There is no “new you” – fitness doesn’t start over

Happy New Years Readers,

It is officially 2022, seven days ago and I know in the prior years, this usually means everyone has a New Year’s resolution, and “New me, New Year”, “starting over”, “I will start Monday” attitude when it comes to goals, aspirations, and wanting to do something that they missed out on in 2021, or stopped doing the previous year(s) because they either got bored, gave up, didn’t have time, no motivation, was distracted, and life happened all over again everyday.

I get it, I do. I fall in the category of people who put things off until “Monday” because I am too lazy to start now and because I’d rather pretend that my goals don’t exist until the start of the work week, but again, when Monday comes around, more excuses start to unravel and the cycle continues. So, yes, I get it. This blog is a good example of that, but I no longer have this mentality this year, because I want to develop my blog this year, develop my career, develop myself as a person this year, but unlike the previous years, I didn’t wait for Monday to arrive, I just did it! I went along for the ride no matter the day or time and landed here telling you — consistency is my problem when it comes to blogging, when it comes to anything that I want because it is hard for me until I make a routine of it. .. until I have hit a wall and then start to give up again, but i don’t want a wall to come between my life aspirations anymore and continue the cycle over and over again & neither should YOU!

There is no new you. Yes, you can evolve, and you can choose to change things about yourself, create new goals, and implement new routines to your life BUT it doesn’t mean it is a new you.. no, not at all. Actually, all this means is you have made the decision to finally make something a priority in your life that you hadn’t before — you did what you have been putting off, you might have had sacrifice to get to this point, but you are doing it because YOU WANT TO; END OF STORY. You want something bad enough, you will do it, you will learn, you will struggle, you will eventually conquer but you can’t give up, you can’t make excuses, and push dates back because you continue to choose Monday as a start date. What does this any of this have to do with fitness? As a professional in the field of fitness & health, this is me telling you, you don’t have to rebrand yourself as a new person in order to do something, you start your journey whenever you are ready & it doesn’t make you any less of a person because you didn’t do it “Monday” or because you didn’t finish last year — you are you — every-single-day. I don’t care when my clients start, it isn’t about your start date, it is about what will keep you going when you do decide to start something new for you & when “life happens”, how will you get around that obstacle? because life will happen and it doesn’t pause for you or I to catch up. #Facts

This is my start date, but who is keeping track? When I started this blog, I was consistent & I didn’t have life making decisions as often as I do now, I had more freedom, time seemed to be on my side and I fell in love with writing (meeting other bloggers, talking about my passion, learning from others, creating a positive space for everyone) etc. Fast forward to now — almost 6 years later & my life has changed in every way possible & I never seen any of this coming, but I am here for it every single day, I may not know my future or have all the answers when I need them most but I am trying to find my balance & find my happy place, find my way through obstacles, changes, and take it one day at a time with small steps vs one HUGE step forward and skipping all of the things that matter in between & rushing myself for something that will only cause me more anxiety and overwhelmingness. Goals are great! but only helpful when you map out how to get to them, how to progress in a manner that fits your current life (not the life before) because life is ever changing, so you can’t take my path because we are individuals and you can’t take the same path from 10 years ago because your life was different 10 years ago, so now you have to base your goals around your life that you have now and it isn’t fun sometimes people, and it is okay if you don’t have answers yet… that takes time & experiences. 2022 is not a new you, it is a new year for new experiences, more goals, more accomplishments, more celebrating your triumphs, more starting over when need be, and a year of figuring things out all over again — #cheers!

Shay-lon Moss Aka #FitnessWonderWoman (IG) — use this hashtag on IG if you are training to be strong, training to be better & training to be the best version of you!

Be sure to sign up for remote training if interested! — click the tab.

Like, share, comment & of course share all your goals with me, because I can’t be the only one who writes them down on paper anymore?! LOL

Flexibility — But WHY?

Flexibility =

+ Improved posture

+ Increased ROM

+ Improved mobility

+ Helps with being able to perform your everyday task; putting on shoes/socks, walking, bending, etc

So while I realize many do not always put flexibility on the front lines of importance, think of other reasons why flexibility might be a vital part of aging, being able to perform as an athlete, as well as going about our lives doing daily task / activities outside of the gym.

#TheFitnessWonderWoman Follow, subscribe & like!

Shay-lon Moss

Wiping the Slate Clean —

Finally,

I was without a laptop for some time now & while using my tablet was decent, it just never felt the same. Now, i have new laptop, new goals (here we go again) and new ideas for my “coming back again” celebration! lol.

Yes, this is like my 100th time coming back and every single time I do it, I disappear again and again and again, it seems life just gets the best of me & totally honest, it is hard coming back as a blogger who was doing so well when she started — literally did amazing and then coming back just seemed so stressful because I didn’t know how to come back properly or what to do or write about. I was trying for a time to write stuff but it didn’t come from my heart, nor did I really put time into it. I want my “come back” for the 100th time to be real, to be deliberate, to be passionate again, and to be consistent and informative and reliable information. I apologize to my readers for letting you guys down when you stayed in touch and tried to continue supporting me. I don’t blame those who have chosen to drop off, because my content hasn’t been the same since 5 years back.. *sigh*

To be honest, i don’t know how to come back to blogging after being gone for so long, being inconsistent for so long, being here & then not here — if you know how to come back, share it .. because I am lost. I definitely am going to research this, because my brain seems at a stand still when I give it thought. This new laptop will be a new beginning once more, but I won’t lead anyone on this time, instead I will put less pressure on myself by saying, “I do want to come back”, this is my starting point but I don’t know how to go forth with it. I know we can’t compare old me to new me, but so many things have been at waist side because I haven’t put myself first and before I turn 30 next year, I want to learn to put myself first & follow my aspirations, hopefully it isn’t too late… but here I come.

Shay-lon Moss

Monday Mobility – Quads

Hey everyone! sorry, I was gone for a whole week! due to not feeling well, if any of you follow me on Instagram, then you probably read my post about endometriosis — having had it since 7th grade, among other things — and my symptoms are pretty severe, so I was absent from wordpress, social platforms, the gym and people. If you want my story around that, follow me on IG & feel free to read the post. I am open about it, so if you have questions or recommendations (besides the fact that I want to have a full hysterectomy) then please feel share your experiences!

Now with that out of the way, let’s talk about today’s mobility monday post ….. QUADS! last mobility post, I believe I was talking about the shoulders? so I wanted to do a lower body post & perhaps I will keep this pattern going for a little while to keep things fun! If you are like me, you love working quads; and don’t say it is because I am a female & “females love working legs” because I have weak hammies & don’t enjoy them half as much as doing quads! #justsayin

How many of my fellow readers love a good quad day? share some warm up exercises you do for quads & or stretches! . If you don’t then listen up, because I am going to share a few mobility exercises you can use for the quads and are perfect to implement in your workouts! — don’t know how to perform these exercies? — I don’t mind posting a video showing you how, or you can find your favorite Youttuber and watch them perform some of these as well.

1) Kneeling lunge — a good one for those that don’t have knee injuries. I recommend this one a lot because not only does it help stretch the quads, but it teaches you how to move through the hip. So many of you probably hate lunges, but this a good one before performing your working set of lunges, and keep in mind, if you have a difficult time with balance with this exercise, feel free to use a chair or something to hold onto to keep from falling.

— for this particular stretch, I like to cue my clients to brace their core, and keep the shoulders stacked over the hips.

— you only need to shift forward until you feel a light stretch (NOT pain) hold this for some seconds, and then alternate legs; do this maybe 3-4 sets each leg pending on how you feel.

2) Standing quad stretch — so this is a popular one! I know many of you probably have done this or seen someone perform this. I added it to the list, because it is simple enough to do anywhere and for those of us who don’t particularly enjoy being on the ground due to health conditions, pain, injuries, etc, this is keeps you off the floor but still enables you to stretch the quads as needed.

– something to keep in mind, this exercise as popular as it is, gets done incorrectly more than you realize, so be sure to look up proper technique. It is simple but simple sometimes leads to bad form.

3) Side lying quad stretch. Much like the standing quad stretch but the only difference is you will you be lying on the ground on your side performing this one. again look up technique and be sure to have something comfortable underneath you.

4) Finally, I want to add the prone quad stretch. (AIS) active isolating stretch. This is an exercise that basically utilizes the contraction of opposing muscle groups in combo with passive assistance to achieve a deeper stretch.

– You will want to use a resistance band (very light resistance) or some long strap or band that is comfortable around your foot and something comfortable for you to pull on. Again, you will be on the floor, so have something underneath you. –

– I especially recommend watching this being done, if this is a new one for you, because it is a fun one, but because you need to know where to place the strap and how to properly pull it without pulling too hard.

Now most of you know that I am all for active movement for mobility & so with that being said, these are stretches I would perform for cool-down rather than as a active warm up for the quads. I didn’t list any active warm up stretches for the quads in this post because to be honest, most of you probably have a good leg warm up you use for lower body and believe it or not, it probably is also hitting them quads just as well – BUT if any of you would like some secret warm up exercises before hitting quads, let me know in the comments, and I don’t mind sharing some fun ones I do.

As always, thanks for reading, and remember to follow, like, share and follow my social platforms. If you are interested in nutrition coaching or personal training, please use my contact me menu to reach me. I am going to be making changes to the pricing and set up of my personal training soon, so be on the lookout & always feel to ask questions, my consultations are FREE!

Shay-lon #TheFitnessWonderWoman

Trainer Tip Tuesday! – Order Matters

Hey Bloggers & readers,

Today you are in for a treat with trainer tip tuesday, something many people forget or don’t know but something to always keep in mind when working out —

Today’s tip: The order of how you do your exercises matters. confused? Okay! well, Most beginners come to the gym ready to do something — they are trying to decide which machine, or free weight they should use & sometimes the thought of MOST fatiguing — to LEAST fatiguing doesn’t cross our minds when working out, BUT I want to let you know that order matters because it will help with preventing injury, hopefully will also allow you to get the most out of all your exercises.

My suggestion: plan ahead & make COMPOUND movements first on the agenda, unless you have some plyometric work (then usually you will start with plyos or do them on a different day) — same with power exercises, I would recommend power first.

Why? Simple! those exercises will require a lot of effort. Not a bad thing, just means, it will take a lot of your energy and it is best to start with them rather than end with them and not be able to give it all you got because your are exhausted or sore from the previous exercises.

Hopefully this was a helpful reminder for the next time you are at the gym!

share, comment, like & remember to follow!

Shay-lon #TheFitnessWonderWoman