This week, I used my own gym since…well, snow was still on the ground. Which to be fair, living in the UP, it could be literally the beginning of Summer, but I will leave that to your own guess. Now, I had been there to check on things, and set up members into our entry system, but it was a long time since I had used it.
So many things came to my mind when I first opened the door to Rgym.
* Guilt-how can I, the owner of this gym, not been here for a while?
* Overwhelmed- Where do I begin? My own equipment was giving me anxiety!
* MY GOSH, is this how our members feel? (Instantly, I felt sad that our members may feel the same anxiety and disconect).
* and… back to guilt and an overwhelming feeling of “where do I begin”.
I really had to work to get out of my head and back to RGYM where I knew a good workout was waiting for me.
When it comes to the guilt I was feeling, I had to remind myself that I couldn’t make it in because it had been a busy but amazing summer. It was filled with family, family events, camping, friends and sunshine. My college friends got to meet my babies, and my babies earned a whole bunch of new aunties. The summer was great. I finally could take a deep breath after so much positive activity that was good to the soul and enjoy a relaxing workout that was good for my body. And I did. I enjoyed a good quick workout that got me going back for more (but more on that later).
It got me thinking. Guilt is embedded into our workouts and health activities. Whether it is guilt you haven’t worked out, guilt for eating to much, guilt for not drinking too much water, and finally, guilt for working out! (Should I be doing paperwork or dishes right now instead of working out!) Allowing guilt into your health path is a no-win situation.
This is not a new observation, I know. But even after “knowing better”, guilt creeps up occasionally. And if you are like me, guilt combined with a little anxiety, totally kills the drive to even put on your shoes to get in the car to drive to the gym and work out.
So here is how I pushed the guilt away and enjoyed my own gym...
And please, it is ok to roll your eyes at the cheesy picture I am about to describe, but I swear it helped.
I thought, when I miss a meal, do I stop eating forever? No, I eat again at the next opportunity. My body doesn't feel guilty, it just feels the need to eat. Whether, I devour a fast food meal, or create an amazing meal that was worth the wait. I EAT AGAIN. Details don’t matter, it just matters that I put food in my mouth to satisfy a need.
And that is how I decided this week to look at working out. It doesn’t matter I didn’t do it for a while. It matters that I came back. No guilt allowed in this gym! We go in and satisfy the need to move. We workout, we feel good about it, and we try to stay in this pattern.
As for the workout? I kept it very simple.
Warm up- 2.5 minute on the bike
Workout - (5) 1 minute intervals with 1 minute rest time in between.
And, ending with 5 minutes on the bike.