Transcript: Real Talk on Weights, the Scale, and What a Full Week of Working Out Actually Looks Like
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Ashley walks through her current weekly workout schedule day by day — Zumba, low impact cardio, Tabata, stretch classes, and active recovery — and contrasts it with when she started over 280 days ago, barely doing two or three classes a week.
You got Q's and I got A's. What's up you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move your body more. Today I'm going to do another Q &A episode and if you're listening to this, I might still be on my trip. I might be back. I'm not actually sure, but I've got some Q's from y 'all and so now I have some A's and thought, you know what, I thought I'd do another. answer session. So here we go. All right.
So the first question I got was, what does a typical week of workouts look like for you now? And how is it different from when you started six months ago? Well, at this point, by the time I am answering this question, it's been a little bit more than six months. But yeah, let's let's talk about it. So a typical week of workouts for me right now, with the exception of the fact that I'm traveling. Normally, whenever I have my weekly workouts, it goes like this. On Sunday, I do a longer stretch class and a walk. That's an active recovery day of mine. On Mondays, I typically am doing a stretch class and then Zumba and low impact cardio and toning. Then on Tuesdays, I do another stretch class and low impact cardio and toning. And right now I'm doing abs and booty.
And then come Wednesday is another active recovery day. So I do once again, the same thing I did on Sunday, which is a longer stretch class or yoga and walking. Then Thursdays, I typically am trying to do an additional stretch class, Tabata, and then a circle mobility, which is basically just another, well, stretch class. Fridays, I do same thing I do on Monday, which is a stretch class, Zumba and low impact cardio and toning. And then I repeat that again on Saturday with stretch, Zumba, low impact cardio and toning.
So usually I typically try to do about four low impact cardio and tonings a week and three Zumbas. If it was up to me, I'd do Zumba pretty much every day. Zumba is my favorite. I've said that a bajillion times, but it's not available every day. And I don't. particularly want to take them online. I have considered it though, because I do enjoy it so, so, so much. But, but yeah, that's, that's what a typical week of workouts looks like for me right now. Whenever I started this though, 280 something days ago, I was barely doing Zumba only. Like I may have done two or three classes a week, hardly ever did any low impact cardio and toning, hardly ever did Tabata, hardly ever stretched. I mean, I, I was lucky if I got three hours of exercise in. And so that's the biggest thing that has changed is I kind of went from zero to 60. I just really amped things up because I knew that I wasn't moving my body enough. And I was starting to have some
health problems. And I was starting to see how dark things could get in terms of my health. And it's up to us to basically choose whether or not we do something. for our bodies with it. I've changed a lot in that time. And I've not just changed physically, but I've also changed mentally, emotionally, and honestly, spiritually. So yeah, that's what a typical week of workouts looks like. Let's see. Another question I got kind of got me tickled. And it was, what do the people in your personal life think about how much you work out? Do they get it? Or do they think that you've lost your mind? This one kind of cracked me up because in the beginning, You know, people were like, yeah, go, go, go. And then, you know, later it was like, are you doing too much? And the truth was, yeah, I probably was doing too much for a minute there. I was trying to go to every single class that I could possibly fit in. And the reality is that my body
Ashley describes how people around her went from encouraging her to questioning whether she was doing too much — and how she dialed back from 19-22 hours a week to around 13 hours after her body pushed back.
was not happy about it. I probably could have just gotten used to it if I'd powered through. But I felt like for my own personal. like needs and wants and where I was at on my journey, it made more sense to kind of dial things back a little bit. Instead of doing 19 to 22 hours a week, I went down to about an average of 13 hours a week. And some people say that that's still too much, but considering the fact that a lot of those exercises now are stretch classes and walking and active recovery, I feel like that's okay. There may come a point where I feel like I'm still doing too much, but for right now, I'm happy with the cadence and I'm trying to work it out to still do all the stuff in my business and in my personal life, but also. keep going to the gym. Another question I got that got me very tickled was what's something you do at the gym now that you would have laughed at if someone told you you'd be doing it when you first started?
And that is definitely getting the 20 pound weights. I am now regularly reaching for the 20 pound dumbbells as my big weights for the classes that I'm taking. And when I'm not doing the big weights, I'm now officially doing the 10 pound weights as my small weights. And so that's been going on for a few days now and I'm, I'm really enjoying it. I'm really liking it. So even though I'm struggling, I think it's a good struggle. And so, yeah, I would have laughed. I would have laughed really hard if someone told me that I was going to be able to lift the tens and twenties the way that I am now. So that, that definitely, that's definitely a big change that I'm very proud of and hope to continue building on that strength. Another question I got, what's your honest relationship with the scale right now?
Ashley shares that she's now regularly reaching for 20-pound dumbbells as her heavy weights and 10-pound weights as her light weights — something she says she would have laughed at if told when she first started.
It's a love hate relationship, honestly, because, you know, the numbers aren't what I want them to be. But I'm trying to remember that I'm still losing inches and I am gaining muscle and muscle does weigh more than fat. And so I'm trying to focus on the non -scale victories because, you know, those are the things that. are really mattering right now, like my clothes fitting better and and feeling more confident in my skin. That's more important to me. I'm not gonna lie, though, it's still really hard sometimes to look at the scale and not get annoyed that the number is what it is. But, you know, I'm just going to keep going and keep doing what I know I need to do to get stronger and healthier. And as long as as long as my my pants, but I guess I'm good to go. But yeah, one of the non -scale victories that really surprised me and or I guess you'd say caught me off guard was the day that I put
on my wedding ring for the first time in, I think, like 10 years and it fit. And that was just like it was such a happy moment because, you know, though I don't really subscribe to feeling like you have to wear a wedding ring if you're married. I, you know, in fact, I'm not even wearing one right now. I hardly ever wear it now, even not even though now I can fit into it. When I put it on and it slid on no problem and was actually loose, that was kind of crazy. I was very surprised by that. And the day that I put on the mediums for the first time, I didn't expect it to happen as quickly as it did. And so just the fact that I lost four pant sizes as fast as I did, I was very surprised and very happy to have to go spend more money on pants. One of the questions I got was, what would you say to someone who keeps telling themselves they'll start on Monday? I actually did an episode about this and I would
Ashley describes a love-hate relationship with the scale — the numbers aren't where she wants them, but she's focusing on non-scale victories like losing four pant sizes, fitting into her wedding ring for the first time in about 10 years, and feeling more confident.
say, don't wait till Monday. Start now. Why are you waiting? If you keep waiting on an arbitrary date, you may never do it. Because what happens if you get to Monday and you start your period or you get to Monday and you get in an argument with someone or you have a bad day or something just goes wrong and you can't get to the gym or you can't do whatever it was that you had planned to do? Do you then wait another week?
Don't wait for an arbitrary day. Just start. Like, just start. One of the questions I got was, how has being part of the YMCA community specifically changed your experience? Well, I honestly can say that working out at the Y is better than some of the other gyms that I tried in the area. because of the group fitness classes. That was kind of a deal breaker for me as to why I wanted to join the Y versus like there's a Planet Fitness in town and there's a Get Fit in town. But at least it was called Get Fit.
I don't even know what it's called anymore, to be honest with you. But yeah, the only place that really had the group fitness classes that I was looking for was the local YMCA. And, you know, the fact that it was Zumba and the classes that are being held. Every single one of those I absolutely love. There are a couple of classes that I am not as excited about, but the ones that I'm taking right now, I'm pretty happy with.
Ashley responds to the question about people who keep telling themselves they'll start on Monday, arguing that waiting for an arbitrary date means you may never actually begin.
There are days that I'm like, should I, you know, instead of doing abs and booty, do something else. But that class might not be available forever. I'm actually not sure. But the most important thing to me about working out at the Y specifically is that. working out with people like that that is the biggest thing like no matter where I work out I have to work out with other people because it makes such a huge difference to me to have that camaraderie to have other people that are also working out with me so that's what I got for you today I hope you guys enjoyed this episode if you want to leave a question for me head to famousashleygrant .com backslash fitness. There's all kinds of ways there that you can get in touch with me. If you want to leave a voice note, if you're in the fitness industry and you want to tell my movers and shakers what they should be doing, or if you have some tips and tricks for
weight loss and strength training, or if you want to share your journey, I would love to hear from you. So thank you guys so much for sending in questions. And I always love getting your questions because they're really fun to answer and to kind of reflect on where I'm at in my own journey and where things are going. So I really appreciate it. Yeah, that's what I've got for you. So onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?
Ashley explains why she chose the YMCA over Planet Fitness and other local gyms — specifically the group fitness classes and the camaraderie of working out with other people, which she says is essential to her experience.
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