Falling In Love With Exercise

We all know that exercise is good for us, but it can be hard to get started!

Fortunately, fitness influencer and online trainer Bebe Tanchanok Rithnaka has shared her top tips with us in her new talk for CI Talks. Bebe’s story is hugely inspirational, and we can all learn a lot from her journey. Let’s take a closer look at Bebe’s story and how her important tips can help all of us become happier, healthier and more comfortable in our own bodies!

Bebe’s Story

Bebe Tanchanok Rithnaka shared her personal journey with us in her video talk so that we could be inspired to make similar positive changes in our life. In her talk, she discussed how we can fall in love with exercise and make it a priority in our daily lives.

Bebe has had quite a journey from humble beginnings to launching a fitness empire with millions of fans. In fact, her fitness story began when Bebe realized that she wanted to look her best in time for her wedding, and therefore decided to hire a personal trainer to help her reach her goals and look her best in time for the big day.

“My turning point was a very simple one. At the time, I was about to get married to the love of my life. I guess it's typical for a couple with a wedding date set, to prepare for a once in a lifetime event. Well, we signed up at a gym together and hired a Personal Trainer for the first time in our lives. So that was the first goal I set, basically to get in shape before marriage. After six months, a year and two years after, I felt very satisfied with my body. It seemed that I had reached the goal.”

However, she ended up with quite different results than she had planned – as the fitness bug took over, her journey took her beyond looking incredible on her wedding day.

“Upon reaching that goal, I think it's normal to set a new one or to change it. My new goal was more of a challenge, a challenge to get better at working out and being able to do some difficult moves like a pull up. So I began working my way to conquer them. You see, it has become a challenge! After working out became part of my daily life, those around me started to see some changes and asked for suggestions and exercise tips. Some people just wanted me to motivate them to exercise and get fit. That prompted me to start a Facebook Page to communicate and publicize my exercise videos to share experiences and exercise moves for my followers. That further inspired me to be even more passionate and to make it part of my career.”

Bebe worked to achieve a professional certification, and launched a Facebook page and YouTube account posting frequent videos to help others start their fitness journey and reach their goals. Now, Bebe is one of the most popular fitness influencers in Thailand with millions of followers, and countless people have been able to lose weight, reach their goals and fall in love with exercise due to her workout routines.

Bebe’s 5 Tips to Help You Fall in Love with Exercise

Bebe’s talk featured the well-known fitness influencer and online training sharing her journey towards becoming what she is today, and she also outlined 5 key tips that will help anyone who wants to make positive changes to their life by starting their own fitness journey.

Key to Bebe’s philosophy is that we need to be aware of the difference between looking like you’re in shape and actually being healthy. “Many people think that having good health means being in shape. They are, in fact, two very different things. We may look at someone who gets up early in the morning, goes to gym for years but does not get any slimmer, does not have a six pack nor muscles. Well, those may not be their goals, but they are healthy. Someone may be slim, in good shape, but that's also due to their genes. And in fact, they may not lead a healthy lifestyle at all. Thus, the two have to be clearly separated,” she says.

Here are Bebe’s 5 top tips to help you fall in love with exercise and enjoy a more fulfilled and rewarding life:

1. Be Disciplined
2. Set Targets for Small Goals
3. Turn Everything Around You into Workout Aids
4. Learn to Love Yourself
5. Change Your Mindset: Food is not a reward, Exercise is not a punishment

Now, let’s take a closer look at each of Bebe’s main 5 takeaways from her talk.

Be Disciplined

Bebe’s first tip is to be disciplined. Discipline is a key aspect of working towards and reaching any goal, and fitness is certainly a good example of this.

As Bebe says in her talk, “Discipline is not something you build or create in a day. We need to continue practicing and reaping the fruit of it little by little.” Discipline is about taking small steps and making choices every day that over time will help you see the results you’re working towards.

Bebe has a specific helpful tip that could help many of us work on our discipline – keeping a schedule. “My tip would be for you to plan and connect everything with the time. Set the clock, set what time you wake up, eat, exercise, go to work, come home and sleep. Link everything with the time and try to finish it one by one, everyday. That is how we can build up our discipline,” Bebe says.

Set Targets for Small Goals

“Many people overlook the importance of small wins. But actually, if you can achieve these wins, you will keep your spirit up, with the will to keep on going,” Bebe says.

When we’re working towards a big goal, it can often feel a little overwhelming. If we get too intimidated by everything we need to achieve, we may start to feel like it’s impossible and give up. That’s why Bebe suggests dividing your goal up into several smaller goals and celebrating as you hit each milestone, before moving on to the next small goal. Before you know it, you’ll have made amazing progress, and the road ahead won’t seem as difficult.

In order to achieve success in your fitness journey, Bebe recommends setting targets for small goals. “For instance, you can set a target to wake up in the morning, to spring up from bed without any dawdling. The second you are out of bed, that's one goal achieved,” she says. “Then you can set the next goal, to exercise for at least, say, 15 minutes. Let's start small. Once you've done it, check it off the list. Then tomorrow, do exactly the same but increase the time from 15 to 20 minutes, then 30 minutes. Done it? Second target checked!”

Turn Everything Around You into Workout Aids

When it comes to fitness, it’s important to get creative and figure out what works for you. On a busy day, it can be hard to find time to go to the gym. But don’t worry – Bebe has an amazing tip for fitting in a workout no matter how busy your day is, and you can do it anywhere!

She says, “Turn everything into workout tools. No more excuses about not having gym equipment. We can work out at home using what lies around the house. 1.5-litre bottles can be your dumbbells.”

You can fit in a great workout at the house, using or holding onto anything you can find for support. “For me, I use a cabinet as a bar, or something to hold on to when doing moves like kicking or squats, anything that requires balancing. You can just hold onto it lightly. It can also be used as a push-up bench,” Bebe says.

You’ll probably find that a lot of household items are quite versatile, and it's up to you to make use of them in the best way to exercise your body.

Learn to Love Yourself

Bebe’s fourth amazing tip is to love yourself, no matter what. She says, “Do not push yourself too hard. Do not overdo it. Give yourself time to rest.” The reason for this is that exercise should be a positive thing for you – if you look at yourself negatively and are pushing yourself too hard to reach your goals quickly, this isn’t a sustainable and healthy way to do it.

Try to find a type of exercise that works for you and that you enjoy. Like Bebe says, “If you feel like you’re suffering when exercising, take a break and try changing your workout. Look for different types of working out to find what suits you – there is a whole range of choices. There must be some that suit your style and can make you happy!”

Bebe says that the perfect exercise for each person can be very different. ”What works for me may not work for everyone, and what works for others may not work for me. The rule of thumb is, a good exercise must be something we like and that is personal to us. And it has to be fun, convenient to continue for a period and suits our lifestyle.”

Change Your Mindset: Food is not a reward, Exercise is not a punishment

Bebe’s fifth tip is an important one. She says, “I want everyone to change the mindset when it comes to fitness. Food is not a reward and exercise is not a punishment. Rather, it is a path towards our goal.”

If you’re on a fitness journey or considering starting one, it’s really important that you have the right mindset. You shouldn’t think of food as a reward you receive if you’re happy with your effort and progress. You should think of food as fuel for your body – your body needs a certain amount of nutrients each day, and it’s important to find a good balance.

Similarly, exercise shouldn’t be seen as punishment for not eating healthy enough or not reaching certain goals fast enough. Exercise should be fun and dynamic, and it should be something you do often without feeling like you’re forcing yourself to do it. Exercise works best when you enjoy it and can easily incorporate it into your day. As Bebe says, “Most people think that exercise is a punishment after taking great pleasure in eating. I want to change this mindset. Exercise must be a path towards a life-rewarding goal. Therefore, we should be willing to go along the path and enjoy every moment of it.”

Benefits of exercise

Exercise and fitness have a range of incredible benefits for your health and wellbeing – working out and staying active can be super beneficial not just for your body, but for your mind too. Exercising is really important to make sure your body stays healthy and in shape, and it has so many benefits ranging from weight loss, energy, better sleep and improved wellbeing. It can also improve your mental health, because exercising releases happy hormones that’ll make you feel less stressed and depressed.

Some of us may feel that exercise can be hard to fit in our daily schedule, or the gym can be a bit too expensive. Like Bebe says in her talk, it’s time to get rid of these excuses once and for all. In fact, adding some exercise into your day doesn’t need to take up much time, and you don’t need an expensive gym membership or a fully-decked out home gym. All you need is a little time and the desire to invest in yourself and your body. You can easily exercise at home with little or no equipment, for example by using one of Bebe’s great video workout routines.

An inspirational story

Bebe is a true beacon of inspiration for anyone hoping to get into fitness and reach their goals. She made her fitness journey a true lifestyle change that turned into not just a private passion, but a thriving career and millions of fans around the globe.

Bebe says, “I have turned exercise which was just a hobby into a career so that I can support myself. This is because I have given all I got, time and sweat, to working my whole body out. And I did not only train my body, but also did extra studies to become certified. I learnt about the details and reasons behind various workout styles to have in-depth knowledge that would be enough to turn a hobby into a career, into what I am today.”

Bebe’s journey shows how anyone who is interested in changing their life and becoming a healthier, happier version of themselves can achieve this by following her top 5 tips. The benefits of exercise and eating healthy are many and varied, so why not get started today – and before you know it, you may achieve your goals just like Bebe!