Hello my friends! If you’ve been following my journey on Instagram or through The Lyss Method, you’ve probably heard me talk about my “fitness to say yes” philosophy. But today, I want to share the full story behind this philosophy – including the pivotal moment that changed everything for me.
My fitness to say yes philosophy essentially boils down to having the level of fitness that I need to be able to say yes to whatever it is that I want to do in this life. It’s not just having fitness for a beach body or being a certain look or size, but truly having the fitness to have the physical capacity to not feel like I can’t do things because my fitness is the limiter.
It’s all about having the fitness to be able to live bigger, bolder, and do more. Whether that’s big outdoor adventures, keeping up with your kids or grandkids, or simply being able to exercise your dog appropriately – the fitness to say yes doesn’t always have to be summiting Kilimanjaro (which I did earlier this year). It can simply mean having the fitness to say yes to whatever is valuable and meaningful to you in your life.
Let me take you back to 2016, when I experienced what I now call my catalyst moment. I was coming off a big stint of powerlifting and had kind of stopped running. I wasn’t super unfit, but compared to where I am now and the capacity I needed for the things I wanted to do, I just wasn’t there.
My best friend Vanessa and I decided to take a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. She was way fitter than me at the time – running half marathons while I was this sad, mopey PhD student who just wasn’t exercising at the capacity I normally liked to.
We went on some big hikes that honestly kicked my ass. I definitely had some altitude sickness, which was exacerbated by my lower fitness level. But the real wake-up call came when we had this audacious, stupid idea to try to hike Longs Peak.
Looking back, we were completely woefully unprepared. We were wearing cotton, had a lantern instead of headlamps, I was carrying a full 36L backpacking bag as a daypack, wearing clearance hiking boots I didn’t break in, and eating Quest bars in the middle of the night (I could gag thinking about that cookies and cream Quest bar now).
We started hiking at 2 AM, but when we broke through tree line into the alpine zone, I felt horrible. I was having to stop constantly because I was winded and nauseous. I couldn’t keep up with Vanessa’s pace, and this was coming from someone with an athlete identity my entire life.
I had to break the news to her: “We have to turn around. We have to go back down.”
There’s actually a picture on my personal Instagram of me walking away, back down that trail in the alpine terrain. I remember writing a caption about how it was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my entire life and how doing hard things teaches you lessons.
It’s really funny to look back at all the hard things I’ve done since then, but this moment was so, so hard for me. Coming back down that mountain, my ego felt shattered. I felt embarrassed and mad at myself that I wasn’t able to do it.
And it wasn’t so much that I wasn’t able to summit a 14er – that was beyond my scope anyway. But even that hike to Chasm Lake at the base was well within my capacity, and it felt really, really hard.
I remember this distinct moment walking back down that mountain when I decided that I never, ever wanted to feel that way again. I didn’t want to be the one to tell my best friend “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
That November, I got invited on a backpacking trip to Zion, and I remember training like hell for that trip because I did not want to feel how I felt in Colorado.
I did a lot more running, tons of step-ups, lunges, stadiums, and stairs. I went to that backpacking trip nervous – it was my first time carrying weight on my back – but I remember feeling so strong.
If you’ve gone up the switchbacks in Zion, you know those are not easy. They’re steep and never-ending. But I remember feeling really good and strong, being able to not just complete the hike but talk to my friends and enjoy it and actually be in the moment instead of just being in the suffering.
That’s something fitness is such a gift at giving – being fit enough for the things you’re trying to do means you can be in them and enjoy them and have fun. When it sucks, it sucks, and you’re not enjoying anything.
That 5-6 month pivot of switching my training focus toward outdoor adventure capacity was revolutionary for me. At that moment, it became really clear that I didn’t care about being strong inside the gym or being strong for the sake of being strong if that training and fitness didn’t allow me to actually go live my life and use it beyond the four walls of the gym.
The next spring, I trained for my first trail half marathon and took a huge road trip from Kentucky to California and back with Vanessa and my now-husband Regis.
It was amazing to see what having that physical capacity allowed me to do. We did Half Dome, the Observation Point in the Grand Canyon, this amazing hike coming out of Onion Valley in Kings Canyon, Moab, and Zion. I remember speed power-hiking up the canyons in Zion and running down them, feeling so alive.
It was this feeling that truly is what I want to share with all of you – what a gift having that fitness felt like at the time. It really did realign my values. I didn’t lift for weeks while taking those trips, and I just didn’t care because I was using that fitness to do these amazing things outside the gym.
The fitness to say yes philosophy has shaped my approach to training ever since. Throughout my PhD, the ultramarathons, the big mountain adventures, and outdoor trips – I want to be strong, but I also want to have the capacity and endurance to be able to do the things that I want to do.
This is why I love the hybrid approach to training. It allows you to build the capacity to do these things by balancing strength training in the gym with endurance training outside.
But here’s the thing – you don’t have to have crazy, insane, epic goals to embrace this philosophy. The fitness to say yes is all about what your values are and what you want out of your life. It’s about figuring out what that looks like for you.
It doesn’t have to be big to be meaningful. It’s just having the fitness and training that aligns with what you want and what you want to be able to do in your life.
Fast forward to today, and that fitness has allowed me to say yes to incredible adventures: ultramarathons, Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim, Patagonia, and summiting Kilimanjaro this past winter.
Training for my 100-mile ultramarathon last year – what I called “the year of having the fitness to say yes” – gave me the gift of fitness for so many extraordinary days outside and adventures with friends and my husband.
That training was hard, but using that fitness as a tool to do incredible things added so much value and enjoyment to my life. It allowed me to say yes – yes I can do that, yes I can come, yes let’s keep going, yes to adventure, and yes to life.
Whether you join us in The Lyss Method or not, I hope you choose to work toward having the fitness to say yes. Our hybrid training programs are specifically designed to build both the strength and endurance capacity you need to tackle whatever adventures call to you.
If you’re looking to get started with a structured approach to building adventure-ready fitness, check out my free Hybrid Blueprint which outlines how to balance strength and cardio training for maximum functional fitness.
I encourage you to sit back and assess your values and what that means for you, and how your fitness can better align with that.
Whether you join us in The Lyss Method or not, I hope you choose to work toward having the fitness to say yes. I encourage you to sit back and assess your values and what that means for you, and how your fitness can better align with that.
Maybe you need the fitness to keep up with your kids. Maybe it’s being able to hike with friends without feeling winded. Maybe it’s having the confidence to try that fitness class you’ve been eyeing. Or maybe it is summiting a mountain.
Whatever it is for you, I believe that hybrid training – that balance of strength and endurance – is key for maximizing your fitness to say yes potential.
The goal isn’t to be the most epic or have the biggest adventures. It’s about showing up for yourself and having the physical capacity to not let your fitness be the limiting factor in living the life you want.
So I ask you: What do you want to have the fitness to say yes to?
Keywords: fitness philosophy, hybrid training, outdoor fitness, adventure training, functional fitness, fitness goals, strength and endurance training, hiking fitness, trail running, fitness motivation, active lifestyle, fitness to say yes
I’m Exercise Physiologist, sports nutritionist, weight lifter, and ultra runner. I am here to bring science to your training in a no-nonsense way. I have helped thousands of women crush big lifting goals, cross race finish lines, and even do both. I’m here to help you do the same!
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