I’ve misplaced my motivation somewhere between the soft pillows and biweekly Timmies runs.You gasp and sit up. The alarm on your phone is blaring its obnoxious wake up call, urging you to move your butt out of bed, from beneath the warm, comfortable, soft.....zzzzz.... ARGH, HUH, WHAT???! For a moment, you can’t remember why on earth your eyes are open, or what day it is. Then you remember. It’s Monday. You’re getting up to exercise. You’re supposed to be leaving your haven of blissful dreaming to get changed, go out in the cool air and run/bike/drive to the gym. You think about the cold side of the pillow (colder than your ex’s heart), lay your head down, and promise yourself you’re just going to close your eyes for a moment. Just close them to wake them up. You’re startled awake by your alarm. For work (or school, or a coffee date, or some other appointment). Not exercise, because you fell asleep. Again. Ah well, looking on the bright side, there’s always tomorrow to start. Yeah, tomorrow, it’ll be different. Is this you? Is this a struggle you’ve battled and lost multiple times? (Insert infomercial background music here).No, sadly, life and exercise cannot be solved by an infomercial. Chris wrote an excellent article (read here) on motivation, pain, athletes, and finding what matters to you and using this as your driving force to live stronger, fitter and as an absolute goal crusher. This is a follow up post. On that note, most of us, in regard to exercise, fall into one of these categories: You’ve battled the motivation and rocked it. You have this exercise thing figured out, and have no trouble getting out to run/bike/gym/team practice/gallop your horse into the sunrise. You have yourself convinced you love exercise, but whenever you...

Saggy skin. Belly pooch. Stretch Marks. Leaking.Did any of you moms just shudder? Cringe? I feel you. Why do so many of us want to erase the marks of a pregnancy? I know I struggled with it. I have stretchmarks where I didn't before. I have a little belly now that I never did before. My bellybutton even looks weird, for crying out loud! Where does this warped perception come from? We're surrounded by this celeb or that who have melted away the pounds. Other postnatal moms who have 4 perfect kids, cook 3 course meals from scratch every day, have impeccably kept houses, and look like models. Or people in our lives who expect us to get back to how we looked before. And to be honest, many of us will never get there.Let me clarify something first. I'm NOT saying you won't ever be able to get a flat stomach back. I am NOT saying you can't make fitness a central part of your life. I'm NOT saying you can't get to a healthy weight, and build muscle. I'm NOT saying you can't love yourself. What I AM saying, is you need to take a look at yourself, and realize that you are TRULY and THOROUGHLY BEAUTIFUL. If you're a mom who has struggled to fully believe that sentence, hop on into my boat. Let's float and talk about some mental shifts that I know were crucial for me to shift my perceptions. 1. Pokemon had some things rightDo you remember/have you heard of Pokemon? It's an awesome game/TV show that was a big part of the 90's generation, and still is! One of the concepts of Pokemon is the evolution from a beginner Pokemon to a more powerful one.You'll have a pretty awesome little Pokemon that goes through an incredible transformation, and becomes something even...

No one is perfect. Even in the areas where we see greatness there are still times when mistakes happen. But the average person may look at greatness and think it could never happen to them. For example: I could never be an expert in my field. I could never achieve financial freedom. I could never have a lean and pain-free physique. We assume those that have achieved success are blessed with talent and abilities that we don't. We got short-changed when God was doling out the gifts. And there's no point trying, failing and then proving to yourself and the rest of the world that this is true. Don't give talent too much credit for success. Sure you need to know to pull instead of push. But then it's work hard and persistence. Do you feel this way? Do you have self-limiting beliefs? Many people doubt what they're able to achieve. And this has less to do with talent and more to do with not meeting a minimum threshold of effort or not making the effort for long enough. Sometimes it could be both of these. In Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich, Hill tells the story of a prospector giving up on his quest for gold. Later when others resumed the dig they struck gold 3 feet from where the previous efforts had stopped. How frustrating would that be? To be so close to success and to quit. This is what happens to many with their health efforts. They haven't seen the outward sign of their sacrifice and so they pack it in. You can succeed in any area of your life. And here's how. If you read 10 pages per day that would be 3650 pages per year. This would be equivalent to 12 books a year or...

Hi Peak Performer! Are you watching the Olympics? If you are, you'll know Canada is getting it done in the pool. And the women are leading the way with a silver in the 4x100 m free relay including Taylor Ruck. What an anchor leg by Penny Oleksiak? Amazing! This was followed with a gold by Maggie Mac Neil in the 100 m fly. She was 7th at the turn an...