A blog by Brit Rettig Wold, CEO of GRIT Fitness
Happy Monday! No matter what you are going through, keep your head held high, be strong and keep pushing forward. You never know how close your are to reaching your reward! Wishing you a wonderful week. Lots of luv, Brit
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
– Galatians 6:9
Happy Sunday! You guys know on Sundays I like to spread a little encouragement/inspiration, so today I want to share something that’s been heavy on my heart = Appreciating and Maximizing the GIFT of Life
What is the “gift’? That IS the question. To me the “gift” is the privilege of having a human life. As humans, unlike any other species, we have the ability to be BE and DO whatever we want. Why?
With hard work, can be WHATEVER we want to be and that’s amazing!
The list goes on and on. However, with this amazing “gift,” also comes a huge responsibility. To me, that responsibility is to promote peace, abundant living and encouragement to others. The cool thing is that we each fulfill our responsibility in different ways. For me it’s through sharing fitness. What is it for you?
While we all have different passions and different ways of encouraging each other, one thing that we have in common is that we have to continuously work REALLY HARD to perfect our craft. It’s a life-long journey, but it’s so rewarding to know that our lives have a purpose and that we each play a crucial role in helping others live a better life.
As you start your week, I encourage you to think about your “gift.” Are you making the most of it? Are you giving your best?
In the spirit of it being Sunday afternoon, I want to share some good old fashion inspiration. It goes like this “Always be joyful. Always keep praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful.” (1 Thes. 5:18-16) This is easier said than done, but the truth of the matter is that complaining or having a victim mentality will do us no good in life. Life is hard. It always will be. We know this. HOWEVER, when we learn to always be thankful we make ourselves STRONG enough to endure and thrive under the most trying circumstances. This week, I challenge you to practice being joyful. At the end of each day, think about 5 things that happened in your day that you are grateful for. It’s amazing how practicing gratitude can totally uplift our outlook on life, energize us and give us more #GRIT.
With that in mind, here’s a new leg workout video that I made last week. It’s HARD but guess what, you CAN do it! Be thankful for a healthy body that’s able to workout and know that complaining won’t burn calories 🙂 Make it an awesome week. Lots of luv, Brit
Hope you guys had a very happy Easter weekend. What a wonderful holiday – I’m always encouraged after Easter because it reminds me that ALL things are possible with God. If death can be conquered, then I know I can certainly conquer my goals or any obstacles in my life.
As I was sitting here in my room preparing for my work week and planning the workouts I want to post, I had an urge to change it up and to just share some good old-fashion encouragement with you instead. It that alright?
So here it goes…
Be encouraged this week! You may feel like giving up, you may feel hopeless, you may feel like you’ve been working your butt off and nothing is paying off. But guess what? It’s not over for you or for me. We got gotta hang in there and keep pushing! We are closer than we think we are. Be strong this week. Work harder than you’ve ever worked before. Be more kind and more forgiving to others than you’ve ever been before. Today is a new day and you are almost there. Be ENCOURAGED and NEVER EVER QUIT. You got this! You’re stronger than you think you are #GRIT
Lots of luv,
Brit
It all started with an 8 minute mile…
At my high school, in the lovely town of Mesquite, TX, you had to run a mile in 8 minutes or less to be on ANY sports team at ANY level (Freshman, JV or Varsity). No matter how talented or skilled of an athlete you were, no 8 minute mile = no spot on the team. So let me give you a little background as to why the 8 minute mile requirement, to this day, is the most stressful personal challenge I have ever confronted…
At the start of 7th grade I weighed about 165 pounds and wore a size 14 in women’s clothing (see pic below). BUT, I still LOVED sports! Luckily, I landed a spot on the 7th grade girls basketball B-team- YAY! On the first day of practice, I ate my usual ham and cheese Hot Pocket for breakfast. This was also the first time, in my life, that I ever ran (mostly walked) a full mile. HOWEVER, I did finish that mile in 11 minutes and 55 seconds. As soon as I crossed the finished line I puked that entire Hot Pocket right in front of all of the 8th graders. Long story short, my middle school years were definitely not my best.
After a year of puking, stressing about conditioning workouts and just trying to fit in, I actually saw progress. On the last of day practice that 7th grade season, our coach made us run the mile again. This time I finished in 9 minutes and 6 seconds – WOO HOO! BUT, my world was crushed when the high school coaches came to visit on the last day of middle school. During their high school preparation speech, they broke the news about the 8 minute mile requirement. At that very moment, my world fell apart. I mean, seriously, did they realize how much torture I had to endure just to get down to 9 minutes and 6 seconds? I was officially in panic mode.
All summer I ran and prayed and ran and prayed in hopes that I would be able to run the 8 minute mile on August 16th. My mom even put me on the prayer list at church; I think she was just as nervous as me. This was also the summer that my dad and I established a special bond which still holds today. He would run with me in the blazing Texas heat and always encourage me. “Hard work ALWAYS pays off,” he’d say. The week before the official high school timed mile test, he and I did a trial run. I was feeling good and ran my butt off! But the minute I crossed the finished line my dad shouted out, “8:15 – almost sweetheart, you’re just 15 seconds away.” At that point, I literally broke down and cried. What more could I do? I ran every day and pushed myself to the limit yet still had not reached my goal…
Finally, the big day came. I was so nervous I could hardly sleep the night before. I wanted be on the high school basketball and volleyball teams SO very badly and had actually become pretty good at both sports. The 8 minute mile was the only thing standing in my way. As we all walked up to the starting line, I said a prayer and took a deep breath. When coach yelled, “GO” I ran as fast as I possibly could. It was like something came over me. The only thing I could think was, “just don’t slow down, just don’t slow down.” Finally, I rounded the last curve and thought to myself “SPRINT!” That’s exactly what I did. When I crossed the finish line coach hollered out “7:56”! I broke down and cried, the same way I did during my trial run, only this time they were tears of joy! My teammates couldn’t understand why making the 8 minute mile meant so much to me, but it was the first time in my life that I truly understood my own strength. This accomplishment marked a new phase of self-confidence and personal pride that I still hold at 27 years old.
I went on to have a successful high school athletic career earning 1st team all district honors in both basketball and volleyball. I even went on to play basketball at the NCAA Division 1 college level for 4 years. I was co-captain of my college basketball team at Cornell University and made the Big Red Power Wall of Honor for 2 consecutive years. The wall of honor is for the top 2 athletes on each varsity team who ranked the highest in a variety of strength and conditioning tests. Who would have ever thought my name would be on that wall? Definitely not me!
So, from a size 14 , 11:55 mile running, 7th grade “B” team basketball player, I’m telling you, there is NO SUCH THING AS IMPOSSIBLE!
“What is impossible with men is possible with God.'”
Luke 18:27 (NIV 1984)
“I’m going to shoot a workout video on May 12, 2012”
– Brit on 1/24/12
Guess what? I did! In less than 5 months, with help of the most amazing friends and family, yesterday we shot GRIT Ultimate Body Burn Vol.1 – WOW! Let me preface this by saying that I have ZERO video or audio production experience, I’m not a full-time fitness professional (I’m a management consultant by day) and I’ve only been a group fitness instructor for 1 year. However, a simple statement that I made to a friend on Jan 24, 2012 became a reality due to enthusiasm and the amazing power of the tongue!
Now let me keep it real, there were SEVERAL bumps in the road: getting legal clearance for music was a nightmare, writing choreography took many sleepless nights and my credit card is suffering from underestimating the cost of video equipment rentals. However, I feel more alive and energized than I have in years because I did something that most, including myself, considered impossible – and it all starting with SPEAKING out my goal. Even though we still have a lot of post production work to do, this is one of most challenging and inspiring experiences of my life so I wanted to share it with you. Now, I challenge YOU to BELIEVE in whatever it is that you want to achieve. You ARE what you SAY you are. So, NAME it, CLAIM it, and DO it – GRIT!
“Death and Life are in the power of the tongue…” (Proverbs 18:21)
