🟣 Muscle Mummy, Pending...

For decades my Mum has been a force of nature

Always on her feet, making shit happen

DIY

Swimming a mile a day

Gardening (her FAVE)

ME. (her second fave)

And she did all of it alongside navigating diabetes

Because she is a bloody unit with the stubbornness of a spinach leaf in an incisor

But recently, she’d noticed her ability to stand from the floor without a wince or support dwindle. Which is a bit of a bugger.

A bugger that lead to her (after 7 years of me subtly dropping hints) asking;

“Rachie - this weight training. Do you think it will help me?”

The answer being - “if you want to be strong and mobile for as many years possible? Yes. It’ll be a fucking good shout”

So she caved.

And with me, she crossed the threshold of 'The Gym' for the very first time 

As we entered, I could feel her nerves janglin’

In fact - I saw the EXACT moment my mother’s stomach dropped to her butthole as we moved into the weight section

But luckily, she had her favourite daughter on hand to dish out some nuggs of wisdom and keep the anxiety in check

And what followed, was a 3 stage progress I see EVERY gym beginner go through;

STAGE ONE: FOUND COMFORT IN DISCOMFORT

^{Mum’s POV; “WHERE THE FUCK AM I? I WANT TO GO HOME”}

She was stressed and overwhelmed in a busy gym

Machines clanging

No idea what any of them do

And there were a couple of burly guys in the corner that looked like they could crush a fly with a hard stare

My poor mumma was out of her depth and didn’t know where to start

What we did? 

I took her to the quiet corner of the gym to warm up

A corner just for her

Less noise, no daunting equipment

Time to centre before we tackled the meat and veg of the session

STAGE TWO: STRETCHED THE COMFORT

^{Mum’s POV: “Rachel this machine looks like a torture device, are you sure????”}

As a newbie, doing new exercises, you feel fucking vulnerable

Like everyone’s looking at you

Like there isn’t space to work it out

Like you should just know what you’re doing

What we did?

We eased out of our safe lil corner then concentrated on just 3 ‘fun’ machines

Talked her through the leg press, the cable row, the chest press

And I played spirit guide through every movement

Watching on with pride as she worked through her first ever sets

(FYI you too can use the BITS app to adopt me as your remote spirit guide)

STAGE THREE: FINDING THE HOLY SHIT MOMENT

^{Mum’s POV: “Now I’m in it, it’s really quite fun?”}

Once you start to feel some of these machines are tickling some muscles, you start to find a bit of a stride.

& once you find your stride it feels better than a tit lick on a warm day

And that sensation carries forwards. What seemed impossible before is now possible.

Cos look how fucking capable you are

SO much fear and anxiety comes from the unknown.

And, not to be the bearer of bad news, the only way to get over that is through it. To show your brain that you CAN do hard and uncomfortable things.

Just like mumsy did this week - starting the gym for the first time at 66 years young.

Wiggling on forwards, we’ve set the goal to weight train 2x a week alongside her regular programming of Alan Titchmarsh-ing and swimming

We’ve set the goal of being able to lunges with assistance

To build back leg muscle mass, support her overall health and allow her to do what she loves without pain

And on the other side of the gym-fear she’s feeling with these gym sessions? Is everything mentioned above.

Sure as shit,

I appreciate not all of you have a daughter who is a personal trainer that can show you the ropes

But if you would like to adopt me (as a PT/spirit guide, not your kid)

You can pick up a free a 7 day FREE trial to the Bits app

On there you get vids walking you through movements, plus you can follow the same program as Mumma Sally (‘Wiggle Your Bits’)

GET YOUR 7 DAY FREE TRIAL TO BITS HERE

Let’s kick the gym anxiety right in the gonads, together

And build a body strong enough to keep maxxing out life, just like my Mumma

Big love,

Rach