Killed It In 2013, Now Ready To Dominate 2014

This year I had several ups and downs in my fitness journey. And as I end 2013 on a positive note, I can't help but be excited about starting off 2014 strong and looking forward to meeting several new health and fitness goals! I wanted to share a couple things with you in hopes it will inspire you to start or continue your own personal health and fitness journey. I also hope anything I post throughout the year continues to be encouraging and motivating so this time next year we can all be even healthier.

The first thing I wanted to share is my most recent PR (personal record) for a deadlift. I couldn't have been more excited to end 2013 with a new PR of lifting 255 pounds (3rd pic below)! Michael and his team of trainers will always try to get pictures of these special moments, and each time I look at the most recent picture, I still can't believe what all I've accomplished. It not only got me thinking about things over this past year, but over the 2 1/2 years I've been training at Fitness Together. First, just to put my most recent PR into perspective, I have the last three pictures (see captions for dates and weight lifted) Michael took of when I hit PRs on deadlifts. In less than three months I increased the weight on my deadlift by 25 pounds! And the fact when I first started back in 2011 I wasn't even attempting any type of intensive strength training like this and was struggling to do exercises with a 15 pound kettlebell, just shows how hard work and dedication can pay off.

October 15, 2013 deadlift 230 pounds

November 11, 2013 deadlift 240 pounds

December 31, 2013 deadlift 255 pounds

The second thing I wanted to share, is the importance of focusing on positive thoughts. We will all have our moments and struggles during our health and fitness journey, it's just part of it. And we will even have moments we may not handle them the best way. I know for me personally I become very emotional, which leads to lack of sleep and then stressing about the fact I'm struggling. But the most important thing, is that we don't allow these moments to completely derail us from our main purpose, and that's to be the healthiest we can be.

Someone posted an idea on Facebook that I'm tweaking to help me stay positive through my health and fitness journey. The original idea was to take a jar, and throughout the 2014 year write down anything positive that happened. Then at the end of the year you take the notes out and read them to remind you of all the good things that have happened to you the past year. What I've done is made a "Positive Thoughts" box, that has various quotes on there. In the picture below you can see the top and front, and then on the sides and back the following three quotes are listed: "Persist", "Nothing Is Impossible, The Word Itself Says I'm Possible", and "Never, Never, Never Give Up". The quotes are intended to help me stay positive as much as possible. And then anytime I have something positive happen with my health and fitness, such as loss on the scale, going down a size in clothes, hitting a new PR, I'll write it down and put it in this box. The great thing about this, is you don't have to wait to the end of the year to remind yourself of what all you've accomplished. When you have those moments you feel discouraged or you're not doing good enough, those reminders of everything you've accomplished will be just what you need to get refocused and back on track.

If you take anything out of this post, I want you to know that you deserve to be happy and healthy! And if you are willing to put in the hard work and are ready to make the changes, there's nothing that you can't accomplish! I hope I've been able to inspire and help others through my blog in 2013, and I'm looking forward to another great year in 2014 for us all! Here's to a healthier and stronger you!