Gym Membership??

I barely remember how to get to my gym anymore. Rather, it’s not that I’ve forgotten how to get there; it’s the fact that I can think of a million other things I'd rather be doing and it's been so long I'm sure they wouldn't even recognize me at the front desk anymore.

Between starting a new full-time job, working freelance for a local magazine, and managing my first year of marriage, I've been quite busy. That's not to say I haven't gotten any exercise; I find time to do crunches in front of the T.V., lunge from one end of the house to the other, or take my puppy for a jog around the neighborhood. I actually prefer these methods of getting my bod back to its “hot” status, for several reasons. I’m on my own schedule, I don’t have to wait in line for a machine and then gag when the grossly overweight person who just used it didn’t wipe their sweat off before giving it up, and best of all- my neighborhood homeowners association doesn’t charge me outrageously high prices to run in circles.
The one thing missing is the motivation from looking around at others at the gym. I ran track in high school, and my strategy revolved around finding someone to keep up with for the duration of the race, and then kicking it in near the end. I’ve carried that mentality into the real world aka, adulthood. On the treadmill, I’ll end up next to an older gentleman who is inevitably running faster than I am. Well, if he can do it, I can do it! I tend to not really push myself without the help of someone else, whether they realize they’re helping or not. It even goes a little further- I see other women in cute outfits, and it motivates me to push a little harder, so that I will look just as cute if not cuter when I finally decide to splurge on one for myself. As I typed that out, I realized it sort of sounds like I have a self-image problem. I don’t, I promise! I just like outside forms of motivation so I always have a goal to reach. I spent eight years of my life playing volleyball for at least two hours per day, and so when I made the decision to put away my ankle braces after two grueling seasons at a junior college, working out was no longer mandatory, rather, it was optional. And I opted not to. When there wasn’t a coach breathing down my neck during every bench press, or harping at the beginning of every mile, I found other things to occupy my time. I decided what I wanted to do with my life, for example. I left the Juco in search of a communication degree.

On my own to finally lead a life with no volleyball curfew, I rarely made time to exercise. Of course, at that point my metabolism was still working overtime so I didn’t exactly watch what I ate, either.

Then I discovered something on my body that changed my life forever. Cellulite. In a spot I’d previously been so proud of. My boo-tay. I actually did a double take the first time I noticed. It was a turning point for me; the first day of the rest of my life! Since then there have been several of those days, each one lead by an individual more determined than ever to get back in shape. I soon realized that unless I worked out for four hours a day that was never going to happen. By that point I was engaged, and my fiancé told me not to worry, that it would take me no time at all to work the unwanted flab off. I used my fiancé as a motivation factor- he fell in love with the “hot” bod, and I was going to keep it like that- for him. And for me. And for society. ‘Cause those damn skinny jeans were a little too tight for public wear.

And so I joined the gym. A large, all-inclusive, contract required, must-do-your-hair-to-work-out gym. And for a long time, my fiancé and I made the trip together, even trying to share our workouts with one another. But then life hit; we got married, bought a house further from the city (and by that I mean on the outskirts of the nearest suburb), and bought a puppy.
That’s where the new jobs come into play, and by and large, we are spending most of our time socializing for our careers’ sake than we are worrying about our health. We eat out quite a bit, and we tend to have a cigarette with our cocktails. Or two. Sometimes more. Bottom line is, we’ve lost our motivation and we’ve found countless excuses not to go to work out.

“Our new workout will start on Monday, so we can do it at the beginning of the week.”
“As soon as things slow down at work, we’ll start going early in the morning- to start our days off right.”
“I really don’t feel like going, and if I don’t feel like going, I won’t actually get anything out of it.”

I could go on and on.

We soon realized that we had grown lazy. We didn’t want to deal with all the “traffic” three miles down the road, fight for a parking spot when we finally arrived, then have to wait in line for some of the more popular machines, then get frustrated because we have to wait in line for some of the more popular machines, deal with traffic “all the way” home, and by the time it’s all said and done, we’ve wasted 45 minutes of our precious time. The world moves too fast for that kind of dilly dally. So our solution is to only use it during the winter when it’s more difficult to run outside due to extreme cold, or ice. And because we’re in Kansas, the wind is always a factor. The dog needs as much exercise as she can get, because she’s a Visla, and she has energy like three lab puppies combined. And so we try to run with her, although that proves to be a difficult task as well, because it seems that her main goal is to see make sure I flatten out on the concrete. She darts in front of me, manages to wrap her leash around my legs, stops suddenly in front of me, decides on a dime that she has to use the restroom, or pulls at her leash with such fervor that I can barely restrain her. That’s for a different day.

I have finally hit a breaking point. I tried my wedding dress on the other day, and when I found that it was a big snug in all the wrong places, I decided I was going to keep my figure as healthy as possible, for as long as possible. So, all this to say that I’m going to entertain my readers with a journal over the next month about my experience of trying to re-motivate myself and get back in shape. I don't care if I have to watch back to back episodes of "Friends", doing crunches during the show and push-ups during commercial. If every time I have to pee I lunge there and back, and I do calf raises while I'm brushing my teeth, then that's just what it takes. I'd like to switch it up a bit- make working out fun. And who knows, maybe my words will offer a bit of help to someone else out there who is having trouble getting back with the program.