I was looking through old Fitness Blender clips today & saw our "toe touch stretch" video from 2010. I saw myself doing this stretch & felt positive that I was more flexible now. 

I took a side by side to check & was so excited to see the extra range of motion! Not bad considering right now I've got some seriously sore lower body muscles after yesterday's #FB30 HIIT & strength workout (I am currently following this 8 week program). 

I have also gained a significant amount of strength and muscle in this same time period; I could barely do a bodyweight squat or curl 3 lbs when I first started strength training - seriously. Flexibility & strength are not necessarily easy to build simultaneously so you can bet that I am even more proud of the Fitness Blender training style. This is exactly why we keep our workouts so varied & why we embrace so many different training styles; we want our workouts to build strength, endurance, and flexibility - not one at the expense of the others.

There are 6 years in between picture 1 & 2. I wanted to share this because I wanted to give a visual that represented this: progress (really of any kind) takes time, consistency & patience. 

Considering progress can sometimes feel like it's taking forever; I recommend not over analyzing yourself or your fitness/workouts. It's a good way to drive yourself crazy and it takes the focus off of the question "am I doing what I can do to be and feel my best?". That's the only part of the equation that you actually control; your actions. 

Just focus on how great it feels to challenge yourself. Don't beat yourself up or get frustrated because you're not where you think you "should" be (guilty), or judge yourself - just enjoy the challenge. Our fitness levels are all going to vary over the course of decades, years, months, and even days. So fall in love with the simple task of continually challenging yourself. It makes for a much more positive relationship with your body & exercise. Life is hard enough without talking negatively to yourself and you're much more likely to adapt exercise as a lifelong habit if you aren't continually dissecting and critiquing yourself or your fluctuating "progress". Learn to enjoy yourself!

Anyways, proof that both patience & practice is worth it! Do you have an example of an ah-ha moment where you were struck or surprised by what your own body could do?