Between travel, family, work deadlines, and social commitments, stress skyrockets while sleep, nutrition, and movement often take the hit. Ironically, this is when your body and brain need self-care the most, and not just the bubble-bath kind. We’re talking about the kind backed by real science that builds your resilience, energy, and long-term health.

Your Nervous System Is the Unsung Hero of the Season

When you’re stressed, your body shifts into sympathetic dominance, fight-or-flight mode. Heart rate rises, cortisol spikes, digestion slows, and inflammation increases. Over time, this chronic stress dysregulates the nervous system, leading to burnout, fatigue, and even injury.

But here’s the fascinating part:

Movement is one of the most powerful regulators of your nervous system. Even 10 minutes of intentional exercise or controlled breathing can activate the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) system , lowering cortisol, improving focus, and restoring balance. Your body is wired to adapt when given the right stimulus and recovery. 

Why Prioritizing Health Right Now Changes Your Future

Think of this season as your physiological reset,  the time your body recalibrates for a stronger, more resilient year ahead.
By investing in your physical and mental health today, you’re not only managing stress but also:

• Improving cognitive function: Regular movement boosts brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which enhances mood, learning, and memory.
• Increased Productivity: Studies show that people who exercise report up to 40% higher productivity, focus, and motivation on workout days.
• Preventing burnout and illness: Exercise improves immune response and reduces the inflammatory load of stress.
• Increasing energy efficiency: Strength and mobility training improve mitochondrial health, your body’s energy factories.
• Building longevity momentum: Consistency compounds. Your future self is being shaped by the habits you choose today.

Tips for Success – 

Through Workouts:

1. Move with challenge: Engage in challenging movement at least twice a week, ideally three times. “Challenging” doesn’t mean maximal effort; it means working at a threshold that stimulates adaptation without overwhelming your system. True adaptation happens in that middle ground, enough intensity to trigger growth hormones and tissue remodeling, but not so much that you flood your system with chronic cortisol. Acute stress is productive; chronic stress is destructive. The art of training is knowing the difference (and yes, that deserves its own deep dive).
2. Train functionally: Choose workouts that integrate mobility, strength, and stability. They prepare you for life; whether that’s skiing at Mammoth, heaving that Costco load of Thanksgiving supplies in from the store to your car and your car to your home, or traveling on adventure.
3. Focus on neuromuscular re-education: Functional movement is more than exercise, it’s retraining your nervous system to engage muscles correctly. This process, known as neuromuscular re-education, restores coordination, improves balance, and helps your body build new movement patterns that reduce pain and prevent re-injury.
4. Incorporate rehabilitation-based exercises: If you’re experiencing pain, instability, or limited range of motion, you need targeted strengthening and stretching exercises tailored to your needs. These corrective movements help improve joint stability, flexibility, and functional control, especially for areas like the shoulders, hips, and spine that tend to tighten or weaken under stress.
5. Prioritize recovery: Foam rolling, soft-tissue work, and low-intensity mobility are not “extra.” They are the science-backed glue that keeps your nervous system balanced.

Outside of Workouts:

1. Ground daily: Just 5 minutes barefoot on grass or sand can reduce cortisol and inflammation by restoring your body’s natural electrical balance with the earth.
2. Get morning sunlight: Step outside within the first hour of waking. Natural light helps regulate your circadian rhythm, balances cortisol levels, and boosts serotonin, setting the tone for calmer energy and better sleep at night.
3. Hydrate with purpose: Even mild dehydration can reduce focus, mood, and muscle recovery. Start your day with water before caffeine, and sip consistently throughout the day to keep your cells firing efficiently.
4. Eat for stability, not spikes: Focus on protein, fiber, and healthy fats at each meal to keep blood sugar, and energy steady. Balanced glucose means sharper focus, fewer crashes, and a more stable mood.
5. Breathe through your nose: Nasal breathing increases nitric oxide production, improving oxygen delivery and calming your nervous system. Try it during walks, stretching, or moments of stress.
6. Connect with people who recharge you: Positive social connection activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering stress hormones and increasing resilience. Sometimes the best recovery comes from genuine human connection.
7. Sleep like it’s your job: Recovery hormones like melatonin and growth hormone peak during deep sleep. Protect your sleep window by dimming lights and avoiding screens an hour before bed, it’s one of the most powerful longevity tools you have.

Picture yourself stepping off the lift at Mammoth; knees stable, hips strong, lungs full of crisp mountain air.
Or exploring new places, whether it’s a weekend getaway or your favorite local trail, moving with ease and confidence, your body supporting every step instead of holding you back. Or simply walking into the new year with that quiet, grounded confidence that comes from knowing your body can handle whatever life throws your way.

For those who already have a consistent routine, you’re ahead of the curve. My advice? Lean into it. Book your workouts now and protect them like any other vital appointment. Treat your training as the non-negotiable cornerstone of your health and longevity, not an optional task to squeeze in later.

If you don’t yet have a movement routine, take a breath.
I know the intrusive thoughts show up fast:
“I don’t have enough time.”
“I’ve tried before and failed.”
“I’m injured.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”

Start simple and start with support. You need to be met where you are at this moment, not placed into a one-size-fits-all program. You’ve experienced many years of life up to this point, and you need someone that understands your body, goals, and can see you as a whole being with a unique story.  Book a complimentary call with one of our team members. We’ll help you find the right place to begin, design a plan around your needs, and show you how success is built one small, smart step at a time.

The post Move Through the Chaos: How to Thrive This Holiday Season appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

All right, true story.

Several times a day, I catch myself scrolling social media, looking for some kind of dopamine hit. This is my way of getting a mental break from solving complex movement dysfunction or energizing a group of dedicated athletes. I mean, we ALL need to unplug. So sometimes I sit there and I just scroll and see what catches my eye.

The other day a meme caught my eye and it said,

“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”

It just hit me so hard that before a dream even has a chance to fail, it’s dead in the water. Has this ever happened to you?

So often we will doubt our dreams, and in doing so, we are pushing them into the archives. And when we do that, we block them from even getting a chance to fail. How insane is that?

I sat there thinking about the areas in my life where I have doubted myself or, you know, really archived some dreams that deserve to come back out of the archive. Maybe there still are some really valid dreams. Perhaps that dream of the lake house where I can go out to the back porch and hear the sound of small lake waves, lapping against the shore. And I can breathe in the scent of beautiful evergreen trees. Maybe that dream should come out of the archive and back into circulation.

Then I started to think about the dreams I can affect. The dreams connected to the role of fitness, the role of our activities and movement in life.

My question to you is if you were to look in your archive of dreams, which of your dreams got benched and doubted into the archive folder? And do you have any dreams related to movement or your health? Maybe it’s time to give them a shot.

It comes up for me right now, especially as I think about moving into summer and our community coming back together and linking arms again. And I want to invite each of us to get some of those dreams out of that archive box. And let’s put ’em back into circulation.

If you have a dream that you’ve archived, a dream regarding health, fitness, and movement, I want to invite you to pull it out and come talk to me about it. Because if there’s one thing I get passionate about, it’s helping people use the vehicle of their body and their movement capabilities to unlock incredible life experiences and to reach goals that matter a lot to the heart. It’s the thing that fires me up the most. And I want the opportunity to help you.

The post Keeping Those Dreams Alive appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Maybe it was getting snowed in, in Tahoe, over Christmas break. (117 inches in a couple days!!!) Maybe it’s the fact that for the first time since we’ve lived in San Luis Obispo, January actually felt like winter. Or maybe it’s because we are wishing it was summer… but we’ve been thinking a lot about seasons.

Last week, I was speaking with a member about Gymnazo’s shifts heading into 2022, and I used an analogy about a tree experiencing a change in season. The roots remain strong but the leaves are changing. And it was a perfect way to describe where we are.

For us, the changing of the seasons is bittersweet. Bitter to the degree in which we valued where we were. Sweet because there is always something new to discover and appreciate.

I mean, winter is amazing for the holidays and for hunkering down with a warm beverage and allowing yourself permission to slow down a little. Spring is the great awakening of color on every hillside, and there is an energy of newness. Summer is warm and focused on play and making adventurous memories. And Fall is filled with celebrations and traditions. All of them have value, but we all probably have our favorites.

It’s no surprise that for the Hughes’ family, summer is the favorite season.

Right now, it feels like Gymnazo is entering a new season and right on cue, we’re experiencing that bittersweet feeling.

It’s no surprise that the last season at Gymnazo will not make it to our “favorite season” list. It was full of surprises in the form of two variants, breakout cases on our team, managing the continued polarization of beliefs among our community and focusing on what brings us all together, identifying burnout on our team and navigating a lot of regulation amidst our collective desire to see the pandemic chapter close. Whew!  It’s been a lot.

It has also been a very clarifying season for us all. Clarity on who we are most passionate about serving, which services deliver the best results for clients as well as energy for the coach, and how to position Gymnazo to welcome in this new season. The joy is found in anticipating pivots in our business that we choose and can thoughtfully design.

So here’s to 2022 and the new faces we’ll welcome into our membership, the new faces who will be coaching you, and the opportunity to focus on the very best we have to offer you all.

As we navigate this next season, we inhale deeply. Inhaling our desire to serve and use our gifts to uplift the hearts and lives of our members. Inhaling our intention to quickly mentor newer coaches up to our collective standards. Inhaling our gratitude for all the coaches that linked arms with us during a very tough season and put their hearts into their work. Inhaling the gratitude we have for all the loyal members who have stuck with us through a very tough season.  And inhaling our vision and desire to step into a season of clarity and joy as we double down on the strongest parts of our business.

Thank you for linking arms with us in 2022. Here we go!

The post A New Season appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

I have a confession to make.

Last fall, it took a health scare and my body breaking down to wake me up to the reality that all the stress from navigating the pandemic as a “non-essential” entrepreneur, with two kids under four, was TOO MUCH for my body.

2020 was the year that I obsessed about helping everyone else keep their wellness at the forefront, and I ironically shelved my personal wellbeing.

I justified it because there were more important things to do. That was real for me.

I was under a LOT of pressure to save the business, keep employees employed, stay positive for everyone around me and be a good wife and mom to two kiddos (one of which didn’t sleep).

I know you get it, too.

All of us felt the pressure and the urgency. We all had daily fires to put out.

I could have easily chalked it up as a crappy year for my health.

But when you run a fitness facility where literally 350+ members found a way through their own chaos to own their fitness and make good on their values…. it’s hard to push it down as “circumstance.”

But that’s what I did. Until my body said, “Slow the hell down.”

Let me paint a picture.

Our bodies are deeply wise. They hold the generational trauma of our ancestry. They hold our childhood stresses as well as all the stress and hurt we carry in our bodies as an adult. It fills up and symptoms of your body crying out for relief start to show up at the least convenient times.

I’ve always just known that my body will literally break down under prolonged stress or after being shelved as a “low priority.” I get hives, headaches, ulcers, and the kind of symptoms you mutter to your doctor because you’re totally mortified.

At 2pm, at my desk, in November 2020, I realized I’d been blankly staring at my computer screen for over 30 minutes. Weird. No memory at all of what I was even supposed to be doing. I tried to muster energy to push through, but felt like I had nothing. I pretended to work until 3pm.

Then, on the drive home I almost had to pull over because I could barely keep my eyes open. I was literally zapped of all energy. I got home and collapsed on the kitchen floor.

I remember trying to hold it together for my kids… but I couldn’t get off the floor. So I tried to make it a game… but no matter what I dressed it up to look like to save face with my kids… I was still just looking up at the ceiling.

Hard to make THAT a fun activity.  My little kiddos were looking at me like “what is going on with mom?”

Something seemed really wrong with me.

I was staring at the kitchen ceiling thinking, “I have three hours until Michael comes home and I don’t know what to do with myself.” I was completely brought to my knees by this. I was truly afraid that I didn’t have the energy I still needed to get through the pandemic.

And it was this uncomfortable moment where I was faced with the reality that there is NOTHING more important than your health and vitality. It was not lost on me how hypocritical it felt for me to acknowledge this as a fitness business owner.

Prior to this, I would say that I valued health. I valued fitness. I valued balance. I value alignment and I hate, hate, hate, hate being considered a hypocrite.

But there I was, literally on the floor of my kitchen looking up at the ceiling, totally freaking out because I had shot my adrenals. There’s a lot more to this story, including a soul adventure to Sedona, Arizona, and almost getting an auto-immune disease that I created from all of my stress, et cetera. I’ll spare you the saga for now.

But what I will say is I was faced with the reality that I needed to slow down. I needed to prioritize my body. I needed to prioritize my wellbeing, and that has transformed a lot of things in my life. And so as uncomfortable as it is to write this newsletter this month and own this hypocrisy…. I am doing so because I want to share my takeaway about being congruent in our lives, with what we say we care about.

I was reminded about something I used to tell my business consulting clients years ago…. “If you ever want to know how you can determine what somebody values, there are two obvious places to look.”

Two ways to gauge whether somebody actually values the things that they say they value.

1. The first is in their calendar and what they make time for, and

2. Second is where they spend their money.

Time and Money.

We might all agree that these are the two resources that we are the most protective about and we want to be the most conscientious about how we spend.

As I’ve spent the last 6 months putting my health back into my FOCUS, both time and money have been reallocated to help me stabilize. For me, the answer came from spending two hours EACH day, doing whatever I wanted to do to restore my soul, feel a sense of freedom, meditate, and of course workout.

It’s been game changing for me.

I’ve recently reconnected to the wisdom of slowing down, as to not burn out.

My question to you is, what do you value, based on calendar and income or how you spend money? If somebody were to look at the last month in your life, would they see health finding its way onto your calendar? Do you make time for that? Is it something that you hope that you can make time for? Is it something you rely on the conditions being perfect before you can do it? Or are you somebody that goes in and makes time and blocks it off in your calendar?

And then what about spending money? Of course, you can go on hikes which are free. But there is something about putting money behind a practice so that you SHOW UP for it. That’s where fitness memberships or wellness practices start to show up.

So what does all this look like for you?

If you’re one of those 350+ people who CRUSHED the pandemic and doubled down on your self care, you are my hero. You inspire me every day and I’m so thankful for you.

But if you are more like me, burning yourself out and hoping you can get through a challenging season, ignoring your health and wellness…. consider this a gentle nudge that you deserve to be prioritized. That living congruently with your values is an act of self love. And you can’t serve all the wonderful people and causes you were put on earth to help when you’re stuck lying down on the kitchen floor, staring up at the ceiling, scared for your health.

So if it’s time to start prioritizing your wellbeing and you are looking for a partner to help you do that, you know what I’m about to say: Come check out Gymnazo. We’re running some pretty cool promotions.

The post Living Congruently appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Hands down, I have to say that the best thing about being a parent is watching your child experience something exciting for the first time. It’s magical and it reminds you that life is full of magic. Sometimes it just takes childlike eyes to recognize that. 

Kennedy turned 4 last month, and instantly went from a toddler to a “little girl.” She knows it, too. As she has been getting older, we’ve been having fun dripping in new experiences. Most recently, it’s been staying up late and going to Gymnazo’s outdoor arena to see a projected movie. It’s been a HUGE hit with her and her little friends. 

As a parent, you can anticipate how your child is going to react, but it still blows my mind at the things she marvels at, that I didn’t consider. 

Last week, it was seeing stars for the first time. She ran out of the house, all bundled up, ready to head to the movie night, and then suddenly stopped. I looked back and saw her looking up at the sky. 

“Look Mommy, are those stars?!?” She pointed up. 

I realized, she’s never stayed out late enough to see a dark night sky and the contrast of the sparkling stars shining brightly. 

So we stopped to admire the stars and talk about what they are and how they shine at night. 

“Mommy, why do stars only shine at night?” she asked earnestly. 

I started to explain that stars still shine during the day but you just can’t see them because it’s too bright. If it wasn’t for the dark backdrop of nightfall, you’d miss them entirely. 

I’ve thought back to this moment several times in the last week. Mainly in context to the pandemic and running a business and surviving as a team during seemingly endless pivots. 

And here’s what my conversation about stars with my daughter reminded me about what I’m living through…. what we are all living through. 

We are living through a season of life that could feel a lot like nightfall. 

It’s easy to feel alone in the dark. 

It’s easy to feel afraid in the dark. 

To feel depressed or anxious. 

To feel like no one sees you or cares. 

But if you look up, you’ll find the stars. Bright, beautiful, stark reminders that light still exists. 

Community is still there in doses. 

Friends still care. 

Kindness shines brighter. 

Magic still exists. 

Many of you have asked Michael and me how we’re doing, how we’re surviving during the pandemic. 

And I’ll say, the truth is that we’re choosing to focus on the stars in the nightsky. 

And because of this, we’re seeing more than we did before. 

Here are some examples of modern day miracles we’ve witnessed in this time: 

• A team more unified, more passionate and focused on helping and serving our members than we could have ever imagined
• A team member, on leave, picking up the phone to call us and ask how she can help and if she could start coming back to work to help us get through 
• A member calling us to ask if they could sponsor the memberships of other clients who lost their jobs and had to cut their training 
• A past member walking into the gym the week we closed to hand us a $20,000 check to help us have peace of mind to lead proactively, not reactively 
• Members keeping their auto pays running as long as they could, even when they weren’t able to train with us, just to help us stay open 
• Members sharing posts and stories on social media and helping us find ways to connect with others worldwide
• Members working out in the freezing temperatures, or even rain, showing more grit than we’ve ever seen 
• A Chamber of Commerce that gifted us $5000 to help us get through a tough economic time 
• Landlords who let us repurpose part of their parking lot so we could create a space that members like almost as much as indoors. 
• …. and so many more examples. 

These are modern day miracles and bright shining examples that remind us there is still beauty and much to be thankful for, even in the hard seasons. 

I will say that Michael and I feel so deeply thankful and so touched by so many of you. Regardless if you’re training with us now or have in the past…. we have nothing but gratitude for the amazing humans we’ve had the privilege to know, to bring to Gymnazo and to “high five”. 

When is the last time you’ve looked up at the night sky to marvel at the stars? 

I mean that literally and figuratively. Because I’m a big believer that you will find whatever you look for. If you focus on the night, you’ll notice how dark it feels. But if you look for the stars, you’ll find them too. All around you. And the more you find them, the more it feels as miraculous as stars look to a 4 year old.

Cheers to more stargazing in 2021

The post Modern Day Miracles appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

I came across this picture from a while ago and it really messed me up for a good day or two.

Do you ever look at photos of yourself and cringe because you don’t like the way you look? Well, you’re not alone.

But do you want to know what is worse than feeling critical about how you look now? It’s seeing a picture of yourself from your past that you were critical of back all those years…. only to realize that you wish you had that body today.

That’s what I thought when I saw this picture from WAY back in the day.

You look at that picture and instead of hearing that inner bully…. you feel shame. Shame that you “should have appreciated what you had when you had it.”

Do you want to know why this sudden reaction stings SO BADLY?

Because you come face to face with a vicious cycle that crushes TOO many spirits. It’s living in this state of never feeling good enough, attractive enough, successful enough, loved enough, appreciated enough, and the list goes on.

Body image plagues all of us. At all ages. No matter your gender. It’s a pandemic, in and of itself.

It may shock you to know that 90% of most people you meet, no matter how handsome or pretty you think they are, they too struggle to cultivate a healthy body image.

But I read this epic phrase a while ago that rang so true for me:

“Don’t hate yourself skinny; love yourself healthy.”

In those words, the choice is obvious.

Letting go of hate and reaching for love is like raising your hand in Sunday School with the go-to answer “Jesus” for any question they ask. It’s easy to know what the “right” answer is.

But here’s the moment of truth:

Are you willing to let go of having your ideal body type and reaching for being healthy instead? It’s easier to say, and harder to put into practice.

It may mean unfollowing certain accounts on social media that create a toxic comparison game for you. It may mean donating your pair of skinny jeans that you shame yourself for not being able to fit in any more. Or throwing away the damn scale.

It may mean that you focus your energy on what true health looks like.

True health is the opposite of vanity metrics. It is about feeling good in your skin. Feeling strong and capable when you enjoy activities. Enjoying but not abusing food. Fostering meaningful relationships. Surrounding yourself with positive role models and messages. Taking time to cultivate your spirit and wellbeing.

So what is it in 2021?

Healthy or skinny (or built)?

If your answer is “healthy”, you’re exactly who we want to work with this year. You are who we obsess about serving. You’re our kind of person.

And we want to support and uplift you in 2021.

If you’re not an active member with us, let’s activate your commitment to health today. Click on this offer and check out how to join us.

Cheering for you!

The post Choosing Health As The Goal appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Have you ever put on background music as you’re making dinner or any daily task, and for some reason, out of nowhere… BIG feelings surge through you, and you find yourself sobbing?

I bet that’s NOT what you expected when you opened this email.  

But that’s where we’re going because our country is in the middle of a mental health crisis and you may be part of the 53% of Americans struggling with your mental health. I want to share with you a  story of how you’re not alone.  

Last October, I was 12 weeks postpartum with our second child. I was in my bathrobe, making breakfast and listening to a playlist I had created years ago in Spotify, called “Mellow.” I have listened to that playlist probably hundreds of times. No big feelings. Certainly no tears. 

But that day, I just started crying. And it was overwhelming. It transitioned from silent rolling tears to ugly crying right there in the  kitchen. I was wiping my eyes and trying to hide them from my daughter because if she asked me what was wrong, I wouldn’t know how to answer her.  

What I know now, is that I was knee deep in postpartum depression. I was  sleep deprived, stressed in my new role as a mom of two, trying to keep  one business going while spending 8pm-midnight every night working with  Michael to build and launch an online training course. It was so far over my head and just felt it reach this breaking point. 

This is just ONE of the ways mental health struggles can show up in our lives. It may be for a season, a reason or it may be something more chronic. But it makes each day that much harder to move through and it’s a fight to find joy and happiness.  

I recently read in the Kaiser Family Foundation that 53% of adults in the US reported their mental health has been negatively impacted due to worry and stress over the coronavirus, a significantly higher number than the 32% of adults who said they struggled with their mental health in March 2020. In fact, Mental Health America just released their research in observing the impact of mental health on the United States from March through September 2020 and they refer to it as a “growing mental health crisis.”  

So why do we need this information? What is more depressing than hearing about how depressed everybody can be? What’s powerful about mental health is the connection to the mind and body. And since you’re reading this, you are somebody who has historically put money and time behind your desire to improve yourself physically. What I want to share with you today is the deep connection between the body and the mind because I feel compelled to share this secret with you…

Fitness is proven to improve mental health conditions.

In fact, the American Psychological Association found that exercise is proven to help improve mental health conditions like depression, anxiety and even overall mood.

“There’s good epidemiological data to suggest that active people are less depressed than inactive people. And people who were active and stopped tend to be more depressed than those who maintain or initiate an exercise program,” says James Blumenthal, PhD, a clinical psychologist  at Duke University.

When I finally pegged my kitchen breakdown as postpartum depression, I sat down and wrote a list of everything that I do to feel like myself, all the things that bring me joy, help me get away from the pressures around me and just allow me to reconnect with myself. And then I made sure to do at least one of those things every day.

It may sound silly but it worked. I had things on my list like…. get dressed, feel sunshine on my face, dance to a throw back song I love, walk on the beach and of course…. WORKOUT. All of these are acts of self-love and health. It made the months that followed bearable because I was supporting my mental health.  

I would like to invite you to make your own list.  

Next, if you didn’t add fitness to your list, consider doing so. I’m going to share with you why I feel compelled to talk about fitness in conjunction with mental health.  

American Psychological Association shows that exercise helps alleviate depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.   

• Exercise helps with long-term depression. Not just short-term depression, but actually much longer than just that the duration of that workout. 
• Exercise helps with anxiety. A researcher discovered that people with high anxiety sensitivity, who  also reported high activity levels were less likely to panic than subjects who exercise infrequently. The findings of these studies support and show that physical exercise could help ward off panic attacks. 

If you have been experiencing any kind of heightened anxiety, any type of depressed emotions, or if you’re wanting to improve your mood in general, consider adding exercise to your list.  

Ever since I experienced depression firsthand, I’ve wanted to play a larger role in helping people feel like they are back in control of their lives, back in the driver’s seat, and getting to experience the beautiful things in life that make life worth living. It’s great news to me that fitness helps to alleviate these symptoms, and as someone who owns a gym, we have a very practical way to come along side of people and support them through this season or chronic condition.  

That’s the role we want to play. If you are struggling with mental health, we straight up want to help you. We believe with our whole hearts that we have something that can help you. Whether that’s meeting you in your living room or whether that’s providing you with an in-person experience that is safe and conscious of the situation, we’re all in. We are here to come alongside of you.  

If you are part of the 53% of Americans struggling with mental health, I want you to know you’re not alone. You don’t have to struggle in silence and you don’t need to feel ashamed by this. Just giving ourselves grace and showing ourselves kindness when we’re down is so powerful.  

If I could share with you a way forward, it would be to create that list, commit each day to doing something you love that brings you joy, and to prioritize weekly fitness because it is proven to help!  

You  deserve to live a beautiful life. Sometimes giving yourself permission to slow down, to make space for yourself and to put your wellbeing at the top of your priorities is the BEST gift you can give yourself and others. 

The post Mental Health in 2020 appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

At the risk of bringing up ANYTHING negative in a time of life when we are all proactively straining to find the positive… let me share with you that this last week really got to me.

Maybe it was the helplessness of hearing that our beautiful state was burning with over 500 separate fires.

Maybe it was the heaviness of the apocalyptic haze that made every day feel like a fight to survive.

Or the incessant smell of campfire burning your eyes, making that mask feel more vital than ever to simply breathe.

For the first time since COVID, this week felt the darkest to me.

But here’s what I know about darkness and dark feelings: When you feel the heaviness of the world, THAT is when hope pierces brightest.

Have you ever noticed that life/God/the Universe delivers you the EXACT message you need, if you’re just paying attention to receive it?

For me (and Michael) it came through the new Amazon Prime show, World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji. 66 teams from around the world raced for 11 days to cover 420 miles in Fiji. Imagine covering an average of 40 miles per day, barely eating or sleeping, and hiking through dense jungle, paddling in open ocean, hiking through rain and storms, mountain biking in thick mud, paddle boarding on bamboo rafts, rock climbing through a huge gorge, and whitewater rafting!

But it wasn’t the sheer magnitude of the race that felt so powerful.

It was the resilience of the human spirit. It was the courage to face fears. It was the grit to wade into icy waters and swim for miles in the dark, 7 days into a huge race. It was the looks of determination when you thought they’d give up.

It was watching Sonja Weick compete, a Gymnazo athlete that CJ and the Semi-Private coaching team had the honor of training. It was seeing the face of someone you know look exhausted and then just decide to move forward, to smile, to conquer because they were “built to do hard things.”

It honestly still makes me tear up writing this. It touched my heart to see these fierce humans show up for the hardest adventure racing in the world, while still showing compassion, kindness and joy in their struggles.

It hit me because, through all of the obstacles in the last 6 months, this week was the first week I felt weighed down by it.

So then I pick up Angela Duckworth’s book Grit and she says, “Excitement is common, but endurance is rare.”

Endurance. Endurance racing.

You may not realize it yet, but right now ALL of us are endurance athletes. In our spirits, we are enduring a lineup of events we could not possibly have predicted. We are building grit. We are doing hard things.

Much of what’s hard is shared right now in the world. And then there are hardships are that mine and hardships that are yours.

But here’s what I want to say:

• to those who are homeschooling kids AND trying to work at the same time, I see you.
• to those who live alone and quarantine feels deeply isolating, I see you.
• to those who are fighting to keep their businesses open, I see you.
• to those who are battling mental health, I see you.
• to those whose relationships are being tested and may not come out the other end, I see you.
• to those who lost jobs or fear losing your jobs, I see you.
• to those who feel the anger of systemic wrongs and fear equality is elusive, I see you.
• to those mourning the loss of being about to celebrate the lives of those we loved who passed, I see you.
• to those who just want to celebrate their new babies or marriage with their friends, I see you.
• to those who are on the front lines of the pandemic, I see you.
• to those who are running into flames and battling endless fires, saving their neighbor’s homes, I see you.

These are HARD things. Some of these things will require us to FIGHT to overcome. Others we simply have to ENDURE and hold tightly to the belief that we can OVERCOME hard things.

Those courageous athletes in the World’s Toughest Race reminded me that I can go farther than I think. I can handle more than I think. I can will myself into finishing the race in front of me.

That TV series will always hold a special place in my heart, and so will each of you. Watching everyone fight their fight, endure their own set of obstacles and yet still find a way to smile, to joke, to see the bright side… you are the very best of humanity.

You are beautiful. You make this world a better place each day.

Thank you!

p.s. CJ had an amazing opportunity to interview Sonja Weick last week, and it’s uplifting and inspiring for so many reasons! To watch, click here.

The post Built to Do Hard Things appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

After surveying and calling over 50 of our members, we have learned first hand an honest account about just how hard 2020 has been on many of us. But even beyond us in our SLO bubble, the trends are bleak.

Generally speaking, it may never have been as easy to…

• fall off the bandwagon with habits you used to love
• feel negative and not know how to break the cycle
• experience debilitating anxiety
• find yourself eating or drinking all your feelings
• binge watch shows like Tiger King
• strain key relationships around you
• and spiral into a cycle of shame about any of the above

Now before you all stop reading this email and sink into that pit-in-your-stomach feeling, let us remind you of some other things that are true…

• this will pass
• your life is a gift
• your health has never mattered more
• you have a history of prioritizing your health
• when it could have been easy to sleep in or skip that workout, you showed up… not once but (probably if you’re reading this) HUNDREDS of times
• you made time to do something for yourself
• you made health a priority

So now it comes down to this:

HOW DO YOU WANT TO REMEMBER 2020?

What do you want to tell your kids when you look back?

How do you want to remember yourself?

Here’s how it COULD go, if you so choose…

“2020 rocked my world and was the biggest curveball in humanity that I’ve lived through. But it taught me a powerful lesson … that in times of hardship and pain, I can only double down on what I can control: Which is me. During 2020, I rose up and fought through to stay healthy mentally, emotionally and physically. I found an inner strength in me that I never had to test before. 2020 felt like a damn hard workout…. it was hell to go through, but I gave it everything I had and I rose up stronger, more confident and proud.”

You know what? We’re just going to say it. You deserve to make THAT your story about 2020. As your coaches, we KNOW you as an athlete.

Here’s who you are…

You are strong.

You are capable.

You are determined.

You can do hard things.

You come back stronger each time.

You are an example of putting yourself first.

You are the reason we love our job.

So it’s time to remember who you are. When you do, we are still delivering kickass workouts through both virtual experience and outdoors. There is still playful banter, coaches with big personalities and even bigger hearts, and friends of yours who are missing their workout partners.

We miss you. We believe in you. We can’t wait to see you and show 2020 who you are.

In your corner,

Team Gymnazo

The post There are two ways this could go… your choice. appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.

The mental toughness and the resolve displayed throughout the movie fired us up. It reminded us of how we want to show up in the midst of the pandemic we are all currently living through.

While present circumstances pale in comparison to surviving Mars alone, it served as a great reminder to battle anxiety by focusing only on the day at hand. Instead of giving into the fears of dying alone in space, Matt Damon’s character got militaristic with his routines and systematically handled each problem that came his way with rigid focus. He was determined. He willed himself to survive.

For months now, the quarantine has felt like a mental battle ground. Initially, the fight was to stay positive and consciously only consume information that was correct while not buying into the stories hyped up for click bait. We are now in Week 10, and the fight for mental health has never been more intense.

We are still your coaches and we are here to push you to be your best.

If you’re reading this email, at one point you picked us to be your partner as you pursued your health and fitness goals. You were so resolute, that you put down money. Not the kind of money you forget about. The kind of membership that proved to yourself that you had enough skin in the game to show up for you.

It’s never been easier to give up on yourself than now.

Without intending any guilt, we are here to say that “it’s game time.” There have never been more excuses available to you than now. It’s NEVER been harder to get up, get out of a rut and to do something hard like workout from home. It’s never been easier to pass on the routines that brought you peace and sanity before the world changed around us. It’s never been easier to say you’d rather wait until we re-open to get back to prioritizing your wellness. It’s never been more socially acceptable to sit on the sidelines of the battle for your sanity and wellbeing. It’s never been easier to feel like a victim of circumstance AND find community in the experience.

The two things we need you to know.

We wouldn’t be worthwhile coaches if we didn’t communicate two things right now. And the truth is that all we want to do right now in the middle of this are two things:

1. Give you a big hug and tell you that we deeply care about you. Tell you that you matter and you deserve an hour each day to step out of the chaos and feel like yourself again.

2. When you find yourself not wanting to get up and do the hard thing, that’s exactly what you need to do to push through. In this case, it’s that workout.

One thing we know, is that many of us are fighting anxiety right now. Anxiety is rooted in fear of what the future holds, and giving into the worry of what hasn’t yet come to be. It’s very human, and it’s very hard to break out of its hold. It’s terrifying to many to feel so out of control.

So here is our encouragement to our community: Take back control right now.

Control what you can. Focus on this every single day. Stop waiting for conditions to get favorable. Make the most of every day. Now.

Our challenge to you during this time is:

Do one thing that’s HARD…. even if it’s small.

When you do something hard, you will feel a sense of control. Plus, you are actually mentally conditioning yourself to conquer your fears.

Not everyone finds fitness to be a refuge or a safe place, but if you’re reading this, you have embraced fitness as a part of your life. Take back control. Quarantine or not, it’s time to stop trying to look into what the future holds and start living each day, exerting control into your day, in a way that is positive and empowering. Let’s start with fitness and get back to an activity you love.

You can do this!  It may not be as intense as surviving on Mars, but if you have to “science the shit” out of anything, tackle anxiety. Focus on doing one thing each day that brings you joy. This will remind you that you are in control of some things…. not the least of which is your happiness and well being.

In your corner,

Michael, Paden and our entire team at Gymnazo

The post Control What You Can appeared first on Local Gym | Fitness | Crossfit | Gymnazo, San Luis Obispo, CA.