Let me start by saying I am not the “athletic” type at all. I’m only 5 feet tall, curvy and barely have the stamina to run for a quarter of a mile straight. During elementary and middle school, I was always the last person to be chosen to be on the kickball or dodgeball team, and then the over-competitive boys in the class would be pissed if I ended up on their team. When we had to run the mile for class, I was the last person left, basically crawling to the finish line.
But this year I want to change that. A lot of major events are happening for me, such as graduating from college and hopefully landing my dream job. One of my resolutions this year is to finally get into the shape I want to be in. I don’t necessarily want to be athletic, but I want to have enough stamina and not struggle lifting 5 pound weights. I don’t care about a number on a scale, but rather how I look and feel when I see myself in the mirror. I decided to document my first week of working out at the gym and at the group fitness classes. I also posted each day (for the first week) on my Insta story.
Day 1 – Thursday
I know Thursday seems like an odd day to start but that’s how it worked out for me with my schedule. I have classes starting in the middle of the day and anchor the news at night, so I wake up at 7 a.m. to go to the gym at my apartment complex. I am surprisingly excited and get ready pretty fast. My younger (and more athletic) sister comes along with me for most of my first week so that we can push each other, and so that she can pretend to be my trainer. I decide to just stick to running on the treadmill for the whole half hour that we are there, quickly finding out that running on the treadmill is not a “workout” but rather a warm-up. Shoot.
Day 2 – Friday
I signed up for a 45-minute cycle class at 8:15 a.m. at the UF gym because cycling is very “in” right now and everyone looks like they have so much fun doing it! Well, minutes into the class I realized that there is nothing fun about it and I felt like I was dying. The lights are off as loud music plays while your legs are on fire and you’re sweating buckets, yet the instructor at the front yells at you on her microphone to “just keep going,” and that “the pain is good for you…” blah blah blah. She leisurely pedals on her cycle at the front of the class while shouting inspirational quotes as the rest of us in the class have our heads down and backs hunched over, cycling like our life depends on it. I will admit I’ve never sweat so much from a workout before.
Days 3 and 4 – Saturday and Sunday
I actually went back to Daytona for the weekend for my dad’s surprise birthday party, but I had to fit my workouts in. I went to the gym Saturday morning around 10 a.m. before I left town and then hit the gym again when I got back to Gainesville Sunday afternoon. On Saturday I stuck to the treadmill again, as that was what I liked the best and wanted to focus on cardio more than anything. The real challenge was when my sister joined me at the gym on Sunday, and we both decided that whenever we went to the gym together, she would take up the task of being my personal trainer. She only let me do cardio for about 10 minutes, and then had me use the weight machines. It turned out to not be so bad and I actually really enjoyed the ones that targeted your arms. Lastly, we went over to the mats to do abs, squats, etc. My body was shaking and on fire by the time we were done.
Day 5 – Monday
I signed up for the cycle class at 8:15 a.m. again. This time I had a different instructor than on Friday, and she was a bit nicer and easier on us. I wondered if it was easier because they didn’t want to kill us at the beginning of the week. Although I enjoyed the class more, I found myself wishing it was like the previous one. I walked out of there fine, being able to feel my legs. But I didn’t want that (shockingly). I wanted the feeling of almost dying. The feeling of a good workout. Although I absolutely hated the first cycle class, I wanted the same feeling I got afterwards because it felt so rewarding to put in so much work.
Day 6 – Tuesday
I just could not anymore. I usually go to bed late because my classes go into the afternoon and I have work, club meetings or news anchoring at night. Not to mention, I still have to cook and do homework, so my evenings are pretty busy. That’s why I usually workout in the mornings, but today I am so exhausted. I don’t want to get out of bed, so I sleep in a little and not workout in the morning. In order to stick to my goal, I decide to work out in the evening after my lab gets out at 7:05 p.m.
My sister and I go over to our friend’s apartment complex and use her gym. We hop on the treadmill and use weights again, but then we notice a large tire outside. Her gym has a freaking tire! We all get excited to go over and see how heavy it is. Holy cow, this tire means business. I still don’t know how heavy it was, but I realized that the whole week I never filmed myself doing any workouts at all. I didn’t really feel comfortable as I wasn’t a pro yet, but for some reason I just handed my sister my phone and asked her to film me flip this darn tire! I’m not sure if it was me trying to show off for the video, or me actually having strength now, or both, but when she said “go,” I flipped that tire as fast and as many times as I could, which I think was five or six times (the video on my Instagram showed less because I didn’t want it to be too long). My legs, arms and back were killing me, and at one point the tire fell back a little and bruised my chest. It wasn’t until after the workout that my boyfriend told me my form was all wrong and that I lifted with my back too much. Although, I had no idea what I was doing because I’ve never lifted a tire before, I was pretty proud of myself for even being able to lift it at all!
Day 7 – Wednesday
I take a power yoga class at 10:15 a.m., as Wednesday is my day off during the week and I want something slightly relaxing yet still a good workout. I wake up and my body feels like a train hit it. Luckily the yoga helped to stretch my body and muscles. Power yoga is regular yoga, just at a faster pace, which causes you to breathe slightly harder and faster than traditional yoga. After class my body feels sore, yet rejuvenated. But more importantly, I am proud of myself for working out every single day for a whole week. I will stick with this. Of course I won’t see results in one week, maybe not even two weeks, but slowly my strength and stamina should develop.
I’m very excited and hopeful to see how I feel and look in the coming weeks and months of this year, and I encourage everyone to create a simple schedule for themselves and stick with it. You’re going to feel tired and sore, but in the end, just like how I felt after my tough cycle class, you’ll be happy you did it.