My Home Gym Reveal

Welcome to the finished garage gym. Otherwise named: “You-Can’t-Pretend-You-Don’t-Have-The-Time/Space-To-Workout-Because-You-Are-Lucky-Enough-To-Have-A-Dedicated-Space-Just-Under-Your-Bedroom-So-Get-Your-Ass-Out-There-And-Lift-Heavy-Shit.

It’s a real luxury of extreme convenience and squashes most excuses. When I decided to move back to California, I knew the #1 antidote for myself personally to be a better person and mama was to workout daily - at least on weekdays. It was something that I had to prioritize when searching for houses and having too busy of a work schedule to personally get a workout in daily! (Fun fact: I am a personal trainer at a gym here in Napa, CA, yet my schedule, especially as a widowed mama, has zero me time to get a daily workout in! I am all about my clients and helping people better themselves then being selfish and putting myself first.)

It may not permanently stay as a garage gym for the foreseeable future, but it does make not-so-fun days a little bit better.
Endorphins.
Dopamine.
Adrenaline.
Moving.
Dropping.
Slammin’ and jammin’.
Some workouts will be a quick 45 minutes and other days may go around two and a half hours - (This includes sauna and plunge recovery!)

Here is what I have going on: I lift free weights for strength training and have since 2004. I have zero intention of ever stopping. Way back when with injuries was cold plunges starting in 2004 yet the newest added to life since 2018 is a sauna. I know I can program correctly for myself (more on that below), and having a disabled mama and 2 young kiddos I want to be able to move, lift and keep up with the best for everyone. Bands, dumbbells, adjustable bench, stability ball, bosu, and enough space to roll out a mat for mobility, yoga and recovery.

I have mirrors up for far different reasons than most: I don’t judge my body. Every single day we change with how the previous day went or what time of day it is now. As someone who has had a dumb number of surgeries, mostly because of high level, elite sports, talent and potential starting at the age of 9, form is the absolute trueest factor I need to keep perfect. I am also someone who learns when seeing it. I refuse to look in the mirror and say negative things. I should have died multiple times and am so beyond thankful to still be alive and moving to this day. I have lost and been through more than most will in their entire life before I was 33. I refuse to allow social media to keep their eye on me. When I competed at a high level I was around #150 at 6’1. Now I am much happier, healthier and living life to the absolute fullest between #170-#180 at 6’1”. The thing is life changes - WE change. Instead I focus on how grateful I am to have a body that can move me around in this beautiful world and life every single day.

I’m focused on being healthy and that is definitely also true, but I’d be lying to pretend that I don’t want to change things a little. The daily messages we receive from society at large are really hard to combat. SO MUCH DEPROGRAMMING NEEDS TO HAPPEN. I have so much compassion for all women, I know few who don’t, on some level, struggle to want to be the thing that we are told is “the good thing to be” and the subsequent disappointment around not being able to do just that. I also, of course, know that all people struggle with unattainable societal standards but for today, I’m speaking from my personal experience and the majority of women in my life.

Hear me out, moving your body is crucial to our mental health, it just is. If we take all the other shit about changing your body off the table, what remains is that it simply feels very good to move, get your heart rate up, make your muscles stronger, and flood your body and brain with endorphins. I need these endorphins in order to make good decisions for my business, they help me be in a great mood to bring positivity to my family, clients and friends. I won’t have a hard a conversation unless I’ve exercised that day and if I’m feeling anxiety it immediately reduces it. It takes a bad day and makes it ok, and it takes a good day and makes it GREAT. For myself personally, it’s just not an option to not move my body.

My WOrkout Routine

Cardio:
I was an elite level athlete for so long. Started high at the age of 9 and was medically forced to retire at 27. I hate cardio. I was a track and field athlete and with that…my “sport” was everyone else’s “punishment”. I go on 2 mile dog walks with the kids at least 3x per week blasting music and laughing. I end all my workouts with a short sweet conditioning 5-15 minutes. Not just running but “x” amount of cals, then DB, core, BB movements depending on my phase.

Strength Training:
I tend to lift 4-5 times per week. As a single widowed mama, days can get hectic and insane with things coming up out of nowhere but I get at least 4 lifts in per week. About a 10 minute dynamic and movement specific warm up, then 30-40 minutes of the main lift (clean, squat, bench, deadlift) and accessory lifts (shoulder press, curls, core, etc.) and finish with a metcon. NO I DO NOT DO CROSSFIT. Do not even get me started. I focus on my heart rate zones and depending on the day of the week and the phase I am in is what my metcon is dependent on. I am not doing handstand walks, climbing ropes, running etc. Simply put it is 80% strength training and 20% cardio training.

Recovery:
Sauna and cold plunge are massive gains! The sauna was added into my life back in 2018 but cold plunges have been in it since 2004. I do them 4 times a week.. 15-20 minutes in the sauna first and cold plunge second.. 3-5 minutes. It not only enhances my recovery from training, but it keeps my immune system in tip-top shape. Ill go more into this later.

Enjoyment: It is my firm belief that you have to enjoy whatever workout you do or you won’t prioritize it in your daily lifestyle long term – I like dog and kid walks, but my favorite way to exercise will always be lifting heavy shit up and putting it down. I mean, if I could do anything for the rest of my life it would be my 80/20 programming.

TV On The Wall FTW

Back to design…I was at my old gym in the midwest when we started putting our group workouts on the tv.
Big.
Easy to read.
Simple to follow.
Not a lot of paper to deal with.
When I would go home the TV in our garage would be on, 99.99% of the time with either baseball, basketball or football. The garage door would be open during summer or closed during winter..Either way the TV was on in the garage and figured putting it together would simplify working out at home and oh my goodness it has!

Now having the Workouts on the TV changed spotify music playing on there so instead when the workout is up, music is blasting through my JBL Charge 5. Best affordable bluetooth speaker I have ever owned!

A plus that comes with this is if it is raining and a simple walk day and I want to do cardio I can row or ski and just turn on the TV and watch whatever it is I choose. distracting me from simple low HR cardio getting it done “faster” and smoother. Another upside is when the kids have friends over on a sunny day and want to play out front they can simply play their jams and have a blast. Either way… I cannot wait.

That Rubber Flooring

Yes. It sure is. I personally installed it because when you walk in a gym and are doing Olympic lifts, (Squat, Clean, RDL, Snatch almost anything with a barbell), there is a rubber flooring. If I fall/ drop weights etc. I want to do it on the proper flooring. It is speckled so it doesn’t look as dirty as it most likely is.

Here is everything I got and where I got it from. If you know me you know I am all about sales, reviews and promo codes. I rarely buy anything full priced. Happened to be Black Friday Sale deals so I saved HUNDREDS of dollars.

Yes, we have a fancy cold plunge. I love it very, very much (the whole family does, besides Charlie – NOT A FAN). I had a lot of embarrassment around this plunge, but if I were say a male influencer I would own the fact that I have what is universally considered a great biohacking and mood-boosting health device, ala Andrew Huberman. But people judge women for spending $$$ on what seems like WOO WOO stuff. So I’m going to go full Huberman and own it. I love this plunge so much and do it 4-5 times a week. I’m writing a whole post about it so more to come. This is from Plunge and while there are cheaper ones on the market (I had a cheap one at first and it didn’t work out), this one is excellent (and the newer models are even better). It’s expensive, but around the same price as a hot tub so it’s really just about your value system (and of course, they have payment plans). If you are wondering if it’s for you, I would just take cold showers and baths for a while and make sure you are someone who loves the feeling of cold plunging – it’s not for everyone (but the feeling afterward is incredible and lasts for hours). I am absolutely addicted to it, as is Brian, so this was something we really really wanted. Again, more to come later.

How Do You Light This Room?

We put in the world’s cheapest/not ugly overhead ceiling fan ($100! and not bad) which has a light and it actually looks great. But the light is too bright for me in the mornings so I bought this lamp from IKEA in the back there (the tall Japanese-style fabric lamp) which creates a really lovely overall glow – especially in the pitch dark mornings. And I’m a huge fan of that black and white check robe (I’m giving it as a main gift this year) and I bought two Business & Pleasure striped towels on sale for $29 which are so cute. Shout out to my Nike slides and Target bathmat.

Thanks for reading y’all. And I sincerely hope that this post, this gym, my words, or my body didn’t trigger anyone. That is never my intent. But I do want to have vulnerable conversations even if it seems like I’m not the right person to have them. We all live in this hard world and suffer varying degrees of patriarchy. I hope that my thoughts about my patriarchal hang-ups can help anyone not to feel alone. We shouldn’t let any mirror dictate our self-esteem unless it’s the one we hold up for ourselves or others to remind us of how beautiful and strong we are, just the way we are. Now, actually believing that is the real work.

Anyway, not a day goes by where I don’t recognize how lucky/privileged I am to be able to workout here. I’m extremely thankful and grateful, every single day. And thankful to you all for being here. xx