Can you change your body in two weeks? You can – yet it has more to do with your mindset than your physical self.
Why? To shape up in two weeks, you need to exercise intensively every day for at least two hours.
The problem for many of us is THAT daily workout. Life gets in the way. We make excuses about time, then give up and vouch to try again soon.
Yet Flex co-founder Heather Thomas Shalabi says that once you change your mindset, you quickly change your body.
“Intensity and daily focus on specific parts of the body for consecutive classes definitely yields results,” says Heather. “It embeds the movement pattern into neural and muscle memory, and training the neural system exponentially enhances muscular training.”
Heather adds that mental focus is crucial to seeing results in a short period of time; an intensive practice ensures proper daily attention is given to enhancing neural and muscular control over the body.
“I’ve also found that the summer period is the ideal season to call time on making excuses,” says Flex co-founder Heather Thomas Shalabi.
“We intrinsically become more aware of the appearance and feel of our bodies when the heat is on and we’re on exposing more flesh. And if you’ve got less going on at work or at home during the summer holiday season, you can find the time to fit in that work out.
Heather says that daily focus is exactly what she does when running her Asian retreats that always get amazing results.
“Who knows? You might actually start a good habit that lasts a lifetime.”
Here are Heather’s top mindset changing tips so you can be stronger, fitter and leaner in just two weeks:
Make a plan: You have a daily schedule for work or family commitments. Make one for exercise. Write it down/put it in your digital calendar. Prioritize it. Tell those close to you that you are committed to a daily workout and remind them to help you stick to it.
Find a Buddy: Ask a friend or colleague to join you. A workout buddy makes it a shared and often more fun journey. If you promise to support each other, you may find it easier to stick to your routine.
Health is the new wealth: What good is that expensive handbag if you can barely lift it off the desk? Take a look around you? Are there more health and fitness-wear stores? Tick. Are there more gyms? Tick. Looking lean and fit and feeling healthy and well is the new marker of wealth. If you want to be your best at work or home and if you want to feel confident, then daily exercise will get you there, no question about it. Remind yourself this every morning.
Meditate: It only takes a few minutes. When you wake up, stick in your headphones and listen to a meditation app. There are countless options (smilingmind is a good choice). Picture yourself sticking to your workout schedule during this. Picture feeling strong and fitting into that summer dress you’ve coveted. It’s enjoyable, so just do it!
Be realistic: Changing your body in two weeks doesn’t mean you will realise ALL your fitness goals in that duration; you will look like you, only stronger and leaner. Possibly over time, you will get the dream shape you want. Taking the leap to introduce a daily exercise schedule is realistic. Expecting to have someone else’s body is not. Your goals are personal to you. Keep a positive attitude but one that has you at the forefront of it.
Have your own mantra: Exercise is not a punishment. It’s a positive step towards living better for longer. So take these words out of your vocabulary: “I have to workout, then I can enjoy myself.” Instead, repeat (when you’re yanking on your lycra) “I am choosing to workout every day. It makes me feel great. I do this for me.” End of story. Change your mindset. Change your body.
Thanks to a quieter schedule over the holiday weeks, Heather is offering an intensive, hands-on package for those who’d like to leapfrog their practice – six days a week for two weeks from 10 -22 July. This is a great opportunity to work directly with Heather in an intense two-week period, during which time she will give personal corrections, adjustments and push participants to their limits on an individual basis.
On the menu are daily Barre, yoga or Pilates group classes run by Heather, as well as privates and trios. Get the same daily focus you would on a holiday retreat, without having to leave home. Find that advancement you’ve been waiting for but never quite achieved.
“I don’t often get the time to ‘pay back’ my Flex clients with hands-on intensives, or meet newcomers to the studio in a group setting, so I see this as a real opportunity.”
The schedule is also replicating a typical Flex retreat.
For example, each day has a focus, ranging from core, to shoulders, to hips and spine, with a yoga class on the final day of the week bringing it all together.
“You will experience the full spectrum of what Flex has to offer in the three methods of Barre, Pilates and yoga. If you stick with the program, you will see results – and quickly – before your friends arrive home from holidays!” says Heather.
Packages are available now, with new Flex clients also welcome. So why wait, when a summer retreat is on your doorstop?
Available from July 10-22 at fantastic prices – $2,000 for 10 classes, $3,000 for 15, $4,000 for 20 and a premium package of $5,100, which – alongside the group classes – includes two private sessions and a Pilates Trio.. Each package is a savings of 30%.