EPS. 17 How to Make Exercise Actually Fit Into Your Busy Mom Life - Transcript
Episode 17: How to Make Exercise Actually Fit Into Your Busy Mom Life - Transcript
[00:04] Christi Gmyr: Welcome to Overcaffeinated and Out of Effs, the podcast for burned out, career-minded moms who are ready to stop pretending everything's fine and feel like themselves again.
[00:15] I'm your host, Christi Gmyr, burnout coach for moms, licensed therapist and mom of two. And I'm here to help you reclaim your energy, your identity, and your peace of mind.
[00:25] Whether you're lying awake thinking about the 87 things you didn't get done or silently resenting the people you love most,
[00:32] This is your space to feel seen, supported, and not so alone.
[00:36] So grab your coffee, hot, cold or day old, and let's get into it.
[00:47] Hey everybody, it's Christi.
[00:49] Welcome to Overcaffeinated and Out of Effs.
[00:53] In today's episode, I'd like to welcome our guest, Alycia Carrillo.
[00:57] Alycia is the founder of Alycia Carrillo Fitness, an online strength and conditioning business, helping women over 30 reconnect with their inner athlete and enjoy movement again while building the lean, strong bodies they want.
[01:11] Today,
[01:12] with dual master's degrees in sports medicine and sports psychology, [01:16] she blends science based training, practical application, and real life flexibility to deliver programs that are both effective and fun.
[01:25] Alycia's mission is to bring high quality, performance driven coaching to high achieving women who want strength, confidence and conditioning that fit seamlessly into their lives.
[01:37] So I've invited Alycia here today to talk a little bit about fitness and to share some strategies for all of you busy working moms who are struggling with incorporating it into your busy lives.
[01:52] So, Alycia, thank you so much for being here today.
[01:56] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me.
[01:59] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, of course. I'm really looking forward to this conversation and I'm wondering if you would mind just starting off by sharing a little bit about yourself and what led you to the kind of coaching you do today.
[02:12] Alycia Carrillo: Of course.
[02:13] So let's see, where do we start? Okay, so I was an athlete growing up. I played all the sports, probably like many of you all did. My parents put me in pretty much everything.
[02:25] By the time I got to high school, I specialized in track, soccer and tennis. And then I went on to walk onto the track team in college at usc. Southern California.
[02:36] For all you Southerners, that's not South Carolina.
[02:43] During my time there, I ended up having a pretty bad back injury that pretty much took me out of the sport. And from there I got more interested and intrigued in how the body worked.
[02:55] So I pursued a degree in human performance and I started to learn more about anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, all that fun stuff.
[03:03] However, like many high Achievers,
[03:07] elite athletes,
[03:08] really anyone in that. In that realm.
[03:11] I swung the complete opposite direction on the pendulum. So I needed to.
[03:17] To take that drive, that perfectionism that I had applied to sport my whole life. And unfortunately, I decided to apply that to fitness, but not in a super helpful way.
[03:30] So I quickly became obsessed with exercise, obsessed with body modification,
[03:36] trying the different diets, trying to just recapture something that would make me feel like I was back in that. In that spot where I played sport, but I was coming at it for the wrong way or from the wrong way.
[03:49] During that time,
[03:51] I also was coaching in college athletics. I went on to get two master's degrees like Christi mentioned,
[03:59] but I really focused on my own personal healing process. I knew the way that I was operating was not sustainable and it was not beneficial.
[04:09] And through a lot of deep self work,
[04:12] healing therapy,
[04:14] self discovery, all of that, I wound up finding myself in a really good place where I was very comfortable in my body. I was enjoying exercise again. I wasn't obsessing about it.
[04:28] I was back to listening to my body when it came to fueling and nutrition.
[04:34] And I decided that I wanted to help other women achieve that because that's really the goal. Right. Like, we all want, you know, to look strong, be strong.
[04:44] We really just want to enjoy our lives too,
[04:47] and we don't want to have to white knuckle our way through things.
[04:50] And so that led to me starting my own business and yeah, just trying to take everything that I had learned, everything that I had seen, all of my lived experiences combined with my education and bringing that to women today.
[05:07] Christi Gmyr: Awesome. Well, and so. And specifically, your focus is on women over 30.
[05:13] Alycia Carrillo: Correct.
[05:13] Christi Gmyr: So really it's a lot of the people who are listening to the podcast. Right. So a lot of these people who are a lot of these busy working moms are like, right in that age window, approximately.
[05:28] And so I'm curious, you know, like, in your experience.
[05:30] Alycia Carrillo: Experience.
[05:30] Christi Gmyr: Because I imagine you work with a lot of, you know, working moms. So in your experience, like, what would you say are some of the biggest challenges that do come up for these women when it comes to staying active or making fitness a consistent part of their lives?
[05:46] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah, so, yeah, you're right. I do. A ton of my clients are mothers.
[05:51] Some of them have young children, some of them have children that are a little bit older. And it is very interesting kind of seeing the different challenges that come up through those different phases of parenthood.
[06:01] But the number one, and this is going to be like an obvious duh is Time and energy, right?
[06:07] So moms, y' all are incredible. Whether you're a stay at home mom or a working mom,
[06:13] I know that your bandwidth is stretched to the limits pretty much all of the time.
[06:19] So it's finding ways, yeah,
[06:22] it's finding ways to manage your energy and deal with competing priorities. And oftentimes I see mothers, and I mean, right, this is part of becoming a mother, is they tend to put themselves at the bottom of the priority totem pole when it comes to taking care of things.
[06:40] It's, you know, it's taking care of everyone else. And then if there's time, I'm going to make time for me.
[06:46] You add in unpredictable schedules like partners traveling, [06:51] your kids getting sick. How often does that happen? Right. You have a plan to work out and sudd. [06:56] You get a phone call that you have to come pick up your kid because you know they're, they, they threw up on themselves or something.
[07:04] Work.
[07:05] Yeah, work deadlines, all of that. So it's easy to see why consistency then becomes to feel impossible.
[07:12] And then the approach, kind of what I talked about in my own story is we women, especially women in our 30s, 40s,
[07:22] even into 50s, have been fed this idea that the sole purpose of exercise is for body modification, to change your body, to change the way it looks.
[07:31] So when you look at it from that way,
[07:34] it becomes another thing that you need to cross off your to do list instead of something to do because you enjoy it or it's, it's filling a cup in some way.
[07:47] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, and also another thing that I know a lot of working moms really struggle with, and you actually talked about this a little bit too when you were talking about your own story is this, you had talked about, you know, this tendency to strive for perfectionism.
[08:01] You know, a lot of women really fall into sort of this all or nothing mentality in various parts of their lives, right. Where you know, they're, they set the bar so high and if they are not able to necessarily reach it, sometimes it's unrealistically high.
[08:18] And if they're not necessarily able to reach it, then it can have an effect on their mental and emotional well being. And so I'm curious, you know, when it specifically comes to exercise and wellness,
[08:30] why do you think that so many women fall into that, into that all or nothing mindset?
[08:36] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah, so I think there's a couple reasons and one of them being that, you know, we saw it work for us in other areas of our life. Like we saw that high drive that Almost perfectionism pay off in certain ways, especially when it comes to career.
[08:52] You know, we frame it as the grind.
[08:54] However,
[08:55] when you look at it with your career,
[08:58] you have this external structure that is set up and it's, it's, it's an obligation. Right. Like you have to go to work Monday through Friday from these hours and you have a boss, et cetera.
[09:09] And so it's easy to take that perfectionism, drive in those constraints and build success on it. Even though it might come with some burnout at the end of the day.
[09:18] But you're still, you're still getting to, you know, you're, you're hitting those goals.
[09:24] But when you take something like that and you don't have those external constraints or you try to self impose them,
[09:29] it can be a lot harder to reach those, those same levels of quote unquote success. And I use success loosely because like I said,
[09:38] it might be success in the sense of achieving your goal, but at what cost?
[09:43] The other thing is that all or nothing thinking is,
[09:48] it's, it's really a form of self sabotage in a way. And our brains love simplicity at the end of the day. And I'm sure you know this like black and white thinking is a big.
[10:00] And it's a very real thing in many areas of life because our brains prefer when things are binary. They don't like when things are nuanced, muddy or in the gray area.
[10:10] So in, in that sense it's, it's a, either it's a this or a that.
[10:15] So if our brain can categorize something as okay, well I, I either do it all the way or I don't do it at all. It kind of gives you permission to let yourself off the hook when you're not able to show up in the perfect way that you would like.
[10:29] That's,
[10:30] that's one of the reasons.
[10:31] Yeah. That I see it happen often.
[10:35] Christi Gmyr: Well, and one of the problems too, you know, you were talking about success a minute ago, which. Yes, absolutely. But success is going to,
[10:42] you talked about it loosely, which is great because it is going to look different for different people. And honestly success is going to look different for the same people at different points in their lives.
[10:52] Alycia Carrillo: Right.
[10:52] Christi Gmyr: This definition of success is constantly changing. And so we need to be like aware of that and thinking about like, what does that mean, you know, at any given time for us.
[11:01] But the other thing is, you know, you're talking about this all or nothing black and white thinking. And the thing is, is that these shades of gray are so incredibly Common.
[11:11] Alycia Carrillo: Right.
[11:12] Christi Gmyr: The reality is, is that almost every situation that we can think of, there are these middle grounds, There are these shades of gray. But a lot of times we do. We have a hard time seeing it.
[11:21] To your point, it's kind of like, well, I have to go all the way. Or if I can't do it all the way, then I'm not even going to bother.
[11:26] I'm not going to try it all. Or,
11:28] you know, if I can't reach this level, this definition of success, you know, that I have defined for myself, then that means I'm a failure. Right. And there really needs to be,
[11:39] you know,
[11:40] people. It's important for people to sort of intentionally think about, like, what does that really mean?
[11:45] And, you know, for them knowing that it's okay to be in that middle ground. Right. Like, because you can do,
[11:53] you know, even if you do things part way, even if you don't go all the way to the extreme that you maybe have set for yourself, it's still better than, you know, not doing anything at all, you know.
[12:03] So I'm really glad that you kind of talked about that.
[12:07] So one of the other things that I'm wondering about is,
[12:10] and we've already sort of kind of been talking about this, but continuing on,
[12:14] is what are some other, like, myths about fitness that you see affecting moms and maybe making their burnout worse?
[12:24] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah. So I think,
[12:27] you know, when you go on social media these days, it feels like every other post is like a sponsored post or an ad or this, that and the other. And marketing has gotten really good at targeting us by our demographic, our psychographics, all of these things.
[12:43] And so you'll see a lot of fitness marketing targeted specifically to moms, to busy moms.
[12:50] And that gives the idea that because you are this thing, that you have to be doing this thing in order to get the outcome that you desire.
[12:59] And that is where I encourage moms to push back and be like, don't put me in a box just because I'm a woman, just because I'm a mother doesn't mean that I have to train in this type of way if it doesn't bring me joy.
[13:15] Now, of course, there are basic tenets of fitness that we want to improve and we want to incorporate into our training when it comes to our health.
[13:23] But that doesn't mean that you need to do X, Y and Z just because you are this person.
[13:31] And so I think, like,
[13:33] moms really get preyed on a lot when it comes to this,
[13:38] because I don't know if I want to say preyed on that probably sounds really negative, but it's like.
[13:44] Christi Gmyr: I know what you mean though. Target maybe.
[13:46] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah,
[13:47] yeah, it's like mom's already, you know, your bandwidth is stretched to the gills. Like you probably don't have a lot of time or mental energy to put into researching, you know, what actually is going to be the best thing, what is going to be the payoff.
[14:03] And honestly, you shouldn't have to because if we were just honest and upfront and you know, it would just, it would just be right there in front of you. But unfortunately that's not the case. [14:13] And so people will take that and they'll be like, because you are a woman, because you had a baby, because you are this, you need to do this and you don't.
[14:24] Christi Gmyr: So, okay, so then realistically,
[14:27] like what would you say that training,
[14:30] training, like when you talk about like training like an athlete, what would you say that that real looks realistically looks like for a busy mom who isn't trying to compete in sports, who isn't trying to, you know, enter some sort of a competition or get to this ideal picture of,
[14:45] you know, what we might see in those advertisements?
[14:49] Alycia Carrillo: Right, yeah. So when I talk about training like an athlete,
[14:53] what I really mean by that is incorporating all of the pillars of fitness into your training. And that's not necessarily just because you want to improve your performance,
[15:03] but it's also because those are the things that are going to reduce your risk of all cause mortality.
[15:08] Those are the things that are going to help you be able to, you know, keep up with your children to,
[15:14] to when you're 4 or when they're 40 years old, you're still able to go on a hike with them that are going to extend or improve not only the, the length of the longevity of your life, but also the quality of it.
[15:28] So that's really what I'm looking for when I'm going for athletic based fitness. And so things like that, it includes speed, it includes power,
[15:37] endurance, [15:38] strength, mobility, agility,
[15:41] all of the things that we did naturally as children.
[15:44] Running fast, jumping, picking things up, putting them down and just applying it to your life as an adult to keep you as capable and as well rounded from a fitness standpoint as possible.
[15:56] So in, in training that can look like,
[16:00] you know, just doing some jumps, some light plyometrics, some pogo hops, things like that,
[16:05] a little bit of resistance training, even 20 to 30 minutes once to twice a week pays incredible dividends,
[16:13] some form of conditioning. And people, when they, when I say that, they think, oh, well, I don't like to run. And I'm always like, you don't have to run. You can, you can bike, you can row, you can paddle board, you can swim, you can do circuits.
[16:24] I use a lot of circuits with clients where it's like two minutes on the bike, then you pick three exercises, you cycle through that for 15 minutes.
[16:33] So yeah, things like that really is what's going to be the biggest payoff.
[16:37] Christi Gmyr: Well, and one of the things, you know, if we're thinking specifically about, you know, busy working moms, you know, you had talked before about, you know, time and energy as being two of the biggest barriers, which I completely agree with.
[16:49] Another challenge that I know I've personally experienced and I know a lot of, a lot of other moms experience too, is the challenge of trying to work out at home when your kids are there.
[16:59] Because if we're looking for time, we can't always find time when our kids just aren't home or not around. You know, I know I personally run into problems where, you know, we've got a little home gym in our basement.
[17:09] I might be, you know,
[17:11] on the treadmill and suddenly my 5 year old is coming down, trying to get on the bike or trying to lift the weights and doing all these things. And I don't want to disrupt my workout.
[17:18] I also don't want him getting hurt. And it can be really, really challenging.
[17:22] And so I'm curious, like,
[17:25] what are some thoughts you have around that, like, are there any other like strength or conditioning exercises that moms could realistically do at home if they find the time, if they find the energy, even when maybe their kids are around?
[17:42] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah, and that's, that's something that I,
17:45] that comes up with clients a lot. And I think nowadays moms are kind of pushing back on screen time for kids, which I think is fantastic.
[17:54] So it's not so simple as, hey, throw on a movie for them. Like, if that's not what you want to do, then I respect that.
[18:02] That being said, there are some, like YouTube creators that create workouts for kids and I do have clients that will throw one of those on for their kids to kind of do while they do their own workouts.
[18:14] But I think there's a lot of ways that you can just incorporate if your children are interested in and being around during the workout. I'm like,
[18:22] first of all, I know it can be frustrating, but that's fantastic. Like think about the example setting for them. They're getting to Watch you work out. They might not realize it, but they're going to grow up and they're going to remember the moments of like, oh, my parents worked out.
[18:38] I mean, think about it now. Like, think about your own parents, whether they did or didn't, like, that's ingrained into you.
[18:45] So things like,
[18:47] I mean, I, that's why I like doing a lot of like plyometrics, like hops. Even if it's jumping jacks, lateral line hops, pogo hops, those are things that kids love to jump in on.
[18:58] Body weight exercises, like a squat or a split squat. And you can even,
[19:04] depending on the size of your child,
[19:06] give them a bear hug and use them for some extra resistance.
[19:11] But yeah, just really circuit style. Make it,
[19:14] gamify it a little bit even of like,
[19:18] hey, we're gonna, these are the exercises. I'm gonna set a timer and we're gonna try to get through this six times. And it's like, just don't use, you know, if the weights are gonna be a concern from a safety standpoint,
[19:29] then don't use the weights. Like, just work within the parameters that you have then and just acknowledge that this is a safe season of your life that you're in and it's not forever.
[19:41] This might just be one day of the week where this is kind of, you know, maybe not ideal, but it's not going to be the rest of your life that you have a, a two year old crawling all over you, hopefully.
[19:52] Christi Gmyr: Yeah,
[19:53] yeah,
[19:54] yeah, no, absolutely.
[19:56] So what about, you know, for the moms who are just.
[20:00] Not just that they're so busy and they're having a hard time, you know,
[20:03] carving out that time, but just that they're like so tired. You know,
[20:07] where's a good place for them to start? Because, you know, a lot of times starting, you know, taking that first step is really a lot of times the biggest challenge, just kind of getting going.
[20:16] So where, what, what would you say to that?
[20:19] Alycia Carrillo: I would say start with joy. So pick something that you enjoy that is going to be the number one most important thing when it comes to adhering to exercise. Right.
[20:31] So throw away all of the, I should do this, I should do that, and I can even sit here as a professional and say, hey, this is how you're going to get the most out of the least amount of time.
[20:43] But at the same time, if you're somebody who's like, I just really like,
[20:47] I want to do yoga and Pilates and I'm like, okay, well, that's maybe not the most biggest bang for your buck. But if that's what's going to get you to show up every single week for 20 minutes,
[20:57] then start there. And then we can slowly layer in the other things. So I always say start with what makes you feel happy, what makes you feel enjoyable, and then also ask yourself,
[21:10] what makes me feel like I accomplished something? [21:13] Because that's a big thing. I find when women,
[21:17] moms specifically, are short on time,
[21:20] they only have 20 minutes. And I'm like, okay, well, let's just do, you know, some easy stretching.
[21:25] They skip it because they're like, well, I didn't feel like I did anything.
[21:29] So.
[21:30] And that's going to be specific to you. So for a lot of my clients, it's getting their heart rate up.
[21:36] They feel like they accomplished something no matter the time when they got their heart rate up.
[21:41] So then it's okay.
[21:43] How can we do that in the short amount of time that you have?
[21:47] So those are really my two things. Pick something you enjoy, and pick something that's gonna make you feel like, okay, that was worth it.
[21:54] And then the other thing I just want busy moms to remember is that research has indicated to us over and over that the benefit slope for physical activity is the steepest.
[22:08] Meaning you're getting the most benefits in the first one to two hours of exercise per week.
[22:14] So oftentimes, and this is going back to the all or nothing, we're thinking, well, I can't do it three days a week, five days a week. What's the point?
[22:21] You are doing so much for your body and for your health in just one hour a week.
[22:27] And that includes going on the walks or the bike rides with the family.
[22:32] Christi Gmyr: Okay. It's interesting for me to hear you say that. When you started to say one to two hours, I thought you were gonna finish that sentence with per day. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, that does a lot.
[22:43] Suddenly that sounds completely doable. That sounds way more manageable and realistic. And then going back to that, you know what you were saying before about,
[22:51] you know, just feeling productive, what makes you feel like you accomplished something and that it's going to be different for everybody. Like, I know for me personally, it's getting a sweat, right?
[23:00] Which is also one of the reasons I don't you know, turn the heat up.
[23:05] Yeah. No, but I find that, like, if I don't get a. At least a little bit of a sweat, that I'm sort of like, oh, if I really do anything.
[23:12] Alycia Carrillo: But.
[23:13] Christi Gmyr: But, yeah, I can. I can Imagine, like, how that would be different for everybody. And it just kind of thinking about, like, what is your thing when you walk away and you're like, yes, I feel like I really got something out of that.
[23:23] Why? Like, what does that look like?
[23:25] Alycia Carrillo: Right, right. Because I can, say, do 15 squats or whatever and 10 pushups, but if that's not going to get you to break a sweat,
[23:33] you're going to feel like you should have done more.
[23:35] But if I'm like, hey, Christi, instead, I want you to set a timer for 15 minutes, and I want you to jump rope for one minute, [23:42] then do, you know, jumping jacks for the second minute, then do squats for the third and repeat that five times.
[23:48] Yeah, you're probably going to feel pretty good by the end of those 15 minutes. You're probably going to be like, is this over yet?
[23:56] Christi Gmyr: Yeah. Yeah, that's probably what I'll be thinking.
[23:59] So. Okay, so coming back to what you were talking about a little while ago, in terms of, [24:05] like, the expectations, the mindset, you know,
[24:09] a lot of times those are influenced by, like, the societal messages we get and things like that.
[24:15] Alycia Carrillo: So.
[24:15] Christi Gmyr: And mindset, you know, is such an important part of all of this. I'm sure. And so what are some ways that these moms can start to shift their mindsets maybe away from focusing on burning calories and instead focusing on building that strength and improving their energy?
[24:32] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah. And so, I mean,
[24:34] I can't. You can't just tell somebody to not care about what they look like. Right? Like, it. It's never going to work for me to say, like, hey, you shouldn't care about how you look.
[24:46] You should only care about your performance.
[24:48] So it's a way to incorporate both of them. What I will say is,
[24:52] and I tell women this all the time when they're focused on the calorie burn.
[24:56] Your device, whether it's your watch, whatever, your Apple watch or Fitbit, your Garmin,
[25:02] is wildly inaccurate.
[25:04] There have been studies that show that the calorie burn that it spits out at the end of the day can be, I think, somewhere from, like, 20 to 70% inaccurate.
[25:15] So when I.
[25:17] When women are fixating on that, I'm just like, it's. I mean, it's. It's a completely random number. It's like,
[25:23] I might. I would have a better chance at just guessing than your watch might. So just forget about that. Forget about that. Don't even look at the calories in that sense.
[25:34] But then the other thing I say is, you know, it's perfectly acceptable to have these aesthetic goals. Like, I want to have sculpted arms, I want to have toned legs.
[25:45] But what is a performance key factor that we can anchor those to? So, for example, [25:52] if I can do a pull up,
[25:54] I probably have, like, pretty sculpted arms. And you can probably. I probably have an. Some nice back muscles. Right.
[26:01] If I can,
[26:02] you know, squat my body weight or if I can run this pace, like, I probably have pretty nice legs.
[26:10] So instead of focusing on getting the nice legs or the getting nice arms,
[26:14] let's focus on the performance goal and then get those things as a result of achieving that.
[26:21] And that's a little bit more fun because if I look in the mirror every day after a workout,
[26:27] unfortunately, I'm not really gonna see much changing. Right.
[26:31] But what I can do day to day is track. Okay, did I get. Did this pace get easier on this workout?
[26:40] Was I able to go up in weights on that exercise?
[26:44] And you can collect those little wins, those little process goals,
[26:49] without being just so fixated on an outcome that is a little bit further down the road?
[26:56] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, that, that makes a lot of sense.
[26:59] So one of the other things, you know, that I'm curious about, so I talked to. So this, my next question kind of has two parts to it. So, like, I talked to moms a lot about the importance of consistency and routine while also being flexible.
[27:13] Right. It's really important,
[27:15] especially for moms to have that element of flexibility, because things do come up unexpectedly, you know, even when we have a plan. So I'm curious, like, what are your thoughts about that?
[27:26] So what, for starters,
[27:28] what are some suggestion, some suggestions that you have for moms to start being more consistent? So I guess that would be the first thing. And then what would be some ways that these moms can try to find that balance between consistency and the flexibility?
[27:44] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah. So when it comes to finding the consistency, you know, I won't harp on it too much. But what I already talked about,
[27:51] starting with joy, [27:52] that's going to be a huge one.
[27:54] I can write you the best workout program in the world, but if you hate it, like, it's not going to be the best. Right. Because you're not going to do it.
[28:02] So starting with something you.
[28:04] You enjoy shrinking expectations.
[28:06] So not even expectations, but expectations for yourself, really?
[28:10] Oftentimes when women start a workout program,
[28:15] you're really excited and you're like, I'm gonna do this five days a week. And we get a little bit over ambitious.
[28:22] It's a lot more rewarding mentally when you start with smaller blocks and build on those than when you find that you have to constantly pull back.
[28:31] So I always encourage them. I'm like, look at your schedule. What is one day of the week that you know like pretty much for sure, unless you know the building catches on fire that you're probably gonna be able to get a 30 minute workout in.
[28:46] I always say that's your anchor day. Okay, so take the workout that is most closely aligned with your goals. So for example, if you want to,
[28:54] you know, improve your heart health or you wanna get in better shape, that might be your run or your conditioning day. Take the workout that's most closely aligned with your goals and put it on that day and that way that's your anchor workout.
[29:07] The rest of the week goes to ****.
[29:10] You still got that in. And so that's already, that's, that's building that huge win right there.
[29:16] Um,
[29:17] the other thing is like, it's so important to have a community that's supportive and that might be a partner,
[29:23] that might be a friend, a gym buddy, that might be a coach,
[29:27] that might be the Internet.
[29:29] Honestly, there's tons of accounts on social media. Like I recently actually like found all these like runner girls that are just all different paces and just like going out running 10Ks, 5Ks marathons and just supporting each other.
[29:45] And it just makes showing up so much more fun. And that social support aspect is really important.
[29:52] And then just remember that the confidence comes after the action and not before.
[29:58] And the motivation usually comes after and not before.
[30:02] So just that just knowing having that in the back of your mind can really help as well.
[30:09] And then to answer the second part with the flexibility,
[30:13] consistency is going to get you the results right? But flexibility is going to keep you in the game longer. So when you are able to have that more flexible mindset to be a little bit more flexible with yourself,
[30:26] you're going to be able to show up consistently longer. And I encourage you to track your workouts in the sense of have a calendar and just see like, is there a green dot every week? [30:39] Maybe there's two, maybe there's three.
[30:42] But zooming out because sometimes we get so sucked into the week by week basis of oh, I didn't do any workouts this week or I only did one.
[30:51] That can be really discouraging. And the next thing you know you're just continuing down that slope.
[30:57] Whereas if you're able to zoom out and look at the bigger picture and see everything that you had accomplished over the course of four weeks, six weeks,
[31:05] then it starts to feel a little bit better.
[31:09] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. Well, and I like what you're saying too, that as long, you know, you have that anchor day.
[31:14] Alycia Carrillo: Right.
[31:14] Christi Gmyr: So.
[31:15] And even if you have to, you know, if something does come up, it sounds like the anchor day is the day that you're going to plan for. But if you have to move it, if something comes up, you know, moving one day is probably a lot easier than if you're thinking like,
[31:27] oh my gosh, and now I have to rearrange my entire week. But if you're able to then look at the calendar and see, like, okay, I at least got that one day.
[31:34] If I did more, great. But as long as I at least got that one day, then, then I'm doing the thing.
[31:40] Right.
31:41] Alycia Carrillo: Right. Yeah. And knowing that that's the day that's going to move the needle the most as well.
[31:49] Christi Gmyr: Yeah.
[31:49] Alycia Carrillo: So it's not just. And that also takes a lot of the, the mental bandwidth, it cuts it down of like,
[31:55] if you're just looking at a program without having an anchor day in mind, then you're like, oh, well, I missed this day. Like, should I start from day one or should I do,
[32:04] Should I start from today? Like, you're just not really sure what to do. But if you know which day of the program is like most closely aligned to your goals,
[32:13] then it's a no brainer when you have that, that time in your, in your week.
[32:18] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.
[32:21] Well, this is all, I mean, this is all very interesting. It's all very helpful. I know that fitness is something that really is on the minds of a lot of, a lot of people, a lot of working moms.
[32:32] And I know this is going to be really helpful for all of them. So I really appreciate, you know, you're taking the time before we kind of wrap up for today.
[32:40] I'm wondering, like, where can listeners go to learn more about you and your work?
[32:46] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah, absolutely. So I am most active on Instagram. My handle is at Coach Alycia. That's A, L, Y, C, I, A and then C, A.
[32:57] I also recently revamped my own podcast and you can find that anywhere where podcasts are available. Pretty much it is called Person, Player, professional.
[33:07] And the idea behind that is that you are a person first.
[33:11] The athlete,
[33:12] the career woman, the professional are all things that come after. So we have to take care of you as a person.
[33:18] I do a lot of episodes on training, nutrition, mindset, all of those types of things. So go ahead and check that out as well. And Then I'm also going to give Christi a little freebie for you guys that you can download.
[33:32] Maybe you can throw that in the show notes or something to help you. Yeah, no, make the most out of your. Your very limited and very precious time.
[33:41] Christi Gmyr: No, absolutely. Thank you so much. Yes. And I will include all of that in the show notes for anybody who wants to, you know, check out your podcast or learn more about you, that will be great.
[33:53] So then,
[33:54] before we do wrap up, like, what's maybe one final piece of advice or what's one final message or thing you'd like to say to the moms listening who are struggling to fit exercise and fitness into their lives?
[34:06] Alycia Carrillo: Yeah. What I would say is stop waiting for the perfect conditions. Right.
[34:10] So oftentimes, if I do have a client interested in working with me, and it's like,
[34:16] well, I don't know if now's a great time, but, you know, when this happens,
[34:21] I'll have more free time to dedicate to this and to that. I say two things. One, we can't predict the future,
[34:27] and oftentimes when we think work is going to let up or parenthood is going to let up,
[34:33] something happens and things just get as chaotic as they always were, if not more. [34:38] Um,
[34:39] and then the second thing is that,
[34:42] you know, sometimes when you are working with a coach specifically, it can be really helpful to actually do it in the chaotic seasons, because if you can learn to navigate those, then you can pretty much handle anything.
[34:55] So, yeah, yeah. Life is gonna. Life and just start imperfect is better than not at all.
[35:04] Christi Gmyr: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for that. And thank you again, you know, so much for being here. I really do appreciate it.
[35:12] And then, as always, for the moms who are listening, you know, if any of this resonates, if you found any of the things we talked about today to be helpful or valuable.
[35:20] Well, one, you know, please, you know, check out the show notes. You can look up Alycia and, you know, check out some of these,
[35:27] you know, her podcast and her other resources. And then I would also just ask that you please share this podcast with any other moms, you know, that could maybe use some additional support,
[35:36] because we are all in this together.
[35:40] Alycia Carrillo: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.
