Episode 318: Become Physically Strong
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[00:00:00] You are listening to episode 318 of the Peaceful Mind Podcast.
Welcome to the Peaceful Mind Podcast, a place for creating the peace of mind. You need to be the best mom. You are created by God to be. If you want to bring more balance, more joy, and more peace to your motherhood, this is the place for you. I'm your host, certified life coach at Catholic Mom Danielle Thienel.
In the name of the father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let's get started.
Hello, beautiful mamas and welcome back to the Peaceful Mind Podcast. I'm Danielle, your host, and I'm so glad you're here. If you are new to the podcast, you're catching me right in the middle of a series. I'm doing something really special. I'm walking through what it looks [00:01:00] like to become strong in every area that matters most mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and financially.
Last week we talked about becoming emotionally strong, and if you haven't caught that one yet, definitely go back and give it a listen. And today we're diving into the third pillar of becoming physically strong. Now, if you're a busy mom, like most of my clients, you might think. I just don't have time or I can't commit to anything intense right now, and I hear you.
But I want you to know that this episode is not about becoming a bodybuilder or training for an Ironman, but if that is something that you do aspire to, then go for it. But I want you to know that it's about developing the kind of strength in your body that supports the life that you want in motherhood, in aging, [00:02:00] and in how you show up every day.
Being physically strong matters, right? Your body is our vehicle, and as women of faith, it is our temple. As someone who studied and was certified in instructing Pilates, I do love and really feel like this has impacted my life greatly. When I refer to a quote by Joseph Pilates, the founder of the Pilates, exercise method, and he said physical fitness is the prerequisite to happiness. Now in all I know about mind, body, and spirit and feeding them to just to feel alive, right?
I know that when I look back on my life [00:03:00] and now is one of those times as well that when I have concentrated on my physical health, that it is true that I do show up happier. It's like once I have that really dialed in, I can see how it's so much easier to then handle all of the other aspects of life.
So yeah. Let's talk a little bit more about why it matters. Not that this is something that you don't know already, but I am just here to offer encouragement and to remind you if you're someone out there who does have this internal desire thinking, I wanna get healthier, I wanna get more physically fit, or I just wanna work on, getting stronger, my muscles this is for you.
Because [00:04:00] the way you move, the energy you have, your ability to care for yourself and others, like it's all rooted in how your body feels. And today we're especially talking about in how it actually functions, right? But so many of us are living in bodies that feel heavy, sluggish, weak, or neglected.
And this doesn't only focus on weight loss or if you are a smaller person or not like we it, no matter what size, we can all feel those things, heavy, sluggish, weak, and or neglected. And it's not out of laziness, but because maybe we just haven't put a focus on it for ourselves, right? Putting other people first. That is something that just comes with motherhood sometimes.
And here's the shift that I want to offer you [00:05:00] today on this episode. Becoming physically stronger is one of the most loving things that you can do for your future self. I literally was working out today and my mom came over. My mom is 85, a few months from 86 and she was watching my husband and I work out with kind of like this awe, right?
She's wow, you guys, and how long do you go? And things like that. And we, I literally told her, mom, I am doing this for my 70-year-old and 80-year-old self. Like she wasn't in that habit, wasn't taught it. And, she notices like how her body is functioning today.
But I'm thinking about that future self who I wanna be able to move with ease and lift things and [00:06:00] go on the vacations that require stairs and things like that. So it's not just so you can lift more weight or, run a mile. Which again, those things, I'm not discounting them at all because I am focusing on being able to do things like that.
But it is because I wanna do those things because I can become physically stronger so that I can move throughout my life without back pain. And maybe that's you right now, carrying your toddler. I want to be able to hike with my family without sitting out, and I bring that up because I have become an avid hiker as one of my ways to focus on becoming more physically strong.
I want to be able to, like I mentioned before, travel with ease, especially I'm [00:07:00] going to these older countries wanting to go see the specific, even the tourist attractions. So many of them require a lot of walking like going, upstairs. Just a little difficult terrain. And I wanna be able to travel with more ease.
We want, when we become physically stronger, we sleep better and sleep again the basis foundation for a physically strong life. Because , it rejuvenates our body. We wanna be able to move through life with more confidence and capacity and confidence and capacity. They are a byproduct of being physically stronger.
Physical strength just brings a physical ease, and then when we have physical ease, it brings freedom, which is really what we all are. After, I want the freedom that I [00:08:00] don't have to rely on somebody to lift up my luggage into the overhead carrier. I want the freedom to be able to take the big boxes with the groceries from Costco and lift them out of the cart and into my car with ease.
Ease that frees me up to be able to do the things I wanna do, and being able to rely on my own physicality for it. So this past year, I haven't made this. This is not a secret at all. There's episodes on it. But I made it a personal goal to become physically stronger in 2025. And I, as I sit here today, I am just so glad I did for the first time.
I saw it really work. Not just because I had this perfect plan, but because I had already done the mental and emotional strengthening that had to come first before [00:09:00] I embarked on this, becoming physically stronger. I did the work of the past two episodes becoming mentally stronger. Really deep dive into finding what those mental thoughts were that were holding me back from taking the steps to get physically stronger.
I got out of emotional childhood and into emotional adulthood, which you hear on the previous episode me talk about. So that I finally was like, got out of victimhood and said it's not gonna come to me, this body that I want. And this is where I started out small. And this is where my 10% healthier process was born.
If you wanna get stronger physically, this is what I found to be the formula. This is how I showed up. Okay? I was consistent. [00:10:00] I was super disciplined. I had the ability to show up even when I didn't feel like it, and that was a lot of the times, especially in the beginning. It's so different now. Now I actually dread more not doing it.
I had to be patient with myself. The progress was slow. It's literally been over a year. Now and those first four, five months, I would say it felt like nothing was happening. And then I had to have the courage to try something new, right? It was new for me to just do 10 minutes of weightlifting a day.
It was new for me to hike instead of just going for like a neighborhood walk. It was new for me to actually walk, [00:11:00] not just like leisurely around the neighborhood, but to go for a length of time and a heart rate up, right? So that's what I wanna plant the seeds. If you are someone who's gonna focus on getting physically stronger.
It will take a discipline and discipline is for you saying no to the ease and comfort of the current moment for for a result later, delayed. And then consistency is again that compound effect that I talk about a lot here and I wanna offer. I wouldn't recommend being consistent by saying I have to do it seven days a week, or I have to work out for an hour a day.
I love consistency in the small things over and over. So it compounds, right? Your lower brain is gonna talk you out of doing it. So showing up and overriding it and doing [00:12:00] it when you don't feel like it so that we can quiet the lower brain who doesn't want you to put any effort to get physically stronger is a must.
And then you will like you, the patience will come because your brain's gonna want to offer you to be discouraged when you think this isn't working. And so we have to have patience with that slow progress. And again, I need you to be brave. I need you to be brave and say if there's something that's pulling you to get physically stronger, but it's in a way like you've never done before.
This is where we're gonna give ourselves some grace, right? But we need courage. We need thoughts of, I'm gonna choose faith over fear. And notice that this formula to get physically stronger than I'm offering you, they're not physical traits. They're actually mental and emotional muscles. This is why I put this episode after the mental and [00:13:00] emotional stronger episodes.
So I used the exact structure that I just mentioned, and I teach this inside my 10% Healthier Program. And I did it not because originally I literally, I, of course we know the byproduct is we could lose some weight, we can change the way we looked, but I wanted my body to work better. I wanted to do this for my future self, especially having watched my dad and his physical decline before he passed, and then currently seeing my mom.
My mom fell this year and just seeing her rehab and knowing that what I can do now to become stronger. And yes, it will. I do have that thought and belief when you reach the certain age that one of the main focuses is more to, is on our like [00:14:00] resistance training, to get stronger.
This played in my mentality. So as I mentioned before, when I know some, I'll probably get some questions on it, but if you have that curiosity, I literally, like I said, I weight lifted. I used my Peloton. I walked and hiked. I fueled myself for muscle building. I did not restrict myself, but I did learn about macronutrients and eating balanced meals.
Those were the actual like actions and strategies that I took to become physically stronger, but I cannot emphasize this enough that why I know it was so successful had to do with, because I did the mental and emotional work leading up to it and along the way, and I stayed consistent long enough to [00:15:00] see my data shift, right?
Yes, there was the data of the scale and there was the data of my actual body composition that was super enlightening for me to focus on instead of just the number on the scale. But I saw the data of how I moved and the effects in my everyday life. Yes. I saw it physically, like when I was able to lift heavier.
I saw it when I would go from like hiking faster time-wise, or hiking without having my, my hips start to bother me or my feet, my clothes fit better. I just felt solid, like really grounded. And here's the biggest thing. My physical strength became a feedback loop. So every time I showed up and didn't quit, I saw myself [00:16:00] differently.
As someone who can say I am already really full of confidence, I became more confident and that made me wanna keep going and I said earlier, I am to the point now when I follow this, that I wanna keep going for sure. Because it actually, whereas before it sounded worse to have to put in the effort to do these things now it feels worse to me to think of not doing it.
And I'm always going to look for times and openings and ways that I can get myself out there hiking or out for the walk or, going in for another 10 minute weightlifting session. So what does this might look like for you?
I have some, what I'm just always gonna refer to the 10% Healthier Tools. These are my, the 10% healthier [00:17:00] philosophy. It's just, it's my personal way and even though this episode is not about that program there, there are some mindset and behavior tools that I offer through that, or that I just wanna bring up today that help me and help my clients.
And it can help you build sustainable, physical strength for you to become physically stronger if that is something that you realize you wanna put some focus on. And so we have to set a goal. We don't go from like zero to 100, I'm asking you to go from zero to 10. So what would make you feel 10% stronger than you already do today?
What does that look like for you? Would that be walking three times a week? Would it be doing a short strength training workout twice a week? Would it be carrying your groceries with more [00:18:00] ease? Would it be climbing stairs without breathlessness? That's what I want you to like, again, focus on, I want you to create what I call a 10% goal.
It's not huge, it's not overwhelming. Notice I'm picking, having you to focus on one thing. Not, I'm going to do all of the things every day for this long and have to uproot everything. 'cause very soon your brain will see that as overwhelming and just will wanna stop. And that's where you start. We gotta pick something.
Okay. And then next I'm gonna bring in, we want prioritize your mindset, meaning. Don't think that you're just gonna wake up tomorrow motivated, right? Don't wait to feel motivated. I want you to get an action, and [00:19:00] sometimes this is how it works. The motivation will then follow, right? We want to collect some data, so what might that look like for you?
Am my 10% healthier? I offer templates as a way to collect data. But I've had my clients who, when we've gone through the program together, they you know, like a certain app on their phone. Maybe it is that you go or have a place a, a gym where they have the in-body data scale for you. What it, but what is it? Are you, do you wanna walk a longer than you do now? Is it a posture thing? You wanna stand taller, right? Develop the muscles that will help work on your posture. Are you lifting already and you wanna decide you wanna lift heavier? Like all the things, once you find the goals and things like that is when you have to figure out how am I gonna record the data?
How will I know when I've made the changes? [00:20:00] That was one thing that was really helpful for me to focus my brain on because there will be so much drama that your brain's gonna wanna bring up. So to become physically stronger, we need to combat that with the data. Remember data versus drama.
And this is knowing that might look like knowing what your urges are, knowing where your cravings come in. And then again, being the person who knows you do not have to obey them. We do not have to listen to every little thing our brain offers us. Okay? So in, there's if you think about having a toolbox and inside there are wellness tools.
So you open up a toolbox and instead of hammer, instead of a screwdriver, you wanna think about your becoming physically stronger, that you are utilizing a toolbox. So each day you'll [00:21:00] be like, what is the tool that I'm going to use to help me become physically stronger? So for instance, one of the tools in the toolbox that we have inside of 10% healthier is to follow a protocol.
And that tool is when we choose to decide how we will move this week. What is our plan? And then we treat it like it is a promise we are keeping to ourselves. If we have, hydration is a tool, right? And that will help fuel your energy. We can have the tool of hydration, knowing that we are able right, to move more towards our goal when we stay , stay hydrated.
So maybe to become physically stronger, that's the tool we're going to choose. Okay. I just, in [00:22:00] some form or fashion, I have tons of the templates laid out for each of these individual things. Inside the 10% healthier program where we track, you can track how your body feels.
You can track how it looks like with measurements. You can track how many times you stopped and pause and actually felt an urge before you you can track the types of thoughts you're having, like when you either mess up or go off plan, or if you want ones that help you love your body more, I want you to think of yourself of having a toolbox for your, your becoming stronger.
What is it that you're gonna pick to focus on and use? And be careful if your brain says, oh, I need to do all those things. Then we're getting out of the 10% philosophy, and then we're probably stepping into overwhelm and setting ourselves up to to not make the progress we want. [00:23:00] One skipped workout does not erase your progress and in order to become physically stronger we want to overcome any, all or nothing thinking, okay.
Mentally strong women don't quit because it wasn't perfect. All we do is we revert to get back in alignment. And this is how physical strength becomes a lifestyle, not a project. That is what I can say came about for me. This is now part of my lifestyle.
It no longer even feels like it's goals and things like that. It's just who I am. It's just happens in my day, is just part of it. Okay. So I really wanted to point out. That there are tools that we have to have, like in our awareness [00:24:00] that. We need to prioritize our mindset about it and that we have to have a clear 10% goal we're after, and then we wanna watch out and overcome any, all or nothing thinking that arises.
That this is, I've gotta do all the things, or I have to go all in, or I have to be perfect at it all the time, or I have to keep going forever and ever. Then we decide it's not working. I don't see any results. I stopped again. No. Already know that your human life is gonna get in there.
Okay. Let me give you some examples of how this might play out in your busy mom life. And if I haven't like pinpointed these right on at this, it's not relatable to you or, i'm off like then can you find for yourself what applies to you? A mom who [00:25:00] used to skip workouts every time her kids got sick, but now she stretches at home and walks the neighborhood because some movement is enough.
Okay. This is overcoming that. All or nothing thinking. A mom who used to think, why bother when your weight plateaued? But now you celebrate that you lifted five more pounds this week and it feels powerful. A mom who used to think that fueling your body was complicated. Hello, this was me. I'm raising my hand now.
But now you use a simple macro plan and it feels strong instead of deprived. This is a thousand percent me now, and I never even wanted to set down the road of figuring it out before.
There are so many [00:26:00] ways to become stronger. You don't need a gym membership or you can choose a gym membership. It's not about having all of the equipment there or not. What I want you to see is that we need a shift in identity to become the kind of woman who figures it out or shows up for her body like she matters.
When you have that physical strength will come, you will find yourself moving towards it. And I just wanna close with this, you become physically strong when you start believing you are worth taking care of. You don't have to prove [00:27:00] anything. You don't have to do it like anyone else. You just have to start.
I started after I came back from a big milestone birthday vacation. All I did was do it imperfectly, incrementally, and consistently. And I hope that this episode has given you some ideas, has sparked some new perspective, maybe some like little desire in your hearts, ringing right now.
And if you're ready. For more than just inspiration from this podcast. If you're ready for real transformation, then I do want to say that one of a beautiful starting point is my 10% Healthier Program. It's the exact system I use to build my own physical strength, and it does. It's designed for real [00:28:00] moms, real schedules, real goals, and it goes for the simple, it goes for the small.
I promise you it turns into really big results. I will, I'll walk you through some mindset and provide you with some tools and templates that will create sustainable strength but also. You might be again, have your own idea of what, where you could start, what you could do to become stronger, and if that feels like something that you want to put your time and attention to then go for it like you already have.
Then it's just about starting. But for you podcast listeners, I will be able to link to give you that 10% Healthier Program for a very special discount. It will not be that much money, and you can find that link in the show [00:29:00] notes and you can click it and get instant access.
This is your sign. You are stronger version of you that's more capable, more energized, that self is waiting and she's only 10% away. And again, think about yourself in a few years, in a decade, in two decades. Do you want to be loving and take care of her by taking care of yourself today to become physically stronger? It will also lead for you to you having more peace of mind, which is exactly what we're after with this episode.
All right, everyone. Thank you so much for being a part of this series. Looking forward, we've got two more episodes to become to grow and strengthen all of these [00:30:00] vital areas. And I would love if any of you take any ideas and actions from the episode and you start reaping and seeing the benefits, please reach out and let me know.
I love I'm here on this other end. Knowing that some people will, I'll never, meet in person or anything like that, but I love when you tell me your wins. It fuels me. It helps me to keep going, to keep to hearing that you are actually benefiting from these episodes and it's just fun, right?
And one of the things I'm trying to do this year is bring more fun to my life. And I'm finding a lot of fun in becoming physically stronger. Okay, until next week, everyone, may peace be with you always. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Peaceful Mind Podcast.
If you found value in today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you could subscribe [00:31:00] and leave a review. It not only supports the podcast, but ensures you don't miss out on future episodes packed with insights and tools. To create peace of mind in your busy mom life. And if you're of the Catholic faith, like me or any Christian mom seeking to feel better in any area of your life and to show up more calm, connected, and confident, I can help become an empowered mom who knows how to bring about the changes you desire, no matter the circumstances.
Whether you need one-on-one guidance to get there, prefer a group coaching program with like-minded women, or a self-study course I've got you covered. Explore my private one-on-one packages. Join my Busy to Balanced group life coaching program or delve into my signature course Divine Time. To find out which path is right for you, let's meet and see what's the best fit.
Schedule a free call with me at daniellethienel.com or send me a direct message on [00:32:00] Facebook or Instagram @daniellethienelcoaching. And also don't forget to get your copy of my book, the Cyclone Mom MethodHow to Call on Your God-Given Power to Remain Calm, In Control, and Confident as a Busy Mom. Dive into the digital and bonus audio version when you go to book.daniellethienel.com/new-book.
You'll find all the details in the show notes too. Until next time, peace be with you always.
