7 Beginner Habits to Focus On Before Macros and Workouts

Nikkiey: What's up, WarriorBabes? Wow, I just screamed that into my microphone. Surprise. Welcome. It's time for the rally call, guys. Nikkiey here, and I am so excited. It was probably a really bad idea to get Starbucks coffee at 4 p.m., but I did. And I'm here, and I'm so excited because it's going to be a lit rally call, as they always are. Light up, put the fire under your ass, moving into a new week, staying super focused.

And I feel like it's going to help a lot of you guys right now. We're going to take it way back to when I first started my own journey. Way, way back. And I'm going to help you guys know that where you are right now is perfectly okay, and what you're working on every single day is just steps in the right direction. Okay? So excited to be here with you guys. And I see more people joining and joining and joining. Welcome, everybody. You guys are a little bit late. Be here on time. Just kidding. It's the coffee, guys.

Okay, so we'll get started in just a few minutes. Let the babes know. Go leave a comment inside the group. Let them know this call is getting started. Let them know that Nikkiey has a lot of coffee in her. This is going to be lit. This is going to be a good rally call, and I'm super excited.

I want to give a huge welcome to all of the new WarriorBabes who have joined us this week. You are now a part of such an amazing community of thousands of other women who are on the same exact journey as you to getting toned and becoming strong and more confident versions of themselves. WarriorBabe, you guys, for all you newbies and the veterans, is where strong is the new sexy. Hashtag that across the board, Instagram, Facebook, whenever you guys post about your journey: #strongisthenewsexy. Get the word out there to all the other babes who need this community, who need this support, who need these tools and the resources.

I think that this call is going to really rope in where you guys are all at in your own journeys and let you know that, A, you're not alone, and B, there are other women out there that need this stuff. Because at the beginning it can be so overwhelming and so confusing as to where to go. You want to do 10,000 different things. So I'm going to help you focus on, max, like 10 things right now. That's all you need to focus on. And they're small things. Don't think, oh my God, 10? No. They're small things, just things that you need to focus on on a daily basis. Okay? Super excited. This is going to be a good call. So, again, go to the Facebook group. Let them know we're getting started.

If you guys are new, welcome. We do these calls now every single Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. What I can say is, if you're new or if you miss these calls week to week, set an alarm on your phone, set a reminder that the rally call is at 6 p.m., and show up five minutes before to get this thing started. You want to tune into these. You want to immerse yourself and plug yourself into everything that I'm sharing with you, because I have been in your shoes.

I have walked the path that you guys are now walking on, and I want to reach back and give a hand to help you along the journey that you're on. Immersing yourself in the tools, the resources, this rally call, is only going to help you feel more confident in the journey that you are on, to know that you're not alone, to know that I've walked in your shoes, to know that thousands of other babes are on the same exact journey as you. That's why it's really important to plug into this each and every week, to plug into the rally call, to plug into the Q&A, to just show up for yourself.

All right. Before we get started, I want to run through a couple updates with you guys. If you are new, don't ignore the Blast Off emails that are showing up inside your email inbox on a daily basis for the first 14 days after you join WarriorBabe. I'm going to touch base on them inside this topic today. So you really don't want to just bypass them. When somebody starts something new and they get inside a program, they look at the app and they're like, oh my God, I'm so overwhelmed.

And it's okay to feel overwhelmed, because what that is, is that your energy and your focus is one step ahead of you. You're so excited, yet overwhelmed, because you see what this app can provide you and you want to dive into everything at once, because you're so attached to what's in front of you, to what the future is holding for you and the goals that you want to get to. And you want to get to those goals yesterday.

You wanted those results yesterday. So when you plug in and you see everything, you're like, oh my God, this is going to help me. Oh my God, I'm so overwhelmed. That's a good thing, but that's why I set up the 14-day Blast Off emails to be sent to you, because I want you to just take it step by step. 14 days is nothing compared to the future that you have in front of you and the lifestyle that you are embarking on. Okay? You're not going to get your dream body in 14 days. You're not going to get it in seven days. You're not going to get it in 30 days. You've got to implement these lifestyle changes first before you can reap the rewards of the results that you want.

And one of the main things is getting your inside world right. What you think, the negative chatter: X that shit out. Focus on your goals, focus on the positivity. You've got to be in alignment inside so that you can have the exterior results, the exterior body results. And that's what those Blast Off emails are going to help you do. Focus on your goals, focus on your why. Write them the fuck down, seriously, so that you can see them daily.

Because we can go through the motions every single day and forget why exactly we're here and what we're working towards. We are WarriorBabes, and we are always working towards something, and that's why you have to have your goals written down somewhere where you can see them every single day. Then you're going to go through affirmations, which, guys, don't ignore. It may be super weird at first, but those affirmations are what's going to make you feel confident inside. They're going to make you feel super strong inside, because we do have all of this negative chatter going on inside of our heads on a daily basis, and what those affirmations are going to do is reword what's going on inside your head to be more positive, more strong, more confident.

So those affirmations, I think that's day nine. But the moral of my rant right here is that the Blast Off emails are so important. And if you're a veteran WarriorBabe and you've already gone through them, and you find yourself still lacking in motivation, still unsure about the focus that you're creating for yourself, go to the units section inside the Facebook group and re-watch those Blast Off videos.

No joke. Even you veteran WarriorBabes, even if you've listened to them one time, you should listen to them again. And then you should listen to them again. Stepping into the new year, right now is the perfect time for everybody to be watching the Blast Off videos, to be getting back into alignment to accomplish your goals, especially going into 2020. Seriously, every WarriorBabe this week should be doing the Blast Off videos in the units in the Facebook group, or, if you're new, going through the Blast Off sequence. No joke. That should be everybody's focus.

So that's my rant about the Blast Off. Let's get this call started. Let's really dive into this topic. I'm really excited about it. If you guys have seen my recent post on Instagram or on Facebook, that's what I'm going to dive into with you guys today, but I'm going to bump it up to version 2.0 here, okay?

So I'm going to focus on seven things with you guys that I would do if I had to start all over with shaping my body, with putting muscle on my body. I'm bringing it back to where you guys are starting, because obviously a lot of you guys are starting your journey or maybe a couple months in.

If I had to do it all over again, these are the seven things that I would legit focus on. And that's it. This is all I would do if I had to start all over again.

Number one is I would define and write down my realistic, bigger-than-me, I'm-going-to-crush-this goal. That's one thing that I didn't do at the beginning of my journey. And it was so easy to spend seven fucking months being confused and having no idea what I was striving towards. Seven months, you guys, of being in and out of motivation, in and out of excuses, because I never defined and I never wrote down the goal that I was striving for.

So realistic: losing five pounds in a month, or putting on two pounds of lean muscle, or decreasing a certain percentage. You really want to get specific with it. You really want to write down a number that you can focus on, in a time period, because at the end of the month you're going to be like, wow, I hit my goal, or I went so far beyond my goal. Or if you didn't, then you can sit down and get real with yourself and be like, well, why didn't I hit my goal? What happened? And you'll be able to be real with yourself if you didn't hit your macros, if you didn't get to the gym, if you didn't prioritize your time. It really comes down to your journey. It's a you-versus-you journey.

It's not you comparing yourself to somebody else. It's comparing yourself to you and the goals that you want to accomplish. And if you don't hit them, it's about getting real with yourself and pulling your shit together to hit those goals. But you have to define and write them down. Because if you don't, like me, I spent seven months in and out of excuses, in and out of motivation, letting people get in my way, letting myself get in my way. Because obviously I'm not the victim here. I'm not going to blame my shit on other people. I got in my own way.

And it took me seven months to fully kick myself into gear. I don't want that for you guys. One thing I didn't do was define and write down that realistic, bigger-than-me goal. It has to be bigger than you, you guys. It has to be something that you are so scared to accomplish, because that's what's going to drive you into motion. Goals are there for you to realize that you are capable of accomplishing new shit, accomplishing shit that you would be afraid of doing. It's really there to pull you outside of your comfort zone.

It is so super powerful, and a consistent reminder, to write it down when you first start this. Because when we first start, everything is new and scary and uncertain. You have no idea who you're going to be when you lose 10 pounds. You have no idea what your body's going to look like when you have more muscle. You have no idea how people are going to respond around you. That's where it's new, scary and uncertain. But when you have that daily goal and you really define it with yourself and you have that insight, it's so much easier to allow yourself to get outside of your comfort zone, allow yourself to be tested, allow yourself to have friends' comments, have them not understand. You can always circle back to your goal when making decisions that are going to push you outside of your comfort zone. That is so important.

That's number one: defining and setting realistic, bigger-than-you goals and writing them the fuck down. That is one of your Blast Off tasks. Seriously, if you guys ignored this, if you overlooked it, go back and do it right now before you approach 2020. I can't physically say how powerful it is. But unless you take action on it, you will not understand how powerful it is. Okay, so define and write down realistic but bigger-than-you goals.

The second thing that I would have done is also so very important. I think all seven of these are going to be important. It's trusting the freaking process. It's not allowing myself to connect to things that I've tried before. It's not allowing myself to say, oh, but that worked, why can't I do this, why can't I do that, and just shutting the fuck up and trusting the process that I am sharing with you guys. Why? Because it works. How do I know that? Because I've implemented it on myself and I've implemented it on thousands of women.

So you have to trust the process and understand, and I just want to engrave this and make this so loud in your head, that building muscle takes time. This is something that is not sexy to say. This is something that in a microwave society nobody wants to hear. Everybody wants results yesterday. But if you guys are here to bring out tone, to shape your body, that is something that is not going to happen yesterday.

It's going to take at least six to seven, maybe eight, maybe nine months, depending on the lifestyle changes you're making for yourself at the beginning. It's going to take that amount of time to make those changes. And if you can get real with yourself right now and understand that it's going to take time, and trust the process, that's when this journey is going to be so much more fun. Instead of week to week being like, oh, I'm not seeing change, oh, I'm not seeing change, what is happening, why am I not seeing changes?

If you can understand this is going to take six, seven, eight, nine, ten months, that muscle is going to take time to put onto your body, that's when this is going to get fun. That's when you're going to fall in love with the journey. I wish I had known that at the beginning, because of the seven months I just shared with you guys. I was the same, wanting results yesterday. We all want it so freaking fast.

Well, let me tell you, sister, it's not going to happen. Going into this journey knowing and fully understanding this is going to make it so much easier and so much more fun. Understanding this, trusting the process, is huge.

Number three, and I told you I'm bringing a 2.0 version to you guys. If you read this on my Instagram or on my Facebook, this is a total 2.0 version right now. Number three, I know you've heard me say it before, and I'm going to say it again, because I just want to engrave all of this material into your head right now: throw away the damn scale. I know you've probably read it a million times on Facebook or Instagram. But let me tell you, seriously, if you have a bad relationship with the scale... For me, as an example, my own story: at the beginning, holy shit, every day I would step on that scale, and if the number went up, I'd freak out.

I'd be like, why am I gaining weight? Because I had no idea what that number really meant. I had no idea about the indicators: salt, sodium, stress, not having enough sleep, all contributors to that number. So I would self-sabotage. I would get in my own way by freaking out that the number was going up, even if it was just going up by two pounds. You've got to understand, two pounds is nothing. Three pounds is nothing. And if the number went down, I'd be so giddy.

I'd be so freaking excited. Literally, that number played with my emotions. It was like a bad relationship. It was like a boyfriend that I couldn't get rid of. No joke. Seriously, if you have a bad relationship with the scale, don't even step on it until you can create a better relationship, until you can make that boyfriend into your fiancé, okay? For real. Look at it as a relationship that you are working on and getting better with every single time.

Because what I had to start doing is paying attention to how I was feeling. I had to start paying attention to what I was seeing in the mirror, because even though that weight was not budging, once I finally got away from that relationship and started focusing on the mirror, my body was changing. And that's all I cared about, seeing the physical aspect of my body change rather than allowing it to be signified by the scale.

And let me tell you guys, if you haven't listened to the rally call where I talk about fat loss versus weight loss, you should go listen to it. It's June 28th. It's a great rally call. Go back, listen to it again, listen to it for the fifth time, for the 15th time. Let it be ingrained in your brain that the scale, for what we WarriorBabes are here looking to accomplish, is going to increase, because you guys are focusing on putting on muscle weight. You're focusing on changing the composition of your body.

Muscle creates more shape. Fat does not have any shape whatsoever. I'm sure if you guys are overweight you can see that fat has no shape. Muscle has shape. Muscle is what changes the shape of your body. It's what brings out the tone, and it is more dense, therefore it's going to weigh more when you step on the scale. For example, I weighed 140 pounds when I started. I now weigh 155 pounds, which is a huge difference. So don't let the scale justify your own success. Don't let that scale ruin things and make you think that you're not making progress when in actuality you most likely are. That's number three.

Number four, this is really, really good. Number four is water. Like I said before, water makes a massive difference. I'm surprised there's not a water diet out there, like the scam stuff. Because if you drink water, you will lose weight. Water helps that weight loss process. Water helps to fill out your muscle bellies, to hydrate them, because they are an active tissue. Your muscle is an active tissue. Therefore it constantly needs food, it constantly needs water, it constantly needs rest. Keep that in mind. So water is going to hydrate your cells, your adrenal glands, your body, your muscles. Water is so important, and it is a key contributor to weight loss.

At the beginning of my journey, I would wonder why I was so tired, why I felt so fatigued, why my workouts were suffering. And yes, a key contributor to that was food, but another key contributor was that I was not drinking enough water. I always looked for the fancy stuff like Gatorade or something that had flavor to it, because I hated the way water tasted. And I'm somebody who has to drink water at room temperature. It cannot be cold. But at the beginning of my journey, I did not focus on getting enough water whatsoever.

The goal should be a gallon. It's okay if you're not there, but make that the goal. Each week, get closer and closer to a gallon. When you get that gallon, you are going to feel drastically different. These are the seven things, you guys, I would focus on if I had to start all over again with building muscle. And these four things I've already gone over, you hear me, I haven't even touched on nutrition or workouts.

These little lifestyle changes will make a significant difference. Goals, trusting the process, throwing out the scale, and now water. I'm not talking about macros. I'm not talking about workouts. These are the things I would focus on at the beginning of my journey, because they're going to make a massive difference. So that fourth one was water, getting that water intake in there. I can tell this past week I did not drink enough water, and I feel different. I know that when I get a gallon in, I feel drastically different.

So if you're not at the gallon, work your way up there each and every week. Make that a priority.

All right, number five is conquering my fear of the weight room. When I first started, I hated stepping foot in the weight room. I was so intimidated. I remember the first time I walked into the gym, I saw the guys in the weight room, I saw the machines were crowded, and I'm like, I don't know what to do.

So what I did is I walked straight up to the cardio machines and got super comfortable with cardio. It was super easy to just walk up there, step on the treadmill, hit start and just do whatever. So I got super comfortable with that. And then it took me literally months to step inside the weight room, because I was comfortable with cardio. I literally was a cardio bunny before I started my journey. I signed up for two half marathons. That's all I did.

And then I realized that it was having horrible effects on my body. I just got super skinny and gross. I didn't want that at all. I wanted muscle. I realized and learned that too much cardio stops you from building muscle. If you're doing way too much cardio, it's going to hinder the effects of putting muscle on your body.

Again, muscle is an active tissue. Muscle needs resistance, not cardio. So how I conquered the fear of the weight room was kind of a mental shift. First, I had a tactical thing where I wore a hat, and I wore a hat nonstop. What that really helped me do was not be able to see anything on the sides, not be able to make eye contact with anybody in front.

So I couldn't see if people were looking at me. All I could focus on was how I was feeling in my body. And I started telling myself that I was confident. I started telling myself that I knew what I was doing. And my next point is going to bounce off of this too. It's going to help you guys drastically. But conquering the fear is more about just walking into that room and doing it, and not worrying about the other people around you. And if you're worried about people on machines, or needing something, you've got to muster up that inner badass in you.

Which is in all of you, legit, every single one listening to me. You all have an inner badass. It just needs to be released. It just needs to be unleashed. And you do that by creating the confidence in yourself to walk up to somebody and be like, hey, how many more sets do you have? Literally, that's all you have to say. They're probably more intimidated by you than you are by them. Just walk up and be like, how many more sets do you have?

Two? All right, awesome. I'm going to leave my stuff right here, and after you're done, I'm going to come back and take the machine from you. Plus, it creates more respect when you stand up for yourself and what you need. You're there to do one thing. You're there to work out, and your time is valuable. So if somebody is using equipment, and they probably take longer rest periods, probably play on their phones, step the fuck up, walk up to them and be like, hey, how many more sets do you have? I need that equipment. The more that you do that, guys, it's just like building your confidence muscle.

The more confident you get, the more you're going to step up for yourself and show up for yourself, and the more you're going to get the machines that you need. You just have to do it.

Now, point number six is going to help you guys dramatically if you haven't done it already. How many of you guys walk into the gym and you've maybe pulled up the workout beforehand, but you haven't looked at any of my exercise videos? How many of you do that? And then you're spending your time in the gym looking at the exercise videos, trying to figure them out. Stop that. Before you even get to the gym, the night before, check out those exercise videos.

I'm not kidding you. When I first started my journey, I spent hours on YouTube. I would get a workout program from my coach and have no idea what those exercises were. Like reading reverse dumbbell flyes, I was like, what the fuck is that? And mind you, he didn't tell me. He just gave me the workout plan. I had to do the research on my own.

So I would spend hours on YouTube. You guys, you're creating a different lifestyle. You have to put in the work to do it. Don't think this is just going to happen for you. So I would get on YouTube and search the exercise name. And when the video popped up, I was literally creating a mental visual of how to do the exercise. Therefore, when I stepped foot in the gym, in the weight room, I could correlate and connect that exercise name.

It's just like meeting a new person, you guys. You remember their name by having a conversation with them, by learning about them, and it's the same with workouts. You Google or YouTube the exercise name. You watch my exercise videos. When you go into the gym, you have the exercise in front of you, and you will correlate what that exercise is. Guys, that right there alone is going to give you that much more confidence to walk into the gym. It's going to give you that much more confidence to walk into the weight room.

It's going to give you that much more confidence when you have a plan, know what you're supposed to do, know what the exercises are, and then execute it. That is why I had so much confidence myself, because I would literally study the exercise videos that I was finding and then go implement them. Game changer. Game changer. The moral of these seven steps is confidence in yourself, because these seven things are going to build your confidence muscle and get you the results that you want.

And then the last one, number seven. I'm going to run through all of these again, okay? Number five was conquering the weight room. Number six was watching the exercise videos the night before, before you even go into the gym. Seriously, don't be that person that walks into the gym with no idea what the exercises are and then spends time looking at the videos in between. That's a waste of your time. Prioritize your time better.

Number seven: commit. Nothing will be done and no results will happen if you do not commit to these things I'm telling you, to the resources I'm providing you, to WarriorBabe, and to prioritizing your time to accomplish everything that I just shared with you. That is how you get the body that you want. Do not expect it to just happen. You have to put in the work.

Guys, if building your body, changing your body composition, losing weight, losing body fat, building muscle was easy, everybody would be doing it. That's what makes us different. This is not easy, and I'm the first one to tell you that. I think everybody deserves to hear the truth. That's why all the marketing out there is such bullshit, because they make it look easy. It's not easy. You have to go through these lifestyle changes first before it can be easy.

I'm telling you right now, it's super easy for me because I did the work that I'm sharing with you. I put in the work, and now it's super easy for me to live this lifestyle. I don't even have to think about it. I just do it. And I want the same exact thing for you guys. So I'm literally reaching my hand out behind me, grabbing your hand, and pulling you along with me, whether you like it or not. I'm going to push you outside your comfort zone. For example, the reverse hyperextensions in this month's workout: I know a lot of you guys feel super uncomfortable and feel like you look like an idiot.

Well, guess what? You're working muscles that probably nobody has ever worked before. So literally, I'm reaching my hand out behind me right now as I'm doing this rally call with you guys, and I am trying to pull everybody in with me. The closer we all are, the closer I pull you all in, the more successful you're going to be.

So what you need to do is implement these seven things that I just shared with you. Number one, define and write down a realistic, bigger-than-you goal. Number two, trust the fucking process. Shut up everything you've ever tried in the past and listen to me. Be consistent and trust that building muscle is going to take time. The second that you trust that, the easier this is going to be. Number three, throw away the scale. If you have a bad relationship with it, throw the F away and just focus on how you feel and what you look like in the mirror. Number four, drink a hell of a lot of water. Water is going to help initiate and push through the progress that you want to see.

It's going to make you happy, help your adrenals, fill out your muscles, give you strength. Water is just as important as food. Number five is to conquer your fear of the weight room if you have one, or even if you don't, still make sure that you show up and prioritize yourself by telling people to get the fuck off the equipment that you need. Seriously. Or being nice about it: how many more sets do you have? At the beginning of my journey, once I conquered this, I would always be like...

At my third set: okay, where do I have to go next? I would look around the gym and be like, is that equipment open? Great, I'm going to go put my stuff down over there so nobody takes it. That way I can jump right to the next one. That's how I get my workouts done so fast, you guys. Key point, listen to me on this one. When you're on the third set, look to see where you have to go next. Always be five steps ahead of yourself. Third set, look where you have to go next. If it's open, take it, put your stuff down over there. If it's not open, on your third set, during that 30 seconds that you have a break, walk up to the person, ask how much more time they have, and then go take it. Seriously, guys.

Those little things, that's prioritizing your time. That's thinking five steps ahead. Then number six, watch my exercise videos. Do not be that person that walks into the gym and goes through all of the exercise videos there. That is a waste of your time and poor time management. Watch my exercise videos the night before. Watch them before you go into the gym, so that way you're creating that mental image of what that exercise is. And then you'll get through it faster.

And then number seven, the last one: commit. So first, write down and define your bigger-than-you goals. Number two, trust the process. Number three, throw out the scale if you have a bad relationship with it. Number four, drink your fucking water. Number five, conquer your fear of the weight room and prioritize your time. Number six, watch the exercise videos before you go to the gym.

Number seven, commit. Nothing will be done and no results will happen if you do not commit. Building your body requires work. Do not expect it to be done for you. All right, babes? So with all of those seven things that I just shared with you, I want to know which one you guys are going to focus on this week. Just one, and share it with me inside the Facebook group. Let me know how you liked this rally call, but most importantly, I want to see what you're focusing on this week moving forward. All right, babes, I love you all. Focus, focus, focus. Stay in momentum.

Show up for yourself. Remember, I've got my hand out for you, and I want you guys to come with me. I love you guys. I'll see you on the Q&A on Wednesday. Bye, everyone.

Thank you.