Can your workout be worship?

On New Year’s day, 2007, I told my husband “I guess I’ll be fat, but I’ll be flexible.”

I had been working out an hour a day with a “mommy fitness” workout, and not only did I not lose anything– I was barely holding steady at a size 22W!

This was from a printout. I hated exercise videos! I never could keep up, couldn’t understand if I was doing the moves correctly… it was frustrating.

I kept slogging through the workout because I was afraid I would totally balloon up if I didn’t.

Fear. Not a great reason to get healthy.

A Friend Indeed!

Shortly after that conversation with my husband, I was lamenting to a close friend about my frustrations with working out and seeing no changes.

“Well, I don’t know if you’d be interested, but I’ve lost 15 inches with this new workout.” She said cautiously. (She knew how much I disliked exercise videos!)

She also was a mom of many, homeschooling, not much time for working out.

“It’s just 15 minutes a day.”

I was ready to hear about it! 15 minutes vs an hour and needing an hour nap shortly after? With no results?! I asked her more questions. Got the book Fit and Fabulous in Fifteen Minutes from our library. A month later another friend loaned me her dvd… and I finally started seeing changes! AND I didn’t need a nap!

A New Perspective

Even though I can’t say I love working out 😉 T-Tapp helped me feel more confident. With lots of support from the forums, I was able to stick with it when I hit a plateau, or when life got crazier (what I call the “insane crazy” vs the “normal crazy”!).

What really changed my perspective was the realization that working out was taking care of the body God gave me. Stewarding the gift well. Can you imagine giving someone an expensive gift then watching them abuse it?!

As I studied and trained to be a T-Tapp Trainer, I experienced the mind-body-soul connection even more. God brought a lie to the surface that I had believed for 21 years. After acknowledging and working through it, I watched my body reshape in ways I never thought possible after having 10 term pregnancies, health challenges and gaining so much weight!

1 Corinthians 10:31 says:

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

And that includes exercise!

Exercise can be a form of worship— just as much as singing a beautiful hymn or meditating on His Word!

Seeing Fitness Through the Lens of Grace

Let’s reframe working out from a faith-based view:

• From punishment to partnership
• From shrinking to strengthening
• From striving to stewarding
• From obligation to overflow
  

Shifting how you think about working out makes all the difference—and can help you push through on those days when you just don’t feel like it… or when you wonder if it’s even making a difference.

Because when movement flows from a place of grace, gratitude, and joy, it stops being just another task—and becomes a way to worship, to care, to celebrate. It’s no longer about have to—it’s about get to. That mindset shift is powerful!

 Invite God into Your Workout

Here are 3 simple ways to partner with God for your workout:

• Breath prayers before, during, or after a workout
• Worship music while walking
• Thank Him for what your body can do (vs focusing on what it can’t, or what you used to be able to do)

The real goal is to keep your focus on the gift God has given you—your body—and to see caring for it as a gift back to Him. To bring Him glory through movement, strengthening yourself to do what He’s called you to do.

It doesn’t have to be an hour at the gym. It can be two simple moves in your living room or a short walk outside—celebrating that you get to honor Him with every step.

That’s exactly the heart behind my upcoming Take 5 Challenge—simple, grace-filled movement you can actually stick with. 💜

I’ll be sharing more soon, but if this kind of faith-fueled fitness speaks to you, sign up below. I’ll be sending out information soon to my list with more details!