Long time, no talk, guys! Luckily, I have an excuse for my MIA blog post on Thursday: I was at the gym! Sometimes, there aren’t enough hours in the day, and you need to prioritize. For me, as I strive to follow the SELF Drop 10 program, getting in those workouts and making the time to prepare the food has been of utmost importance. This week, in order to do this, I had to shave off my blogging time so I could have some pumpin’ iron time.
Funny, huh, how easily we can distract ourselves from our goals by talking about them and writing about them instead of doing them? Not this time for me! I’ve fallen into that trap too many times.
The first week of Drop 10, I planned on getting the workouts done in the comforts of my own room and on the streets of my own neighborhood, but as the days wore on, I found myself making excuses. It was too cold outside, I didn’t have time to clear space on my floor to do my strength exercises, I didn’t want my roommate to hear me huffing and puffing to my Ke$ha infused workout soundtrack…the list goes on. Finally, I accepted that the set up wasn’t working for me, and at the end of last week, I joined a gym.
Which leads me to the moral of this blog post: Figure out what kind of workout atmosphere works best for you as soon as possible, unless you’ll never stop coming up with excuses not to work out. A few things to keep in mind:
- Location: How far away is too far for you? For some people, even having to set foot outside is enough to kill any inspiration to work out. Figure out if you need to get out of your room to escape the temptation of your bed and computer, or if you need to be able to able to work out as soon as the inspiration strikes.
- Privacy: Will being flanked by other runners in the treadmill row intimidate you or inspire you to go faster? It’s important to figure out if you’re fine with crowds if you’re picking a gym. For me, I love a busy, bustling gym. Everyone is doing their own thing and no one is paying attention to me. That, and I’m prone to engaging myself in mental games with the people around me: “No way am I getting off this treadmill before she does.”
- Indoors/Outdoors: Easy peasy. Does the great outdoors do it for you, or do you work better around the buzz of machines and the clinking of weights?
Pay attention to the little voice in your head that airs its grievances every time it’s time to work out and seek to fix it accordingly. What’s it telling you? It might be that you don’t want to wedge yourself into the weight room with a bunch of meathead guys, so look into an all-girl gym. It might say you’re dreading the rank smell of a gym, so pick somewhere with an open layout and good air circulation. Once you find your perfect workout feng shui, you’ll be surprised how much easier it will be to drag your butt to…well, to wherever you decide is the optimal place to work it out!
Before I go, I’ve got some good news to share: I’m down to 154.5 lbs! If you remember, I started at 157, so as you can imagine, I’m feeling pretty good. One small step for college weight loss, one giant leap for my booty. See you Monday!