Read Online Ballet Beautiful: Transform Your Body and Gain the Strength, Grace and Focus of a Ballet Dancer by Mary Helen Bowers - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mary Helen Bowers
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yourself, and enjoy yourself. But if work deadlines, family obligations, or invitations to happy hour always get in the way of your working out at night, I’m going to strongly suggest that you find a way to make exercise a part of your morning or midday routine.
One way to stay motivated is to listen to your body and pay attention to how good you feel when you do work out. This kind of attunement is a key to motivation. We all have worked out even when we didn’t feel like it, knowing that it’s going to make us feel so much better. Play this forward: when you feel sluggish, stressed, or time-constrained, remind yourself of this awesome cause-and-effect. Thinking about how great I’ll feel after my workout always motivates me to push through!
Just as I don’t skip meals, I always find at least 15 minutes each day to work out. Even when my day lasts 16 hours, rushing from meetings and training sessions, writing for my blog, and managing my growing Ballet Beautiful business, I find a little time to move, just for me. I know that I am lucky because I can often sneak in my own exercise when I am training or teaching class. But that doesn’t happen every day; there are some days when I can’t even put 15 minutes together to work out. I try to remember, however, the importance of balance and maintenance. So, on those days, I find myself doing a quick version of my Cardio Swan Arms at night while waiting for the pasta to boil, or some ab work before my shower in the morning. Remember: a little bit can go a long way—and every little piece counts!
Regular exercise has a very important domino effect: the more you exercise, the more your body gets accustomed to the physical activity, and the more the exercise invigorates you by speeding up your metabolism (so you’re burning fat throughout the day!), the sharper your focus becomes and the longer your attention span. You can suddenly become more efficient, more confident, and suddenly more productive.
It doesn’t take a professional training program with five hours a day or more of physical exercise to make this happen! Even when you are busy, if you make time for 10 or 15 minutes of exercise, you will feel better about yourself, make better food choices, and be more likely to work out again tomorrow.
Making Maintenance Work
When I look back at my early approach to dieting, I see clearly why I was destined to fail. My focus was on getting somewhere, but I had no clue how to maintain the results. Many lifelong dieters cringe when they hear the word maintenance. Why? Because it’s a word that refers to the plateau that many people reach when they stick to a deprivation-based diet or it reminds them of past failures.
Ballet Beautiful is different. You are working hard to achieve your new Ballet Beautiful body, and maintaining it is simply about finding balance and staying away from the extremes. All you need to do is check in daily with yourself: What did I have for breakfast? Have I eaten enough fruits, veggies, and whole grains today? Should I do a 15-minute workout or a longer one? Have I had enough water today?
Such questions enable you to stay attuned to how you feel and what you need and help you develop the awareness and confidence either to stop eating before you get too full or to correct and adjust your eating habits when life gets hectic and you slip. This is the place where Ballet Beautiful becomes a part of your life, not just a new workout and diet program you are trying. It’s the sweet spot, and I want to help you get there and stay there! It may not sound very sexy, but one of the keys to Ballet Beautiful’s balanced approach is knowing that you can eat a slice or two of pizza and have a glass of wine with friends and still work out the next day with confidence and ease.
Remember to Take a Rest Day
I always take off one full day each week to rest, relax, and recover. The body needs the downtime, and the mind needs the break. But don’t confuse a rest
One way to stay motivated is to listen to your body and pay attention to how good you feel when you do work out. This kind of attunement is a key to motivation. We all have worked out even when we didn’t feel like it, knowing that it’s going to make us feel so much better. Play this forward: when you feel sluggish, stressed, or time-constrained, remind yourself of this awesome cause-and-effect. Thinking about how great I’ll feel after my workout always motivates me to push through!
Just as I don’t skip meals, I always find at least 15 minutes each day to work out. Even when my day lasts 16 hours, rushing from meetings and training sessions, writing for my blog, and managing my growing Ballet Beautiful business, I find a little time to move, just for me. I know that I am lucky because I can often sneak in my own exercise when I am training or teaching class. But that doesn’t happen every day; there are some days when I can’t even put 15 minutes together to work out. I try to remember, however, the importance of balance and maintenance. So, on those days, I find myself doing a quick version of my Cardio Swan Arms at night while waiting for the pasta to boil, or some ab work before my shower in the morning. Remember: a little bit can go a long way—and every little piece counts!
Regular exercise has a very important domino effect: the more you exercise, the more your body gets accustomed to the physical activity, and the more the exercise invigorates you by speeding up your metabolism (so you’re burning fat throughout the day!), the sharper your focus becomes and the longer your attention span. You can suddenly become more efficient, more confident, and suddenly more productive.
It doesn’t take a professional training program with five hours a day or more of physical exercise to make this happen! Even when you are busy, if you make time for 10 or 15 minutes of exercise, you will feel better about yourself, make better food choices, and be more likely to work out again tomorrow.
Making Maintenance Work
When I look back at my early approach to dieting, I see clearly why I was destined to fail. My focus was on getting somewhere, but I had no clue how to maintain the results. Many lifelong dieters cringe when they hear the word maintenance. Why? Because it’s a word that refers to the plateau that many people reach when they stick to a deprivation-based diet or it reminds them of past failures.
Ballet Beautiful is different. You are working hard to achieve your new Ballet Beautiful body, and maintaining it is simply about finding balance and staying away from the extremes. All you need to do is check in daily with yourself: What did I have for breakfast? Have I eaten enough fruits, veggies, and whole grains today? Should I do a 15-minute workout or a longer one? Have I had enough water today?
Such questions enable you to stay attuned to how you feel and what you need and help you develop the awareness and confidence either to stop eating before you get too full or to correct and adjust your eating habits when life gets hectic and you slip. This is the place where Ballet Beautiful becomes a part of your life, not just a new workout and diet program you are trying. It’s the sweet spot, and I want to help you get there and stay there! It may not sound very sexy, but one of the keys to Ballet Beautiful’s balanced approach is knowing that you can eat a slice or two of pizza and have a glass of wine with friends and still work out the next day with confidence and ease.
Remember to Take a Rest Day
I always take off one full day each week to rest, relax, and recover. The body needs the downtime, and the mind needs the break. But don’t confuse a rest
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