Working out has always been a huge part of my life. I love it, but that wasn’t always the case. I know we shouldn’t say we need certain things to live other than food/water/relationships but like this is def up there.
I think it’s fair to say that for the most part we all take our health for granted. I mean I definitely did, if you’ve ever seen my snapchat story on a Saturday night you know what I mean. In university I would force myself to workout when I didn’t want to, which honestly is great discipline but my mind frame was all wrong. I was forcing myself to work out when I didn’t even like what I was doing, I just thought I had to do it to get in shape. I thought that every time I ate something “bad” I had to go to the gym to immediately work it off. I thought it was normal to go on 7 day cleanse diets you found on Pinterest. I thought in order to stay skinny you couldn’t go out for drinks or meals with friends or just be social in general. I thought that it was normal to hate the workouts you were doing. I just thought that this is how it would be for the rest of my life, I’d have to choose between my health/having a social life, I would always hate going to the gym, and god forbid I didn’t eat anything “bad” two days in a row.
After getting out of university, I realized that this. is. not. normal. I mean looking back it’s so obvious to me now, but I was so oblivious. It wasn’t until I started appreciating my health and learning that it’s a lifestyle change – not a phase. There needs to be balance in everything. You can go out and be social and still be healthy and if someone makes a comment, who gives a fuck it’s not their body it’s yours. You also don’t have to go out if you don’t want to. You can find workouts you love doing. You can start thinking of working out as a privilege NOT a right, start appreciating what your body CAN do. There’s people out there who can’t walk, who are missing limbs, who have never even heard of a gym because their country is so poor. Your body doesn’t HAVE to work for you, it doesn’t owe you anything, it’s actually the complete opposite. You owe it everything.
Cue Melissa Wood Health. She’s a New York gal living the life of Manhattan’s elite. Ok. I’m not sure if she’s actually from Manhattan but you know I’m going to throw a gossip girl moment in here when I can. Think Lily Van der Woodsen pre- Bart Bass marriage, you know, when she was actually happy? Not only is she an absolute milf she basically has getting the most effective workout in in the shortest amount of time down to a science. Her method is all about slow controlled movements through yoga and pilates style principles to sculpt long, lean lines throughout your entire body. I know you love the words long and lean just as much as I do. Seriously, this is better than any other workout I’ve ever done and I actually LOVE doing them which is also pretty important I guess. Not only does Melissa have like, the most soothing voice ever but these workouts are $10 a month? Now we literally have no excuse not to do them.
So let me be completely real about why I love her and her workouts so much. I low key hate going to the gym like I stated before, but love being active. Then I found Spinco + Hot Yoga + Pilates and fell in love, but my love affair fell short due to the fact I decided to move to a city with none of these. I live in a little one bedroom micro apartment that has room for a yoga mat and that’s about it, but you better believe I’m still going to find a way to work out, and that I did. Melissa’s program’s have honestly been life changing, they range from 10 minutes to 45 so you always have time for movement no matter what. Her workouts come from such a good space of loving your body for all that it can do, not punishing it by running 7KM on the treadmill because you had that 2nd plate at thanksgiving dinner.
I’ve posted the link to her website below, check it out and let me know what you think:
Still in Progress 