289: No Gym? No Problem! Unlocking The Secrets of At Home Workout Success with Lauren George

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps After Babies Radio Episode 289. 

Hello and welcome to Biceps After Babies Radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PR's. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife and mom of four. Each week my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise, mindset, personal development and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in. Now, let's jump into today's episode.

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to another episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke, and today we are talking all about building out your home gym. My guest, Lauren George, is an expert of what it takes to be able to work out from home and actually enjoy it and build a space that is a place that you want to be. Lauren, she'll tell her story. But Lauren is like many people who didn't have any desire to work out from home until the pandemic hit. And we were all forced to stay home for way longer than most of us wanted to. And she found out that she really loved working out at home, and now it's coming on the podcast to be able to share with some of the secrets that she's learned about how to build a good space, how to make sure you have good equipment, how to stay motivated and committed, you know when your dumbbells are literally sitting in your living room, it can be hard sometimes to or rather it can be easy to tell yourself, oh I'll just do that later. So how do we stay committed? How do we keep it fresh? How do we keep it fun? These are all the questions that Lauren answers for us in today's podcast episode. So without further ado, let's jump into that interview. 

Amber B 01:56  

I am so excited to welcome Lauren to the podcast. Lauren, how are you doing? 

Lauren George 02:01  

I am wonderful. Thank you so much for having me, I am thrilled to be here. 

Amber B 02:05 

Yeah, this is going to be a really great topic because I was telling Lauren before we hit record that, there are a lot of people in the audience who are just starting out with working out or having maybe a desire to starting working out and the gym can often feel very intimidating, It can feel very scary. It's like a big leap for a lot of people and so starting at home is a fantastic option and I think especially coming out of the pandemic. A lot of people that was like the only option for a long time. So this topic about, you know, building a home workout facility or a gym is going to be a great one. So let's start Lauren with you just kind of introducing yourself to my audience. You know, who are you? What do you do? Why do you know you're talking about? 

Lauren George 02:45  

Sure, of course. Well, thank you again for having me and this is one of my favorite topics because I never, ever thought I would enjoy working out at home for like years even after being in the fitness industry and now I love it and I do it every single day so I'm so pumped to share some tips and hopefully help people enjoy working out at home more, but I have been in the fitness industry most of or all of my professional career. But I was never a superstar athlete. I just kind of really enjoyed recreating for exercise. So back in the good old days with like Paula Abdul at home, hip hop videos and go live.  

Amber B 03:21 

Tae Bo, Lyn Johnson. 

Lauren George 03:22  

Yes. Tae Bo, all the things that actually doesn't take a class from Billy Blanks in person. 

Amber B 03:28 

No way. 

Lauren George 03:28 

And my life was like made a few years ago. 

Amber B 03:29 

Ohh my gosh, that's amazing. 

Lauren George 03:31 

Yes, but I did. I went to school for Kinesiology and Sports Management. So I have always loved finding ways to help more people move and to give you the very kind of short synopsis of my career, I worked in a lot of different areas of fitness, mainly in Group fitness and personal training. I've been the fitness director at a large health club in Dallas and campus recreation centers at state and University of North Texas and Florida State. I've owned a fitness studio in Clinton, SC and then all throughout that time I've also had the pleasure of creating fitness certifications and programming, so being able to teach other instructors how to teach classes and any of the programs that I create, whether that is for you know at home, exercisers and my in person, people, when I'm teaching at the gym or studio or working with other fitness professionals to help them kind of grow in their career, it all kind of comes back to the fact that I think we should enjoy exercising. It should be something that is fun and that we look forward to so how can we create programming and community that helps us actually want to move our bodies and it to be a very enjoyable part of our day. So during the pandemic which that's all we'll like say about that. Right, because like, we're all sick of talking about it, but I did have to dip my toe into creating at home workout programming for my clients at my studio and then the instructors that I work with and then now clients all over the world. And like I said, I did that so reluctantly. Really I did. Until I understand anyone that is maybe a little reluctant to get into working out at home, or maybe they started, but they're like, oh, I really you know, this isn't as fun as I would like it to be. Because now I still enjoy teaching and taking classes in person, but I think there's just so much to be said with the convenience of working out at home. How much you can accomplish especially if you are, you know, busy, professional or mom running after kiddos or you live somewhere like me in the middle of absolutely nowhere where there just aren't a lot of options. So that's me in a nutshell. 

Amber B 05:38  

That's awesome. And you mentioned the pandemic, which I feel like it, it's funny that you say that you like reluctantly. We're like, OK, gosh, I gotta, we gotta figure this out home thing out. Because I feel like so many people were in that position with like, like us, we gotta figure this out because this is all that's available to us. And so working out at home, I feel like really exploded in popularity. Lots of like new programs like you said, a lot of fitness professionals who are doing in person stuff. We're having to figure out how do we do things at home? what do you think people realized during that time about working out at home like what again, you're forced into this, but my guess is that a lot of people, you may be in one of them is like you're forced into it. Then you're like, Oh my gosh, this is actually really amazing. So what are some of the things that you realized and maybe some of the people realized about working out from home that when we were forced into doing it? 

Lauren George 06:28 

Yes, a couple of big realizations. You know that I maybe you never would have guessed and the first one being there's really no better time. I feel like to work out at home then right now there are so many options. Like you said, there are so many amazing apps and programs and pieces of equipment that we can now have in our home that we couldn't even five years ago. So I think that is a huge blessing. I think people realize that they can not recreate because I'm still a huge proponent of, you know, in person workouts and going to the gym and group fitness. I think we can have both, but I think people realize that they could really enjoy working out at home. Maybe that's following a program or taking a streaming class that it can be fun and not something that's like this is my only option, so I guess that's what I have to do. And I think people also realize that it can be very effective, like you can get the same result working out at home, if that's your desire, right, you can get those same results and you can do a really fantastic training program or take very challenging classes from home. I think people always kind of looked at working out at home with something, you know that like my grandma did or like my mom did jazzercise and the listener and my mom did not. 

Amber B 07:38  

Like the lesser the lesser option, yeah. 

Lauren George 07:41 

Exactly, exactly. The lesser option. And it doesn't have to be. And then lastly, I think people really realized that if it's what they want and it's something that they're looking for. There are amazing communities of at home exercisers your podcast, all the programs that you offer, virtual studio virtual apps. So even if you are doing it at home on your own time. You can still be a part of an amazing community and meet other exercisers, other women or their moms. Whatever group that you're in and have those connections. And I think a lot of us assume we could only have if we were there in person. 

Amber B 08:17  

No, I think that's really I think it's really good and to the point of you you're saying about like the equipment availability. You know, I feel like 10 years ago nobody had racks in their home and and the number of like clients that I have who now have like a weight lifting rack, a squat rack like at their home has exploded. So, it really is prices have come down, new convenient options where your rack can like fold into the wall have come out to really make it so that you can get a lot of the equipment that you used to have to go to a gym to be able to get at your house. And that's really cool. 

Lauren George 08:53 

It is. It's so awesome. 

Amber B 08:55  

So I think  one of the big hurdles that I hear from a lot of my clients, and I'm sure you help your clients overcome this as well is, yes, it is super convenient to work out at your house. It is also really easy to tell yourself I'll do that later, right? It's like when it's just sitting right there. It's like it's so easy to say Oh, I can do it at any time. So then I'm not going to do it right now. And then it keeps getting pushed back and so that that consistency or and that consistency piece is one that I find a lot of people really struggle with. So what suggestions do you have of helping people to be able to work out at home but also actually do it and not just tell themselves they're going to do it in the future? 

Lauren George 09:34 

Right. So I think you're right. That's the biggest hurdle for sure. And I think one of the things that I encourage the most would be to not just say, OK, I'm going to work out on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but designate a workout time like schedule it into your calendar. And I know we say that all the time. So let's take that even one step further is. I think it's also easy when we're working out at home and if we have all this great equipment or maybe we're subscribed to, you know, a few different apps or training programs that we go in there like what am I going to do today, right? If you get stuck in like the Instagram School of Work Out. 

Amber B 10:07 

Uh-huh. Yes. 

Lauren George 10:08 

Right. So if you can either yourself or follow a training program or be a part of a virtual workout challenge, know what time you're going to work out, and exactly what you're going to do. I am going to do this 20 minute core video or, you know, Amber’s Programming #12 on this day. For this, you know, work out that makes. I think it also makes you so much more efficient. Because you don't have that kind of like transition time. You go in there, you know exactly what you're doing. You get started and you go for it. But then I also feel that we have to all give ourselves grace no matter what we're doing. And some days we're just tired or we are not feeling that motivation. I think that's when it's even easier to push it off at home. So if you have that designated workout time, you know your goal is to get it in before the kids wake up in the morning, but you're just not feeling it, I always encourage my clients to just tell yourself, OK, I can do 10 minutes. I can do 15 minutes, and if I'm still not feeling it at the end of those 10 to 15 minutes, then I give myself permission to be done. Like, truly give yourself permission or it's not going to work to get started, right? But in some movement is better than no movement. But if you get and I have people tell me this all the time, you know, they do a 10 minute video or a 15 minute video or 20 minute video in my app. We have a label like that for this exact reason, right? And by the time that video is over, they're like, oh, man, I could totally do another 20 minute video or I'm going to do a 10 minute more video and so giving yourself permission to know that some days you may not be feeling it, but some days those endorphins might kick in even quicker than you think, and you can stack your workouts, especially when you're at home. You could do your 20 minute leg workout. You feel amazing. OK, let's do a 20 minute upper body and then a 10 minute four and then all of a sudden, when you thought you were not doing it all, you just worked out for 50 minutes, so you know finding workouts, whether that is having a written workout, that OK, this is my 10 minute for workout for days that I'm just not feeling it again. You want to take that thinking out of it or, you know, having a subscription to an app or training program or something that has the availability of shorter work out that you know you have that go to whatever it is that you can do on days you're not feeling it and then reassess after 10 to 15 minutes, I think can make a huge difference, just mentally and getting it started, which is the hardest thing in any project really, is to get started. 

Amber B 12:30  

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I echo what you said about it only works if you actually give yourself permission to quit. But that is a fantastic way is like I don't feel it, but I'm going to do 10 minutes and then I really do give myself permission to quit after the 10 minutes and then I I've done what I said I was going to do. I find that that is such a great way to start. Like you said, just get over that hurdle of just the starting, which is often the hardest, hardest part. 

Lauren George 12:57 

Yes, it is for sure. 

Amber B 12:59  

So for someone who's thinking about building out some sort of workout space, I mean, I've seen workout spaces that are like, you know, one by one with like a couple of dumbbells versus and like some that are, you know, gigantic and they have all the racks and they have dumbbells and barbells and all the things, right? There's a wide range of what we talk about when we stay at home gyms, but for someone who's just like thinking about those first steps of building out of home gym, what are some specific tips that you have about how to do that in the most effective, efficient, you know cheapest way possible and but that's going to work well for them in, in their fitness goals. 

Lauren George 13:36 

Right. Well, I think one thing that we maybe skip a lot of times or don't consider as the aesthetic part and I'm not saying that it needs to be beautiful, but it should be something somewhere we don't mind going right, but we're working out. 

Amber B 13:48  

Yeah, you want to be. 

Lauren George 13:50 

Yeah, that we want to be and you know, sometimes our only option is in the basement or in the garage or what have you so I totally get that. But what could you do in that space to make it a little bit more visually appealing for yourself, whether that is literally going to someplace like Hobby Lobby and getting one of those wooden pictures that have, you know, a motivational quote on it that's, you know, always 50% off. So it's like $10.00. So we're not saying it has to be fancy, but you know doing something in that space that makes it feel more homey. Maybe that's just buying dumbbells in your favorite color and then right along with that, if at all possible, having a designated space that is for your workout, even if that's only you know, half of a room or a corner of the room. But if you could, you know, have a nice cabinet that you keep all your stuff in, that's kind of your happy place with your motivational poster on top of it. So that is your kind of little Zen space. I think that can also go a long way with helping you to turn off those distractions at home, right? Cause if I go and I get my dumbbells and I pull them into my living room where I can see my dirty dishes and I can see my kids and they can ask me questions, it's going to be a lot harder for me to stay in the zone, whereas even if it's in my bedroom and I can shut the door, but I have my corner with my yoga mat and that's where I do my workout and our old house, it was in our room. We had a pretty nice size master bedroom, but my bike is in there in front of it was my weight but that kind of still like signified years in space. And then you don't have to pay in because we have the option, but you don't have to have a ton of fancy equipment. I would say if you are really getting started, you know what are the small binder Pilates balls you know, 8 inch in diameter. So balls so much with looped booty bands and handle tubing, a resistance band and then a set of dumbbells. This is where I would tell you to splurge a little bit, because dumbbells depending on the weight can be a little bit more expensive, but you're going to waste your time. And I know that you probably agree with me on this if you're using 5 to 8 pound dumbbells for two years, right? So make sure that you have dumbbells that challenge you and try someplace like play it again. That's what we have down here in the South. I know there are other versions, but we've got a set of both like dumbbells where you can like adjust the weight, some playing against sports. And they were like half priced. So that's a great way to save some money, but still be able to afford heavier dumbbells is to go to some of those kind of resell sport shops and you'll be surprised at what you can find there, but you don't want to waste time to save a little bit of money buying the 10 pounders over the 15 pounders. If you need 15 or 20 pounds to really get your workout in. And it doesn't have to be done all at once, right? Like buy what you just need to get started based on whatever training program you're doing or videos you're following, or your preferred type of exercise and then gift yourself that when you accomplish your goal. So if I complete, you know Amber’s 4-Week Challenge and I'm going to buy myself some heavier dumbbells. It's a great way you know to stay motivated and then to build your gym. You know, one piece at a time. 

Amber B 16:55  

That's. That's awesome. Yeah. And another thing to consider in terms of budgeting too, I've had clients who do this where they say, OK, it's going to cost me $50.00 a month to go to the gym. And so then that becomes their like building their gym budget every month. It's like instead of spending $50.00 for the gym, it's like every month I put $50.00. And so maybe I want to buy something that's $200.00 so I save up for four months. And now I buy my $200.00 thing because I would have been spending that going to the gym anyway. So thinking that in terms of you know, I think building a home gym is all about building it. It's not like having built a gym. I think most people have a home gym. They're consistently building it. It's like overtime you're adding equipment, you're finding deals, you're snagging something from a friend who doesn't want it anymore. And you're like literally building that gym over time. It doesn't have to be done all at once. And then you said something that I think is so smart. And that is like making the gym area room, whatever it is for you a place that you want to be. We built a home gym at my house. We have a shut out in the back that my and my husband honestly has like worked out much more because I really like going to CrossFit. But some of the things that he's done. He did the motivational quotes like his is like Michael Jordan and like the official quotes that he's, like, put on the wall. And but he like put up Christmas lights like during the holidays and then this is my favorite one. 

Lauren George 18:12 

Love it. 

Amber B 18:14  

Because this is. I don't know, maybe this will speak to some people who are a little bit more techie than I am, but my husband has connected Alexa out there. And so when he comes into the gym, the way he turns on the lights as he says Alexa, let's do this. And then it turns on his music. It turns on his lights. It's like a fun, inviting atmosphere and then when he leaves, he says, Alexa, I'll be back and then it shuts off all his lights and like anyway, that for him is just like, kind of a fun. It's like a fun routine. And a ritual that he does to start this to signify the start and the end of it, of his workout. So I just think making it a fun place. Like what do you want and making it a place that you want to be is such a great tip to encourage you to spend time in that space. 

Lauren George 18:59 

I am so obsessed with that, I think I need to program my Alexa, now that is amazing.  

Amber B 19:03  

It was funny, he’d talked about doing it and then he, like, came up with these like fun catch phrases. 

Lauren George 19:08 

That's the best part. 

Amber B 19:09  

That's yeah. But now for what it took me a while to learn them so I would go in the gym and be like Alexa, turn on the lights. Alexa start like I tried like all these different things I couldn't remember what his like catch phrase was that he that he said? Anyway, it's kind of funny. 

Lauren George 19:22 

I love that, too. I'm not that cool yet. However, I feel like I need to set my game up, but when I'm working out super early in the morning, I do put my Airpods in and I have my three like, go to pump up jams that I listen to like while I'm getting dressed while I'm brushing my teeth and filling up my water bottle and that kind of in a similar way like gets me in the right head space. So like then go start whatever class I'm teaching or just doing my own personal workout. But I know that it's going to take about those 3 songs. You know, do those things and then I'm in the right space. 

Amber B 19:54  

What a fantastic suggestion. I think we as humans, we really thrive on like rituals and things. Signifying like the start and the end of something. And So what if, like I, I didn't really even think of it in that way. But I love that idea of having something that it's like this isn't the signal to me that I am like starting this process and for you it's like the songs. It could be an outfit, it could be some affirmations. It could be you turning on you know, Alexa or whatever it is, but I love that as like and this leads into the conversation we had before to about consistency is how do you make it more consistent. It's like when you have that. It's like this is how I start. And all it is turning on some music. It's like I can do that, yeah. I can turn on those 3 songs and then it kind of carries you through that momentum of doing the darn thing. 

Lauren George 20:37 

Swag Surf will get you through a lot of things in life. Let me tell you. 

Amber B 20:40  

That's awesome. That's so good. So how do we talked a little bit about creating the environment, but and you talked a little bit about some of the equipment. But in terms of, especially when people have a really small space, how do we make it like as efficient as possible? Like what are some of the pieces of equipment that you can? It's like one piece of equipment that you can do a lot of different things with so that we're really maximizing the efficiency of our workout space. 

Lauren George 21:07 

Oh yeah, great question. So a couple of different pieces pop in mind. Obviously, you know what fits best in your space and also what budgetary wise, but they make a lot of amazing products now that you know attach to the wall whether that is you know a wall based table machine that can slide up and down and that you can max pro I believe has one that you can attach to the wall and you can take it off the wall. You can put it underneath your feet. You can attach it to a bench, but it can do all of the things that like a cable machine it can do, which was one of my favorite things in the gym, a TRX obviously takes up very little space and you can attach it to a wall. The company FLEX Board also has a wall unit that you can with carabiners, attach all of their different resistance bands and it literally just like has a big buckle that buckles around your door. So it's very easy to take on and off. So I like that one if you can't leave something up. So that way you can attach it really easily. You can click your carabiners on at all different heights so you can do so many different exercises with that. We talked about the adjustable dumbbells, which can be a really, really great option and then even things like gliding disc and when you think about compounding pieces of equipment to increase load without maybe having to have super heavy dumbbells, so there are a lot of exercises where you could maybe utilize the dumbbells that you have, but then adding something like elite booty band or a lighting disc which would allow you to get a bigger range of motion. You can start to increase the opportunities or harder work or to increase your intensity, but then also increase the range of different exercises that you can do by starting to kind of pair some of those pieces of equipment for sure. But I think a lot of times if you just think through how we organize the equipment first, like where we going to store it a few hooks can go a long way and allowing you to keep more stuff in a small space. I have some of those good old, tall, tall, skinny IKEA shelves because my studio is really kind of long and skinny, so I can't give up a ton of wall space, but they go almost as tall as me and there are a lot of cubes in them, so it's amazing if you think, OK, you know, can I go vertically? Do I need to go long horizontally in that organizational space? What you can fit if you kind of plan it out a little bit ahead of time. 

Amber B 23:35  

That's awesome. I want to go a little bit further on to this idea of like layering equipment because you also said something earlier that I really want to point out and that was, you don't want to just buy the 10-pound and the 15-pound dumbbells and like use them for two years, you're just you're just wasting time and so and that's one of the biggest questions that people tend to have about working out at home is like, how do I make sure I'm progressively overloading? How do I make sure I continue to challenge myself? Because you buy this equipment and then you get familiar with it and you used to it and now it's not hard anymore, so, how are, what are some creative ways that people can continue to progress and make sure that they're not stagnating with their at home workout, that they're continuing to build muscle, they're continuing to increase their resistance. What are some ideas for working out at home with that? 

Lauren George 24:22 

I love that question. So, thinking through like what is progressive overload, which I know you have discussed quite a bit which I love, you know. So just very base level, right? For a muscle to continue to get stronger, we have to continually challenge it in new ways. So ways that we can do that are increasing the intensity, so that can be increasing the load or going from maybe and exercise where we're on 2 feet, like a regular dead lift to a single leg dead lift, just as some examples, increasing volume. So the number of reps and sets increasing frequency or maybe even adding, you know a biometric or some kind of power move to it or changing the time under tension. So how long it takes you to do the eccentric or concentric phase of your exercise? So if we keep that as a more like kind of holistic idea in mind of ways that we can create progressive overload besides just thinking, OK, I have to get heavier dumbbells every time, which. 

Amber B 25:17  

Keep buying dumbbells every couple of weeks. 

Lauren George 25:19 

Which I am a fan of that. Every time for my birthday, that's usually something that I buy is like another set of dumb bells. But like we were saying, combining pieces of equipment, so maybe you hold the resistance tubing in your hand, so you're holding on the handle tubing and it's underneath your feet and you're holding dumbbells. But not only does that allow you to increase the load, but now you can work the eccentric or the lengthening phase of your exercise. You can focus on that by fighting the resistance. The resistance of your resistance band on the way down even more, right, because you have to control it down versus allowing it to snap down because you're having your resistance band any time that you add that booty band around your legs going to automatically increase the load. Obviously we want to be careful of what we're doing and make sure you know it still allows for a good range of motion for our needs, but that's an excellent way to increase the work using a stability ball or a Bender ball or a step. Even to create uneven surfaces or to create instability. So maybe you have some kind of step or platform, or I have literally watched my students stand on an old textbook in the zoom boxes, right? They have one foot on a textbook and 1 foot on the floor, and now we're doing, you know, a split squat or an uneven squat, creating that instability. So it's about creating new ways to challenge your body, which can include, you know, balance challenges or combining exercises, even right making an exercise. But instead of just doing bicep curls, maybe we do a lunge and a bicep curl, so creating ways to increase the intensity and there are so many ways to do that if you're thinking creatively or, you know, learning from other experts or following a new and creative plan, which sometimes that can be an easy answer, right to mix it up our body like variety. So maybe you kind of switch up what kind of workouts you're doing or follow, you know, a different program from a different trainer to try new things and cycle in new things so your body is always progressing. We can always, always, always get stronger. 

Amber B 27:25  

Yeah, that's awesome. Do you ever get bored working out? And if so, how do you prevent, like, the monotony? How do you prevent the boredom when especially when you're alone by yourself working out? 

Lauren George 27:37 

Right, OK. And this is where I think I was shocked because I am a people person and I definitely am very ADHD. So I thought working out at home like I would get so bored, especially going to my own space and someone actually asked me that a few weeks ago like Oh my gosh, aren't you bored because we've been here in Mississippi, which is like we moved there literally the two weeks the world shut down was when we were moving, so it was a very interesting time. So in my head, I was always going to, you know, go back to how it had been before and then I have it. So when my friend asked me that a few weeks ago, I was like, yeah, I guess I have been walking upstairs into that same gym for three years now and I'm really not. And I think that is because even if you're working out at home, that doesn't mean you have to do the same type of workouts, you know, every day or even kind of cyclically, right? So I like to do a six week lifting program and then maybe I transfer to six weeks of focusing on, you know Pilates and then not saying that you have to buy a reformer when you've moved on to your next you know kind of favorite fitness format, but you can still have a lot of variety even when you are working out at home and so I encourage people to be looking for kind of, you know, maybe that next thing that gets you a little excited and maybe that literally is just buying a set of writing disk. It doesn't have to be a huge change, but I think even just the concept that you mentioned earlier of continually building your gym versus feeling like you have to buy it all at once, that can even keep you from getting bored, right? Like a new toy to play with and to try out and to learn new things or sometimes I'll do a challenge for myself that is kind of even skill specific. So like I'm not very good at it, but I've done a handstand challenge like a six week handstand challenge, and it just challenges you in a different way and gives you a different focus to your workouts, which I really, to help helps prevent boredom. But then you can even participate in a workout challenge with other people where maybe they're working out in Seattle and I'm working out in Saltville, Mississippi. But we're still comparing notes about the workout and completing the same workout so that little bit of accountability can go a long way in keeping you motivated and helping you to not get bored. And then we talked about music. Music is my major jam. So switching up what music you listen to? I love listening to other people's playlist because it always is kind of a little bit of a surprise and delight, right? So my friends and I will all send each other playlist, so I have other trainers and instructors that I love that I follow on Spotify or fit radio. Because it really is kind of fun to be doing a workout and not know what song is coming next, and then all of a sudden you have this like little burst of motivation because a song that you weren't expecting comes on and it really can be just little things like that. I think the quote is, you know, life is in the little moment. And finding little things that bring you joy in your workouts and in your workout space and in how you move your body can really help us be in it for the long haul. And I mean, that's really what it's all about. If we're going to spend hopefully, you know, 20 minutes to 60 minutes a day moving in some way shape or form, that's a lot of hours. At the end of the road and we want to spend those hours well. 

Amber B 30:53 

That's really good. I really like what you talked about with how to build community into what a lot of people see as like a solitary. If I'm gonna work out of, like this solitary event, but I think you're right that if we think outside of the box, there's a lot of opportunities to be able to build community, and my husband's been following a program and it's been really cool because they have, it's like a forum that they have where people just go and like, talk about the workout after they do the workout. 

Lauren George 31:20 

Yeah. 

Amber B 31:21  

I mean, that's what I do at CrossFit is right like we come in to CrossFit. We talk about the workout we're gonna do then we do the workout and then just talk about the work we just did, you know, it's like that kind of like a suffering altogether, as a community. And then another suggestion too. We've seen this as we've built out our gym, is that people then want to come and do it with us. And so it's been really fun to invite friends over or to have like a workout buddy too is like when you have a space, you know. Obviously you need more than place space for more than one person, but that's also another way to kind of introduce that community element in is if you are a people person and you don't really want to work out alone, can you invite a friend over, can they bring their kids over and your kids play while you guys do your workout but there's I think that element of community for a lot of people, not for everybody, but for a lot of people is a really important element and sometimes you feel like, oh, if I work out at home, I'm going to be missing that element. But you know, you share lots of examples of like it doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to miss it. 

Lauren George 32:20 

Right. And I love your example of CrossFit of, like, talking about it afterwards. So in my virtual studio, we do have a Facebook group and that's like pretty much what we all do. And that right is all like you're the workout for the week and then everyone comments about, you know, how much they love to hate them. But my favorite is how good everyone is with the like Giffs. Right. I'm saying that right? Like the animated Giffs that people come up with in response to the workout. Or if someone goes in there and they're describing the workout that maybe everyone hasn't done already, like, just those descriptions alone are worth logging into Facebook and, like, reading everyone's thoughts about, I mean, myself included. It's how people, how people word things is hilarious and then you really can get to know people. And we have like an outside like the Facebook group. But then you kind of have a general chat were people that want to, you know, share about their latest hike or when people go and take vacation. And they can say, hey, who is who lives in this town like any workout suggestions? And people will suggest, like, I've gotten to know some of my virtual studio members so well that we've met up multiple times in real life or, you know, have gone and worked out with them if they're an instructor. When they are, when I'm on vacation or vice versa. I think people maybe underestimate a little bit and I know I did for sure the realness that those relationships really can or how real they really can be, even if you're not seeing them in person all the time. And then, as someone who moves a lot, we've moved nine times now in our thirteen years of marriage or something like that. I also really appreciate how it can keep you connected with people you know, so I have a great group of friends in Clemson that we still will, you know, compare workout notes too, or send each other songs for our playlist. So even if we're not working out together, or maybe we're not following the same workout program, those relationships that were built over our love for fitness can continue on even if we're own. We're both, you know, kind of doing our own thing at different times, so there is the possibility of creating, you know that community for sure. And I have 100% moved all the couches out of the way in my upstairs living room and blown all the kids in the playroom and done lots and lots and lots of workouts here in 2020 and 2021 for sure. 

Amber B 34:44  

That's awesome. So one of the things that I like to ask people who come on is some of the goals that they're currently working on. And I asked this for a couple of reasons, one, because I think it's, it's fun to hear other options of goals. Sometimes it's like we get so set on like goals are only losing the next 20 pounds or whatever and I like to open people's ideas, types of like there's lots of like fitness goals that you can be working on in hopes that people can be like, you know, you mentioned like the handstand challenge, maybe someone got an idea like that sounds really cool. That would be something would be fun. So I'm curious what are some of your current goals that you're working on now. 

Lauren George 35:20 

So one of my maybe not quite as sexy goals is I would say that I've always been fairly flexible, but we know there's a difference between flexibility and mobility. Anyways, short answer is I've had a lot of back injuries in my life. So I'm specifically, really from a nerding out perspective, learning about training mobility and joint range of motion specifically, but then also how I can weave that into my own personal practice, so not necessarily a real. Like I said, sexy goal, but I've enjoyed reading lots of articles about it and then implementing that and then also just increasing, I am in a lifting phase at the moment, or I should say that's what my training program insist of mainly right now, and so specifically I'm following a training program to really. With the goal of helping to increase upper body strength, specifically because as women, we tend to be lower body strength dominant, so the strength training plan is more focused on that, which has been a fun way to you know change it up and lift in a different way. 

Amber B 36:22  

That’s awesome. Yeah, I think that's one of the keys of longevity with working out is constantly be having something you're working on or working towards like if you're just showing up and going through the motions, it gets, really boring really fast. But if you're switching it up and you have a new goal or a new thing, your new piece of equipment and a new, you know, challenge you're trying to achieve. A new whatever thing to nerd out on, it stays fresh, it stays exciting. 

Lauren George 36:50 

Exactly 100%. 

Amber B 36:52  

That's awesome. All right. Anything else that you want to leave with the listeners with, in terms of working out at home? 

Lauren George 37:00  

I think for we're not at home, I also encourage people to give it a shot for a while, it might take you a little bit to find your groove right to find that workout that gets you excited or to find the workout video, or I guess you don't say video anymore, right? We're streaming. We don't talk to view, Justin like I did with Tae Bo back in the day. 

Amber B 37:16 

Streaming, yeah. 

Lauren George 37:19 

But I think if you are not someone that tends to like to go in there and make it up by yourself, try a few different programs from different trainers and even try different video modalities. So there are some workouts that I love to do from home following someone else's video. And then there are some that I just don't that I would rather do that in person. So if your first one or two, or even maybe two weeks of working out at home doesn't just, you know, thrill you or make you a true believer. I really encourage you to stick with it 4, 6 to 8 weeks. You know, they say it takes 8 weeks to make something a habit and try different things because just like going to different classes or taking different instructors or even, you know, finding what macro setup or macro counting or macro counting app works best for you. It's not going to be maybe as simple as like oh my neighbor said to do this so I did that. So try different things, stick with it, give yourself permission to start with 20 minutes at a time because 20 minutes can go so far. And I truly believe that everyone can find a way that working out at home in some capacity can be a part of their lifetime fitness routine, maybe they work out one day a week, maybe workout seven days a week at home. But for the convenience factor and being able to really challenge ourselves in new ways, it can be a great, great component to our fitness programming. 

Amber B 38:51  

That's awesome. Thanks for coming. Where can people connect with you? 

Lauren George 38:55 

Yeah, so I'm easy to find. I'm Lauren George Fitness on Instagram and then my website is laurengfitness.com so you can find anything about me and those two places. I have lots of online workout routines we can do together for you to try out different things, but Lauren George Fitness on Instagram, laurengfitness.com on the Internet. 

Amber B 39:22  

That's fantastic. Thanks so much for coming on and sharing your expertise about working out at home, I think this is going to be awesome for a lot of my audience who really desires to not step foot in the gym and just wants to do it at home. So thanks for so much for coming on. 

Lauren George 39:35 

Thank you for having me, I really appreciate it. 

Amber B 39:40  

A big thanks to Lauren for coming on the podcast and sharing about building out a home gym. I know many of you are at the place in life where you don't want to go to a gym or you have young kids at home and building out your own home gym, it can be a really great option for you to still prioritize working out, but make it a little bit more convenient for yourself, so I hope you found some of these tips that Lauren shared today really, really helpful. If you enjoy the podcast, please take a moment to leave a rating and review on whatever platform you're listening on, that really helps the podcast to be able to grow and then go ahead and share this episode with somebody. Those are two ways that you can, as a listener of a free podcast be able to support the podcast and thank you so much for taking the time to do that. That wraps up this episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm Amber,  now go out and be strong because remember my friend, you can do anything. 

Outro

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