Need some motivation to get back in the gym? Love working out but don't always feel confident at your gym/ workout facility? Today, we are highlighting Ava Cyruli, one of our newest influencers on our awesome team of strong women. Ava shares both her workout journey and how altering her mindset towards health and fitness changed her life for the better. Her experience will have you changing your plans for the day to make sure you get to the gym.
How did you get into fitness? "I was actually a dancer for 17 years and it was my major my freshman year of college, and after transitioning away from dance I started slowly developing some of my eating disorder habits that led me to go to a treatment center to ultimately recover from my eating disorder. After coming out of that, I wanted to make a healthy change in my life, lose the extra body fat that I had put on, but in a wholistic and sustainable way where it would cultivate into a lifestyle for me and not just be a quick fix.
So, I began lifting and really changing my habits and daily routine and fell absolutely in love with the gym and the empowerment that I gained from being strong physically and mentally. Ever since then, the gym and lifting has truly been a safe place for me. I think there’s a stigma around being a bodybuilder and doing things to change your appearance especially in post-eating disorder recovery. However, I like to approach it with a mindset that anything is possible and just because that narrative is someone else’s, it doesn’t have to be mine. So, I really reframed my mindset and found a beautiful relationship with my body and health and the way that I feel, not just the way that I look.”
What do you use as your motivation when working out? “I would say my motivation when working out is just being 1% better than the day before. And also realizing that a lot of people will say you “go to war” or “its just you vs. you and the person in the mirror” so “go to war with the man or woman in the mirror.” For me, I look in the mirror and go “that’s my teammate." It’s not necessarily my opponent. Yes, I want to be 1% better than the day before but let's work together. I want to work with myself rather than working against myself. So, like I said working with and for myself to feel my best self and for the days that motivation isn’t there, it just goes back to that saying “discipline over motivation."
What does sweat-proof makeup mean to you? "Sweat-proof makeup is such an awesome concept to me because I definitely find that I want to go into the gym confident. This means that if I’m wearing makeup, which I like to wear makeup in the gym, I feel cute, and sweat-proof means that I can work as hard as I possibly can."
"Work fucking hard, train fucking hard, and just be an absolute beast. And, I still feel confident at the end of my workout. At the end of my workout, I've had makeup that was dripping down the side of my face, and I’m not going in with a full-glam but I still want to feel good."
"Also going off of that, I want to train fucking hard like a beast and something I love to think about and say about my myself is like “beauty in the beast.” So, rather than the movie and the saying “beauty and the beast,” I want to be “beauty in a beast.” You can embody and empower both in you, and so I think sweat-proof makeup is like a complete correlation to that and I love the idea."
This quick interview helped give me a whole new perspective on working out, and I cannot wait to hear more like this from Ava in the future! So, if you have not already, give Ava a follow @cycylifts to get some inspo for daily gym workouts and consistent motivation! And, check out our sweat-proof foundation, concealer, and BRAND NEW MOISTURIZER so you can glow in the gym!
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