Live Joy

After almost 10 years of working out at home, I recently started going back to the gym. And one of the biggest things I’ve noticed is how many people are “working out”…without much of a plan. They wander from machine to machine, do a few exercises, maybe whatever they feel like that day, and then come back the next day and do something completely different. And the next week the same thing, different machines, different exercises. And listen, if your goal is simply to move your body and say, “I worked out today,” there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I spent years doing that, with Beachbody workouts and other online programs. But if you are in midlife and your goal is to actually build muscle and get stronger, you need a plan. I personally strength train five days a week (3 to 5 times a week is suggested), and I use an app that tracks every workout, every exercise, set, rep and weight. I follow the same workouts for eight weeks at a time. I just finished my first eight-week blo...

I heard a quote the other day that stopped me in my tracks: “The life you want is built on ordinary Tuesdays.” We spend so much of our lives looking forward to the big things. The vacation. The new house. The promotion. The birthday. The holiday. The milestone we’ve been working toward. And those things are wonderful. I love having something exciting on the calendar as much as anyone. But when you really think about it, those big moments make up such a small percentage of our lives. Most of life happens on a Tuesday. It’s the coffee you drink in the morning. It’s getting stronger during a workout you almost didn’t feel like doing. It’s walking the dog and noticing the weather is finally starting to change. It’s sitting around the dinner table talking about absolutely nothing important. It’s hearing a song in the car that instantly takes you back to another time in your life. It’s laughing at something stupid with your kids. It’s your favorite show at the end of a long day...

  Over the last few weeks, we've talked a lot about strength training, nutrition, protein and building a stronger body in midlife. But there's another piece of the equation that deserves just as much attention: recovery. I'll be the first to admit, this one is hard for me. I'm a former athlete and a self-diagnosed ADHD person (lol), sitting still has never exactly been my specialty. I've spent most of my life believing that if you want better results, you work harder. If you're tired, you push through. If you're not seeing progress, you add more. More workouts, more steps, more effort. Rest was something you did when everything else was finished and we all know everything is never finished. But especially after 40, I'm realizing how far that is from the truth. Our bodies don't actually get stronger during a workout. The workout creates the challenge, but recovery is when our bodies repair, adapt and get stronger. We can have the perfect strength-...

  Every year when summer ends, I think I’m going to immediately fall into the perfect back-to-school routine. Wake up at the same time. Get my workout in. Walk the dog. Get the boys off to school. Work all day. Soccer in the evening. Get everyone home, reset the house, go to bed at a reasonable time and do it all again the next day. Sounds great, right? Except that is definitely not how this school year has started. We are already a few weeks into school, and I still haven't mastered my morning routine. And surprisingly, I'm okay with that. Our Schedule Completely Changed Back-to-school always changes our routine, but this year it feels like almost everything changed at once. The boys have a new school start time, which means they need to be on the bus at 6:55 a.m. Soccer practice times seem to change daily. Then we have weeknight soccer games where we sometimes don't get home until 10:30 at night . I've also changed my own routine. Instead of working out ...

  Just about everyone I know rolls their eyes when I say, "You need to track your macros." I get it, it sounds like a lot of work. But I want you to change the way you think about it. Don't think of tracking macros as dieting. Think of it as collecting data. That's really what you're doing.   Most people think they know what they're eating. The truth is, until you actually track and weigh your food, you probably don't. That handful of chips while making lunch? Count it. The bite of your kid's food? Count it. The splash of creamer in your coffee? Count it. The dressing on your salad, the oil you cooked with, and the BBQ sauce on your chicken? Count it. Those little bites and sips may not seem like much, but over the course of a day and then a week they add up quickly.   If you're serious about learning what you're eating, invest in a digital food scale. And use it. No guessing. No "that looks like about four ounces." Measure ev...

  I love having a good show on while I'm working out or when I finally get a little "me time" to relax. I don't have cable, so everything I watch is on streaming services. Over the last few months I've found several series that were absolutely worth the watch! I won't give away too much, just enough to help you decide what to add to your list.  If You Love a Good Chick Flick... Off Campus (Amazon Prime) A fun college romance full of chemistry, friendships, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. It's light, entertaining, and easy to binge. Every Year After (Amazon Prime) A heartfelt friends-to-lovers story that follows two people over the years as life, timing, and fate keep bringing them back together. The Summer I Turned Pretty (Amazon Prime) A coming-of-age romance centered around first love, family, friendships, and unforgettable summers at the beach. If you haven't watched it yet, it's definitely worth catching up on. Ransom Canyon ...