I think that one of the best things about strength training is the ability to shift your mindset about know what it looks like necessarily, but what it can do, and I think that really stood out for me with strength training, because when you're starting training and you're building muscle, you can do things that you weren't able to do with less muscle. That's right, and it's not just in terms of muscle mass, but also the strength of the muscles, because we know that it's not just about muscle mass, but it's also about how much muscle you have.

Right? And so for example, you can be, you know, maybe you don't have that much muscle mass, but your muscles are really, really, really strong. Right. So how much what percentage of the muscle is working, right? So hopefully that makes sense.

But I think that is really great for people who maybe have struggled with sort of focusing too much on the esthetics of fitness and more so wanting to shift to making it about overall health and having energy and your well-being and your mental health and fitness for longevity.

When I made those shifts from, well, that specific shift from thinking about it, not just in terms of esthetics and trying to look a certain way and have esthetic fitness goals and really transforming that motivation to work out into something much more important.

And just in terms of overall health and happiness for your entire lifetime, at least having that goal of fitness, for longevity that made me way happier. And I know that a lot of you have responded to different videos I've posted and said that that is something that you focus on now because it's just it helps you be in that better mental headspace. And so I think it's really cool because when you focus on trying to get stronger and build strength, it just makes the workout so much more fun. You actually do end up building muscle without stressing about it, and you actually end up achieving your esthetic fitness goals without trying to specifically obtain those esthetic fitness goals. Does that make sense? So I really encourage you if you're listening to this right now and you're sort of in a spot where you, you know, you might be focusing too much on getting that six pack or growing your glutes, it's like, well, first of all, think about why, why is it that you're doing

that? Is it because of some external pressure? Is it because you're looking up to certain fit flu answers or has social media got the better of you? Has social media gotten the better of you more with the way you train because you're not obsessing over some external, you know, goal, which is general esthetic?

So I would just say try to reevaluate the reasons your training, and that also goes with rest, rest days, right? Maybe you are overtraining. Maybe you want to get to your goals fast. And so you feel like overloading, overloading the muscles and doing as many reps and as many strength days or as many cardio days as you

can possibly jam into a week or a month. And then slowly realizing that it's not sustainable or you perhaps you know your progress is stymied because of an injury or something like that, that kind of road roadblock, then maybe it's time to think about balance finding that balance.

And it's something that I'm constantly evaluating myself. And I have to tell you that introspection really, really helps. So in those cases, I would really suggest that you shut off the noise from outside, be it through fitfluencers or as you follow or social media accounts that you follow.

Maybe it's about shutting those off and really digging deep and figuring out what makes you happy and what's going to help you get to your goals. And again, your goals are not necessarily someone else's goals and vice versa, right?

We're not going to have the same. Both you and I have different goals, and that's great that not everyone should have the same goal, right? And you might have a similar goal to a friend or someone on social media, but they're not going to be the exact same thing.

Right. And so it's really important to think about what are your goals and what's going to make you happy and how are you going to get there? And I think I'll say this for the last sort of the last little part of this video would be that it's not about getting there quick, right?

Thinking about the final destination of your journey, your fitness journey. Let's say it's about getting there and you will get there, provided that you're consistent and your passion, and I would add your balanced. So finding a way to balance it all out because it can get a little bit crazy when you're trying to jam everything in and maybe you have like 20 goals, just start with one and let that take shape and sink your teeth into it and let it happen naturally and gradually. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, right? So that is that's what I wanted to share with you today in this video.

So comment below. Let me know how any part of your fitness journey has helped you change your mindset about things for the better. Like get healthier, have a better outlook on life. Have a better relationship to your body, to the way you view your body, to the way you view what it can do.

We have to take care of ourselves, mind, body and spirit, and the more we do that, the better off will be and the better our relationships will be as well. Because again. We are not just in this by ourselves, we are connected to each other and with the people in our lives, so we really do have to

be cognizant of that. And I think when we put our best foot forward, we can help others put their best foot forward. So that's just something to think about. All right. We'll see you in the next IgnyteFit! Bye for now.

Thank you for reading!!