Just a girl standing at Sports Authority, wondering what to wear to this place called "the gym"...
- Jasmine Minor
- Jul 3, 2020
- 7 min read
I figured as my very first blog post, I'd take you all back to the very beginning, a time before I was videoing my workouts confidently for everyone on Instagram to see and making recommendations about collagen powders, to a time when I was just a teenager, navigating high school and all that came with it.
I was never a particularly athletic kid. Sure I played a lot outside growing up, but it quickly became apparent that I was not made for conventional group sports. While my dad was an exceptional soccer player, I couldn't even catch a pair of socks if you threw them at me (mostly thanks to my panic reflex that makes me shut my eyes tight if something comes flying in my direction) and I just couldn't fathom running for any other reason than if someone was chasing me with an ax. My mom and siblings were in the exact same boat as I was, so sports was just never a big topic at our house and my mom and I crafted every excuse under the sun to submit to my PE teacher explaining why I couldn't partake in the weekly mile run.
While I didn't play sports with all the other kids at school, I did excel at horse back riding and competed in the hunter/jumper circuits nationally for many years, which (I like to think) to this day accounts for my wicked strong legs!
In any case, it wasn't until my college days when my dad asked me if I wanted my brother's gym membership (which he never used anyway) that I gave any thought to the idea of working out. The whole deal sounded super unappealing to me to be quite honest and I was pretty set on turning him down, were it not for my mom inviting me to her step aerobics class, which came with a super fun, brightly colored outfit and legwarmers so I obviously had to at least give it a try.
Needless to say, the class was a complete disaster in the best way possible! I didn't, and still don't on most days, know my rights and lefts and have little hand eye coordination, so sticking me on a step in a class packed full of energetic aerobics ladies was a traffic accident waiting to happen. I went left when we were supposed to go right, missed my step, couldn't keep up and single handedly threw off the whole rhythm of the class, but I had SUCH A BLAST!! I came out of that class on such a high that I immediately grabbed a group class schedule and signed up for a cardio kickboxing class later in the week.
If you're still reading, you probably realized that while step aerobics takes quite a bit of coordination and rhythm, not knowing your rights and lefts is a whole lot more fatal in a class where kicking and punching is involved, so you can imagine how well the kickboxing class went....I mean I had the time of my life, but everyone around me got an extra workout dodging my enthusiastic flailing! I remember coming home after my first class and telling my mom "I am sweaty down to my underwear and I love it!" Needless to say, I was absolutely hooked and was especially drawn to the extremely high energy, tight bodied, smiling instructor...little did I know, I had just met my future husband, but that's a story for another day!
Fast forward to a few months down the line and I was going to cardio kickboxing classes several days a week, kicking and punching my little heart out with a huge smile on my face! With increased exercise of course, my body began changing and I suddenly saw abs which I never even knew I had! Seriously, I always thought people were just born with the bodies they had and I never in my wildest dreams imagined I could get abs like the models on the magazines. This probably sounds crazy to you, but it's the honest truth! I'm not sure what my parents did differently in raising me, but I never paid any attention to my or anyone else's body shape or size until I started seeing mine change as a result of going to those group classes. I never obsessed over whether I was fat or skinny, strong or weak, tall or short, etc and just lived my life in a what my husband loves to call "a bubble of skittles and rainbows."
Looking back, I often wish I could go back to those times of total ignorance, but I also see that what was set in motion back in those early cardio kickboxing classes has shaped me into the confident and strong gal I am today. As my body continued to change and I started listening more and more to locker room chat about calories, fat, carbs, bodies, etc. I couldn't help but implement some of these new habits I deemed to be the 'healthy' approach to life. I skipped the bun, cheese and soda at my favorite burger place, ate a butt load of plain salads with mustard as dressing, made PB & J sandwiches without the PB and upped my gym time, because I thought that's what you were supposed to do to be in shape.
As I left college and moved to San Diego, I continued to hit the gym, absolutely loving group classes and signing up for everything from spin to boxing, kettlebell and circuit classes. Mind you, I wasn't working out specifically to get skinnier, but more with the mindset that more is better and healthier so why not give it 120%, right? There came a time when I refused to leave the gym if I hadn't burned at least 1,000 calories on my polar fitness watch and double spin classes were no challenge for me. I often made up my own workouts and if you knew me back in those days, you'd attest to the fact that I had (and still have) this crazy drive to push myself to extremes without the need for music or a workout buddy. When I designed my workouts I'd think 'what do I not want to do' and I'd make myself do just that at high reps with sprints in between (I know, totally nuts!).
It was at some point during this time of my fitness craze, that I decided I was burnt out from pushing myself at the regular gym and I needed something new, which is when I walked into a crossfit gym and said "sign me up!" I was and have never been afraid of walking into a gym and trying something new by myself, but I had never tried crossfit and man was it a humbling experience to say the least! I had never been as sore as I was after my first week at crossfit and I was obviously totally hooked because of that fact. Over the next 4 years I trained 5 days a week, getting stronger everyday, to the point where I could even snatch my own body weight, do strict pull ups with a 15 lb kettle bell attached to me, overhead squat close to 150lbs and back squat close to 200lbs!
I was super strong and my body put on a ton of muscle pretty quickly, but after 4 years, I was no longer fitting in my dresses thanks to my big lats and traps and I was just not happy with my body, muscular as it was and I was on the hunt for my next fitness adventure. In steps, Madeline Moves and the Weekly Moves app! I stumbled upon Madeline while scrolling on Instagram one day and decided to give one of her workouts a try. At the time she didn't have her app yet and I had to write her workout down story slide by story slide, but after getting through that first sweat session, I knew I found my new gig.
Soon I was doing her workouts 5-6 days a week and absolutely loving them! I was purposely lifting lighter weights than I knew I could handle with the goal of losing some of that crossfit muscle I had gained and seeing awesome results. I have to admit, at this time I was still adding quite a bit of cardio to each of her workouts, not quite ready to let go of the needed calorie burn, but little did I know, blood work lab results would soon force me to change my tune.
As part of a routine physical, my doctor required blood work, which quickly showed us that I was over training and under eating by quite a bit, causing my body to be close to adrenal fatigue, basically meaning my adrenal glands were on the brink of not being able to produce any more cortisol and desperately in need of a break. As it turns out, it was this wake up call that finally forced me to scale my workouts back to a reasonable max of 1 hour, spent mostly lifting and walking, ultimately allowing me to fall into the routine I have today.
These days I love doing the Madeline Moves workouts, be it from the weekly app or TighterTogether challenge, throwing in a hike here and there, but never doubling up on sweat sessions and making a point to listen to my body as much as I can. Like I said before, while I wish I could go back to my pre gym, pre body awareness days, I also recognize that all of my fitness experiences and obsessions have shaped me into the person I am today and I am extremely thankful for all the lessons I have learned along the way.
For me, the biggest learning curve was more is not better when it comes to fitness and just because someone looks 'in shape' does not necessarily mean they are as healthy and balanced as they may seem. Rest is just as important for your body as activity is and confidence in yourself, your decisions, your body and lifestyle does more for your overall image than abs ever will.
If you've stuck around this long, thank you for reading and for navigating this crazy world of health and wellness with me. I am excited to share more of my past, lessons learned along the way, new tips and tricks I've discovered and so much more with you as we dabble in frivolous fitness together!
With so Much Love,
Jasmine
So happy you were able up launch this! Congrats. I'm in the same boat as the comment above. Although I learned my autoimmune issues flare more when I eat too much sugar (mostly in the form of chocolate).
I've been loving Madeline's workouts since late 2018 committing to TT January 2019 and doing weekly moves on and off with other specific training sprinkled in for Triathlons and a marathon. My running times decreased significantly when I stopped running and did only weekly moves with a 1 mile warm up jog. I've hooked a few other friends on the Madeline programs because they are so sustainable and easily modifiable!
Congrats on your first blog! Sounds like your bubble of rainbows and skittles was pretty great. 💗 I’m super competitive too and have a tendency to want to push myself way to hard, but having autoimmune issues makes me very susceptible to flaring, so it’s a fine line between training and overtraining for me, that I constantly have to put in check. Thanks for being so open about your journey! I think you’re right about madeline’s workouts. They seem to be the most sustainable for a lifetime of fitness.