Because I've been so unmotivated to hit the gym, I've found every excuse in the book not to go. Last week was the Olympics. I sat in the gym parking lot, calling my mom so she can look up the time of the gold medal match of women's beach volleyball. I don't have a smart phone so I need to use other resources sometimes. I was praying it was 5:30. Nope, somewhere between 7 and 11. Darn. No excuse this time. I went in, but know I didn't do much. I got excited about my thought of going to the grocery store for a few key items to make one of my favorite foods. No way was I not going to be sitting on my couch at 7pm! So, I left around 6:15. Don't forget I had to change my clothes, leaving about 25 minutes of actually working out time. The fact that I did that, I was content with myself.
This happens about once a week, and today was that day. This was the first week back to school, so it's been super crazy especially since I've had to be available/cover for a teacher that we don't actually currently employ. I haven't got to work on my regular stuff, but add on top of that the extra running around because of the doubling of our students, and then having to actually teach and be in a classroom. Point is, work sucks right now. It's so emotionally draining and stressful that all I want to do after work is drink and space out. Drinking buddy declined today. Best way to relieve stress? Yep, working out. I went to a different gym today, which actually pushed me a little bit to go.
As always, I started off doing cardio for a warm-up. This time was the treadmill. 15 minutes, went .83 miles. I was rather excited to do something because many times I'm in such a self-induced time crunch that I don't lift or do anything productive. I put on my gloves and explored the rest of the gym I've never seen before. Holy people! Found a decline press machine. Did 15 of those supersetting with a plank. Whippee. Found the adductor and abductor machines. Did 3 sets of 15 on those with some leg presses on a weird machine. This is where my thoughts came in.
Whenever I go into the gym, I need to have a plan. Just like being productive around the house, I must have a list. I woke up on Sunday with a list of chores I needed to do, which I wrote before I went to bed on Saturday. End result? All but 2 items completed (out of 12) with an extra side "wish to do" chore completed. So, if I have a workout already planned, I seem to try to get it done.
I've been tracking my workouts on www.weighttraining.com. This site has a ton of "celebrity" workouts that you can use and/or purchase. Some are free and some you have to have a paid membership to view. The site is kinda cool because you earn medals, points, and increase in levels when you make accomplishments and enter in your workouts. I wonder if, when I get a smartphone, if I can enter it on the computer with an app. I think I'd be more consistent with it. Computer issues and no reminders means I forget to. Plus, without going to the gym and working out regularly, I forget. Obviously I'm not motivated to earn those points. The site has videos and other tools to use if you don't know how to do an exercise or need more information. If you have friends on there, I think there are additional opportunities.
So maybe, in order to possibly get more motivated to accomplish tasks at the gym, I should plan a weekly schedule of workouts. I'm just not so awesome at this tracking thing, even with food. I know I'm way better at eating when I have to write it down. I just don't. I even have a journal! I just forget or it's not near me, and so I still forget. Hmmm. Any ideas? Would a smartphone have apps to accomplish these tasks? I'm a bit elementary with some of this technology stuff. But, I'm a great student and can learn all it has to offer! If I use it, it'll stick.
I'll take any other motivating suggestions. Work people even did a weight loss challenge, spanning over two months. Did a mid-challenge weigh-in, thought I smoked the competition. I did, except for one person. We did use percentage lost, but I had lost 9 pounds. This other guy lost 15 pounds! Great for him. Not for me. Then stress hit and lost motivation. He ended up losing another 11 pounds the next month. Kinda hard to beat. He bought me lunch when I finally paid him! Fantastic job!
I need to get to the gym, though. I'm not eating super horrible, but I'd probably motivate myself even more if I was feeling awesome.
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