Fight Your Fear So You Can Fight Your Fat
Julia Buckley’s The Fat Burn Revolution helps readers on their fitness journey overcome their fear of the gym and fall in love with the feeling of a good workout.
When Julia Buckley first decided to get in shape, her fear of being judged left her too self-conscious to hit the gym. The girl who hated sports and gym class when she was growing up now has a book and website dedicated to helping women fall in love with working out and themselves. In her book, The Fat Burn Revolution, she offers a 12-week program that can be done at home with minimal equipment.
“It took me many months of learning to exercise at home with workout videos before I had the courage to even step into the gym,” Buckley says. “Once there, for literally years, I would stick to the same few exercises I knew, mainly because I was embarrassed to try something I might not be very good at in front of people I thought would sneer, or worse, feel sorry for me!”
She also recalls joining in with a group of women in her step class who would talk about the arrogant showoff leaping about in the front of the class.
“Really, she was just someone who probably didn’t give a crap what the people behind her thought. But at the time, I didn’t know how to take inspiration from people who had achieved something I wanted. I only knew how to be jealous of them,” Buckley says. “This held me back for a long time.”
The fear of being judged by others is a crippling thought that keeps many women out of the gym and out of shape. What Buckley realized, though, is that people are judged no matter what.
“Any time you try to do anything even vaguely proactive in life, there will be people who will want to criticize and judge,” she says. “The answer is not to hide away in fear of these people.”
And while your form may not be the best in the beginning and your workouts may seem a bit awkward at first, just remember that the only way to improve is to get stronger and keep going. The benefits to your health far outweigh the judgment you fear you may receive. And no one will be harsh when they start to recognize your progress.
One big thing Buckley promotes is the idea of working out for how it makes you feel, not how it makes you look.
“It’s the way exercise makes us feel which keeps us coming back for more,” she says.
Of course, fear may not be what’s keeping you from hitting the gym.
It could just be that you’re too busy, or a membership is too pricey. Whatever the reason, the gym just isn’t an option for many people. Buckley’s solution came in the form of a website that offers Beginner Fat Burn Boot Camps.
“This is a completely free series of five workouts, which everyone is welcome to do at home following the videos I’ve posted online at my blog, juliasfitnessblog.com, and on YouTube,” Buckley says.
Ultimately, Buckley encourages women to exercise because they love their bodies, not because they hate them.
“If you have excess fat you’d like to shed, or a lack of muscle tone you’d like to do something about, fine. By all means, get to work,” Buckley says. “But the best way to motivate yourself to achieve these changes is by appreciating how lucky you are to be able to move around and be active. So please, appreciate it, enjoy it, move it and love it.”
Julia Buckley’s Workout Words of advice
1. Stop judging yourself.
If you’re constantly telling yourself how awful you look, how unfit you are, how terrible your performance is while you’re exercising, you’re bound to expect others to think the same. However unnatural it feels, work on thinking more positively about yourself. Give yourself credit for getting on with it. Exercising isn’t always easy, but you’re doing it and you’re getting fitter and stronger with every session.
2. Stop judging others.
The meanest critics of women are often other women. Be honest: Do you sometimes make harsh judgments on women exercising? Don’t feel bad. It’s a shame you’ve been conditioned to think that way about women, and therefore yourself, but you can choose to break out of it. Instead of critiquing them, think how brilliant it is that they’re active, how much it will benefit them and those around them, and allow yourself to admire and be inspired by them.
3. Reassess your reasons.
When I promote my online fitness club and book, I talk a lot about how the workouts are awesome for fat burning and sculpting sexy bodies. That’s what draws most people to start exercising. But along the way, my members and readers discover benefits ranging far deeper than getting leaner and hotter. Although those things are great, they become more like happy byproducts. It’s the way exercise makes us feel that keeps us coming back for more. Making exercise less about changing your looks and more about how it makes you feel will help you be less focused on your appearance during your workouts. Then you’ll be free to enjoy those glorious feelings of pride, strength, confidence, vigor, vitality, aliveness, relaxation, self- respect and self-love.
4. Get a support crew.
Surround yourself with people who love to be active, whatever shape or size they are. Today, it’s easy to hook up with people of whatever mindset we’re interested in engaging with via the Inter- net. There are literally thousands of people waiting to support and encourage you and share your journey. For starters, you’re welcome to join my Fat Burn Revolution Facebook group. I’m biased, of course, but if there’s a more friendly, supportive and inspiring online group, I don’t know about it! I pop by myself every day and try to answer as many posts as I can.
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