrow.
Then, tomorrow comes, and sometimes (for others, it may be every time, nothing happens. All that imagining requires something: it’s called follow through. Yep, I actually have to DO it. I can’t just dream about it. This isn’t I Dream of Jeannie where I can blink myself fit. I have to make it happen – whether I continue to feel as motivated as I was last night or not.
Where was that motivation I had yesterday? Where’s my Lasso of truth now? Nothing has changed. I still feel fat and lazy. I still want those results. That’s when you have to decide whether you want to keep playing super hero with your thoughts, or act like one.
I bought these Wonder Woman socks, mostly for fun – but it’s funny how they’ve reminded me I don’t need a cape to conquer my enemies. And it’s reminded me of how many people are my real live hero.
You CAN be FAST, you CAN be POWERFUL and you CAN feel as BEAUTIFUL as you want! You just haven’t unleashed all your super powers …yet! And, once you do, every day you show up, YOU have the chance to not only be super powerful, but you can be someone ELSE’S super hero by just being a healthy example. And all you really have to do is keep showing up.
The Short Cut to Weight Loss
How much time and money have you wasted on trying the newest gadget, supplement, pill, bar, shake and diet that didn’t deliver or last anyway? We’ve all done it. We try the easiest way first. Then, when that doesn’t work, we try the next easy thing. But, after you’ve tried 10-20 short cuts, you finally resort to fitness. Yes, you finally try eat right and exercise. After you finally get results, you realize you could have saved a lot of time and money if you just lost the weight the right way the first time around.
So, essentially, exercise and diet IS the short cut. It’s the best way to get results fast – and to maintain those results. Sure, it’s not the easiest way, but not all short cuts are easy – but they can still be fast.
My mom tried everything in the book. She tried diet pills, diet programs, diet support groups, acupuncture – you name it, she tried it. She even tried to Jazzercise off the weight. Finally, in her fifties, she finally decided it was time to LEARN the right way to eat and exercise. She realized she had relied on gimmicks and rules for weight loss, not knowledge. It took some time and energy to learn everything she needed to do, but it worked.
She finally learned to eat smart, and not diet. She learned how to exercise right, and manage her weight by understanding the checks and balances of her body. She lost 100lbs. At 60 she finally got the results she’s always wanted.
Don’t be tempted to put fitness off as a last resort. It should be the first thing you try, not the last.
Here is my mom in 2003, before she tackled her weight, and now (with my dad) at the gym. So proud of both my parents. My dad put on 25lbs of muscle over the last 10 years, and they workout and run together on a regular basis. They may have waited until their late 50s to get fit, but they have successfully reinvented themselves and are living the fit life in their 60s! They prove it’s never too late to do it right! Love you guys!!!!!!
Are You Training Your Best?
How much FIRE do your workouts have? Are you winded between exercises? Do you wish you could just stop for just a few seconds to catch your breath? Do you have a trainer or timer (like the GymBoss Interval Timer) setting a pace for you? OR, do you start your next exercise when you are ready – and stop when you are tired?
If you aren’t begging for rest, then you aren’t training your best. Learn to push yourself and train outside your comfort zone. That type of training won’t happen on its own. That has to be planned, and even forced.
Make your next workout the best workout yet! #LiveWithFire
Why Do You Train?
Reality Check
Why do you train? Sometimes that is a question we have to not only ask ourselves when we start a workout program, but we have to ask ourselves that over and over again on our journey. Why? Because we get off track. We often start with a clear and specific goal in mind. It’s normally very simple. We want to be better. We want to be a better version of our old self.
Then, as we pursue that goal, we tend to get off track. We begin to compare ourselves to others. We can easily begin to see what we are not, instead of what we’ve become. Sometimes this can make us push harder. For many, it can do the opposite. We can become discouraged or overwhelmed. Sometimes we can become obsessed.
I encourage you to step back. Look at why you started this. Look at how far you’ve come. Look at the big picture. You are not a better woman, mom, worker, friend, spouse or neighbor if you hold a trophy. No trophy, prize or title makes you better. Being better than someone else doesn’t make you better. Being better than the old you makes you better. That’s what makes you a success. Your greatest accomplishment is beating your own records and accomplishing new goals. THAT makes you a winner.
There is no greater reward than a healthier you. There is nothing better than feeling stronger than you did a few weeks ago, leaner than you’ve been in a long time, healthier than you ever thought possible.
YOU are your reward.
YOU are your prize.
No Motivation, No Problem
I believe many people are waiting for motivation to show up – as if they can’t make any progress without it. Feeling motivated comes and goes, so you can’t rely on it to keep you going. Science, however, is constant. The work you put in will always reap a reward. If you are one of those people who keep waiting to “feel” motivated, STOP. Stop wasting precious time waiting on a feeling to show up. Instead, use your noggin. Focus on the facts. Focus on the reward, not the work.
Although there are times I feel energized to run, and jacked to lift – they are too few and far between to rely on those feelings to keep me going. So, I rely on routine, discipline, commitment and follow through to get me where I want to be.
Why do I focus on motivational quotes and photos to help others? Because I’m the most unmotivated person I know. I know what I have to tell myself day after day to get to the gym. I know what it takes to talk myself out of ordering french fries. Fitness does not come easy for me. I’d rather lay on the beach and eat a burger like this chick! But I know how it will make me feel afterwards, and it ain’t pretty. Do you want to know where all my motivational quotes come from? They come from my own daily struggles, lessons learned and many failures.
Feeling motivated can be pretty magical, but being disciplined is way more powerful. No matter how you feel or how you perform, as long as you keep showing up and doing the work, you WILL get the reward. Keep Showing Up.
