What Sarah learned from Jazz Musicians

A big fat dinner party. Raising money for a good cause. Training with others to run a 13.1. Sitting back to listen to some great jazz musicians create amazing music. All of these have something in common... people working together...collaborating.

Collaboration is so where it's at! And yes, there’s goodness to be had in solitude, but working with other people to create an event, an experience, is truly a bad*ss, mojo, wonder-us, bit of magic. Because after all, wherever two or more are gathered together focused towards a common goal, well, the energy grows exponentially and amazingly beautiful things happen. That's the kind of groove I love to be a part of.

So it's no wonder that I’m totally geeked about the Women’s Movement Collaborative weekend. The WMC team is such a stunning collection of strong (physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually) women.  Each has carved out a niche for themselves.

They’ve “struggled strong”, as WMCer Jamie Snow talks about (and Jamie truly knows the strength and vulnerability it takes to “struggle strong”) to claim their unique and oh so personal space in the world. Each woman on the WMC team has been inspired and believes in giving back by inspiring others to find their strength and their passion.

But it's not been all rainbows and unicorns for these women. Each of these women have had to make their way in the face of stereo-types and preconceived notions of what a woman is capable of and what a woman should be and should do. And they’ve all fallen on their asses but have refused to accept failure as an option. They get back up and find a way. Each of these women are ridiculously persistent with a“f*ck you if you think I’m gonna accept defeat” kind of attitude.

But they are also a fiercely playful band of women. They love to laugh. They love to joyfully express themselves through movement. They explore their limits intelligently, and yes, sometimes stupidly. I mean what sane person runs anything past a 13.1. Sarah Scozzaro (Drty Runner), 100km!? 100miles!? WTF!? But seriously Sarah, those friggin’ crazy distances are amazing. Can't wait to hear about the demons you had to wrestle and how you kicked their *sses to the curb to make it happen.

And then there’s the dynamic duo of “Strong Body & Strong Mind”, Julie Angel and MaryBeth Gangemi. Talk about two women who live movement and are passionate about making movement accessible to everyone. And by movement I’m not talking about simply taking a walk around the block or a few downward dogs. I'm talking about crazy *ss Parkour and MovNat moves. Teaching all kinds of people how to start small and explore movement to the fullness of their potential. To grow their potential (physical/mental/emotional/spiritual) through exploring movement. They are freakin’ Wonder Woman bad*sses who are curious and playful souls.

And can we talk Kristy Gosart? Sweet Jesus she can defy gravity. But what she loves better than being able to do all those fancy handstands and body weight moves is serving others in finding their own groove of defying gravity.

Then there’s Dani Almeyda. I gotta say my life has been blessed by knowing Dani and being able to witness her unfoldment as a positive force of nature in serving others by helping them reclaim their Original Strength. She is a damn strong woman, wildly creative, a lover of elevated rolls, with the heart of a warrior-goddess.

And last but not least, there's going to be a tribe of awesome women attending the WMC workshop. And each of these women is going to add their unique and special mojo magic to the party. The WMC weekend is going to be a big, fat, delicious weekend of collaboration and discovery. Hell, there may even be fireworks and a hallelujah chorus at some points. Because there's gonna be some mighty positive vibrational shifts of empowerment flowing as women come together creating spaciousness, for themselves and each other, in order to embrace more of their wondrous, bad*ss and beautiful potential.

So queue up Helen Reddy 'cuz we are women hear us roar!!

This blog was written by Sarah Young, who was recently featured as a #wcw and felt inspired to share her thoughts and words.  Thanks to Sarah for sharing!!!

 

How to train less, enjoy more, and move well.

I'm going to tell you a secret. I do not train for 3 hours every day. Some times I do not train much more than 3 hours a week.

I love training but I have a full time non-fitness job. I also want to spend time coaching, making cool shit, hanging out with my friends, going for long hikes and taking my kittens to the emergency vet when they get in a fight with a bee. Ok, I don't love the emergency vet but I have a lot of things that I want to do with my time as well as training.

So how do I fit it all in? There's skill training, strength training, flexibility work, flow, rehab, prehab... It's exhausting just writing all that out. But I can do it all in less than an hour a day (on average). 

Here are my top 3 tips:

1. Do the minimum amount that you need to in order to be able to do the things that I want to do. Through practice and experimentation I have found that I get the best results when I do strength and skill work 4 times a week for between 60 and 90 minutes. I do not need to do more. In fact when I do train more I tend to get worse results. 
2. Don't try and learn everything at once. Focus on the things that are the most important to you. Would I like to be able to do a full split in my handstand. Hell yes! Do I need to? Not at all. What is your number 1 goal? Focus on that. I usually have 2 skills that I am focusing on and one flexibility goal.
3. Stack your workout. I do rehab, prehab and flexibility exercises during my rest periods on my strength exercises. For example I'll do a superset of handstand push-ups and cossack squats with one of my shoulder rehab exercises during the rest period.

I am not saying you shouldn't train more. If you have the time and the ability to recovery, then go for it. I trained 30 hours a week when I was a teenager and I loved it so much. What I am saying is that you don't need to. It's about prioritizing what is important to you, smart programming and working with your lifestyle.

I thought it might be helpful to share how I organize my workout so I can both kick ass in my training and actually have time to work and enjoy the summer. Check out this video that I made of my workout:

If you are not interested in watching a 5 minute video here are the main takeaways:

• Warm-up: Keep it short and warm-up the things that you are going to use in that workout.
• Skill Work: I set aside a maximum of 30 minutes to work on skills but often spend less time.
• Skill Work: Stack your skill work so that you are doing a flexibility or rehab exercise during your rest period.
• Skill Work: If a skill is not working move on. Don't get frustrated.
• Conditioning: I include strength, active flexibility and exercises that are keeping my joints healthy and put them into circuits so that I can fit as much in as possible.
• Conditioning: I use smart programming and focus on the exercises that I need and not every possible exercise that I can do.
• Finisher: Short and intense endurance work at the end of my workout. It is important to do this at the end so that I am not exhausted for the rest of my workout.

“You don’t need to spend hours a day in the gym to be able to move well, build strength and learn some skills.”

— Kirsty Grosart

So in total I spend 5-10 minutes warming up, 15-30 minutes on skill work, 20-30 minutes on conditioning and then 10 minutes on my finisher. I do sessions such as this 4 times a week.

You don't need to spend hours a day in the gym to be able to move well, build strength and learn some skills.

Have fun and enjoy your workouts!

Woman Crush Wednesday- Meet Patti

Meet Peiting (Patti) Lien.  

Patti is one of those women you meet and you feel like  you instantly get smarter just when you hear her speak... but not the kind that makes you feel kinda dumb... she's a great teacher and has a way of explaining things.  She is seriously intelligent you guys... and she is passionate about the power of movement. Not just for herself, but with her patients.  Patti is a physical therapist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD.  

Always up for learning something new, which is how she got herself into racing an Olympic Distance Triathlon, makes her adventurous and humble (a great combo, we think!).  Random facts, Patti was born in Taiwan and also lived in New Zealand before moving to the United States. Working at Hopkins also had her flying back and forth to the UAE for a few years to care of high ranking officials, which is pretty awesome. 

You can connect with Patti on Facebook! Alrighty, now let's get to know Patti a little bit and see why she is this week's #WCW.

Q: What do you do?

A: Physical Therapist that specializes in working with neurologic conditions as well as adolescent scoliosis.

Q: What else do you do?

A: Come up ways to challenge myself outdoors- from whitewater kayaking, doing triathlons, backpacking and dream up of more adventures.

Q: How do you define the word 'strength'?

A: "Strength" is having the ability to do life in ways you're called to live it - from ability to trim hedges to changing lightbulbs to hauling dog food and bags of groceries in all at the same time.

Q: How did you discover your passion/work/niche?

A: I was inspired with the privilege to work with people where their life has changed dramatically due to a neurologic condition - be it stroke, brain tumor, traumatic brain injury or a long term degenerative condition. It gives me the greatest joy to be able to see them get back to doing what they have loved before their diagnosis.

This can be as simple as sitting to standing and to walk from A to B without falling or run after their child to cross the road safely to hiking with their family again or travel the world. All these movements are often taken for granted and it takes a lot of tenacity to regain these activities with efficiency. These patients are have to work just as hard as an athlete, actually harder, in many ways and it's inspiring and emotionally moving. 

Personally I love learning how to move - from learning to kayak to swim and to run or bike with more efficiency and how we learn to move is also what fascinates me.

Q: How do you incorporate movement into your daily lifestyle?

A: I have a dog named Jobi that I walk on a daily basis. I analyze movements at work by watching people move and then figure out how to make that movement more fluid - often using principles of OS - so when my patients are rolling, crawling or marching, i'm also joining them as much as possible. I train for triathlons so there's usually a swim, bike or run workout waiting for me after work.

Q: Where would be a good starting point for someone who is looking to add more movements into their life like what you do?

A: Simple answers are:

1. Get a dog or a walking buddy and start walking around the neighborhood!
2. Aim to walk 5-10 minutes with rest breaks as needed and then build.

“Trying new things reminds me of how amazing our body really is and how fascinating it is to explore and even overcome some fear and uncertainties about the task or activity. ”

Not everyone can just run out and get a dog (actually you can volunteer at a local shelter realistically) so it's good to keep an open mind to trying all sorts of new things.

Trying new things makes me appreciate the reality of some barriers to why some patient don't want to go to try something harder. Trying new things reminds me of how amazing our body really is and how fascinating it is to explore and even overcome some fear and uncertainties about the task or activity.

I know learning to swim and whitewater kayaking was all of that. It made me realize how hard it can be to learn a new movement sometimes.

Q: How do you recommend people get into trying something new?

Be adventurous.... yet gracious to ourselves of the outcome.  You have to embrace whatever it may be, and understand that often it probably won't look that pretty or fluid-- but just keep trying!

Oh, and keep having fun. The best part is to find others to join you in the activity. A lot of times the experience is more special because of the people that you experienced it with! 

“The best part is to find others to join you in the activity. A lot of times the experience is more special because of the people that you experienced it with!”

Q: How do you define 'fitness'?

A: Fitness to me is the ability to do the daily tasks of life when demanded without getting injured - like shoveling snow, putting a kayak on a roof rack or carrying groceries up steps.

 I hope the future of fitness shows 'fitness = living life to its fullest'

Q: Does movement increase your self-confidence? If yes, how?

A: I think it isn't just movement itself but perhaps the ability to learn the movement and be changed by that new found ability to move that empowers me.  This then increases my confidence.

There's nothing like overcoming the fear of drowning whether it is open water swim or whitewater kayaking, but practicing the techniques build that confidence in knowing my ability to not drown!

“Who you become while you are waiting is as important as what you are waiting for” ”

— Louie Giglio

Q: What motivates the crap out of you? (quote, music, people, sport, etc)

A: "Who you become while you are waiting is as important as what you are waiting for" - Louie Giglio

Q: What advice would you give to your younger self and anyone out there?

A: Enjoy and trust the process -there's more of you inside than you think there is.  

Woman Crush Wednesday- Meet Brittany

Meet Brittany Lillegard.  

Brittany has been traveling the world like a wild woman sharing some amazing adventures and we absolutely loved her responses to our #wcw interview (and you will too).  Brittany started Wild Woman Strong, which is getting kicked into gear (she just launched with an awesome 5-day Journaling Workshop)  and we are super pumped to see more!  

She's a lover of journaling, captures some seriously incredible images, is originally from Chi-town, although she currently lives a nomadic lifestyle, and is passionate about connecting with other women, helping them discover and cultivate a life of self-care and an unapologetic self-love. 

This woman is pretty awesome in our book and we can't wait to collaborate with her.

Connect with Brittany and follow along with her adventures here!

Instagram  -  Facebook  -  www.wildwomanstrong.com

What do you do?

I am a nomadic strength coach + yoga instructor and founder + creator at Wild Woman Strong, where I share resources and tools for fostering a life filled with self-care and adventure.

What else do you do?

Coffee + Pizza, Barefoot + Adventures, anything that gets me outside of my comfort zone!

How do you define the word 'strength'?

I strongly believe that strength and resiliency are intimately connected and that strength isn't just a physical trait, but also a characteristic of one's mental and emotional being and that all three interplay with each other.

The strongest people I know are those that are able to continue moving forward in the face of adversity or in challenging situations.

How did you discover your passion/work/niche?

My passion for helping women cultivate stronger and more effective self-care routines has come directly out of my experiences healing from a very low period of depression that was brought on by a lack of respect for myself and lack of methods and resources for taking care of more than just my physical health.

Also from my experiences working with women in the gym, most of my clients were coming to me with weight loss goals, but it became very clear to me early on in my career that in order for my clients to see sustainable and long-term results that there were also changes that needed to take place outside of the gym. More often than not it was more than a case of just "eating too much" that had caused weight gain in the first place, and things like lack of self-confidence, putting others first far too often, or lacking the resources or knowledge for creating effective self-care routines were bigger culprits.

Since my end goal is to give my clients sustainable and long-term results I wanted to create a space where I could provide them with a more holistic experience and more than just an exercise program.

How do you incorporate movement into your daily lifestyle?

I have been nomadic for the past two years, meaning I don't always have access to the same spaces, equipment or types of workouts.

In the past, I used to follow very structured kettlebell and mobility programming and rarely strayed from that method of training. However, once I started traveling full time I had to get more creative with my movement routine and following a strict program became challenging. Now, my focus is more on incorporating movement that allows me to best explore the area that I'm in and focusing more on the needs of my body in the moment.

Walking has become a far more valuable movement to me because its my favorite way to explore new cities or areas, and since I tend to travel to a lot of places specifically to enjoy nature, activities such as hiking, kayaking, and rock climbing have become a more integral part of my lifestyle.

Since I don't have consistent access to a gym anymore and don't follow any specific programming, when I am in the gym it forces me to be more in tune with what kind of movements my body has been craving. And of course the lack of consistent gym access has made my own body more valuable to me as a workout "tool", and I have really enjoyed getting more creative with how I use my body to create resistance or play with movement flows.

Where would be a good starting point for someone who is looking to add more movements into their life like what you do?

As a grade A perfectionist and overly organized soul, learning how to just play with movement rather than having a structured program has been huge for me and has brought so much more enjoyment into the process, not to mention my body just feels happier too.

“I highly recommend that people try ditching the programming and equipment for a week and just play. ”

I highly recommend that people try ditching the programming and equipment for a week and just play. See how many squat, lunge, or push-up variations you can come up with and note how different they feel for you and note how your body actually feels during the movements.

If it feels good, do more of it. If it feels like crap, ditch it.

Try getting upside down and play with some handstands or cartwheels or move your workouts to the playground and climb around a little bit.

How do you define 'fitness'?

For me, fitness is anything that allows one to do what they want to do in their lives.

I have so many clients that come to me with the goal of weight loss, when in reality their real goal is to be able to keep up with their children and play on the floor or run through the park, carry their groceries with more ease or just participate in every day life without feeling restricted and fitness is having the ability to do those things with ease.

Where do you see the future of the fitness?

I hope that more and more people realize that there is no one size fits all approach to fitness. Movement comes in so many beautiful forms, none being better or more right than the others, and I hope that more people start to approach fitness with an explorative and open mind.

“Exploring different movement styles has been such an amazing way for me to explore my own physicality and mental strength and I am continually amazed by what my body can be capable of.

”

Does movement increase your self-confidence? 

Hell yes! Exploring different movement styles has been such an amazing way for me to explore my own physicality and mental strength and I am continually amazed by what my body can be capable of.

Not to mention, it just makes me feel good, both mentally and physically, and feeling good and healthy makes it easier to respect and love yourself for what you're capable of.

What motivates the crap out of you? 

So many things! Coaching is probably my number one motivator - I am so fortunate that I get to continually work with people who are regularly getting outside their comfort zones and making positive changes in their lives.

Seeing my clients overcome challenges and accomplish things they may have never thought possible before is such an amazing experience to be a part of and I get to witness these types of experiences regularly.

Also, anytime I'm feeling in a funk or need motivation or inspiration, choosing to get outside of my comfort zone does wonders for helping me get inspired and motivated.

What advice do you wish you could have given your former self?

That I'm not broken and never will be.

I spent so much time trying to fix myself when the reality is that there was nothing to fix. Learning to love myself and appreciate my uniqueness has been a game changer for me.