I do what I want! An adventure in using fitness for fun by having fun to gain fitness.

Do you remember being a child and having your parent tell you to clean your room?  Were you the child jumping up, so excited to get it clean or were you like me and would go up to your room only to sit there and play with toys or look through every single thing that you find in an effort to protest, to push back against parental control? 

Some days I feel like that stubborn child but know that I cannot really get away with throwing a tantrum over the inevitable.  In order to be healthy one must adopt healthy habits and work each day on their health.  In order to be fit one must adopt the habits that lead to a state of fitness and work each day on fitness.  In order to have a clean room one must clean the room. 

I also know that if I were to just jump right back into hard core training I would quit in a heartbeat.  I have been gone for so long that who I was no longer exists... I need to re-start as who I am. I need to embrace TODAY and not be resentful over the loss of YESTERDAY.  

I have been doing a challenge to build a habit of going to the gym like I used to.  I threw down a 50 swipes in 50 days challenge to myself, a swipe being an entrance into my gym.  I cannot say that this was all due to desire... there is an overwhelming need to accomplish this if I am to qualify for my company's gym fee reimbursement policy.  I need 104 visits a year in order to get my gym membership dues refunded to me.  I was at 54 visits with exactly 50 days left in 2016, so I had no choice but to go every single day. 

At first I went only to badge in.  Now, before you roll your eyes or say how that is not right, that is cheating, or how I am doing myself no good by going only to badge in, remember that I am a health coach.  My thing is teaching others how to make slow sustainable changes, how to crowd out bad behaviors with good behaviors, or as I like to say how to move out what no longer suits us by filling our time with that which does.  I teach others to adopt super simple infallible goals so that we build up a level of trust within ourselves, one that we can build upon with less simple more meaningful changes later on.

 

Just as we build a base before we build our speed or endurance, I had to build the habit of consistency in going to the gym. 

Every single day I have driven myself to the gym.  Over time it went from just a task that I had to do to looking forward to my nightly trips to the gym, to even WANTING to go for a real workout now. I just ordered 2 new swimsuits, bought new goggles, have new running shoes, and even dropped some additional cash on outside the gym exercise classes. 

For now through the end of the year I am just going to do whatever strikes my fancy.  Be that a class,  a swim bike or run, or yoga.  Thanks to Groupon I have found 2 new places to go for fitness fun as well - CycleBar in Troy where I am going to try out 4 classes and then EnSoul Yoga in Ferndale where I bought a 10 session pass.  Now I can finally just say  "I do what I want!"  What I want is to have fun with fitness. I am opening myself up to everything to gain fitness that I can put to use in more focused ways in the new year.  

My experiences with CycleBar and EnSoul Yoga will be coming soon!  

Shine on my friends,