Alone in the Gym

Most of us don't have the luxury of living on a ranch, isolated with trainers and personal chefs, and hours at our disposal to workout.  Most of us have a full-time jobs that are something other than working on our weight loss.  I've heard from so many people that their biggest challenge is not the willpower, but finding the time to get to the gym.  We're so fortunate at my work to have a full-size gym right downstairs for us to use.  It eliminates a lot of factors that would normally give us an an excuse not to work out.  I remember back in the bad old days when I worked elsewhere and held a membership at Golds.  I would drive past the parking lot, and think, "Whoops, no parking spots, guess I'm not working out today," and be about my merry unhealthy way.  "Whoops, it's raining, guess I can't work out."  Or, "oh man, it's Tuesday.  Guess I'm not working out."

These days I don't let anything get in my way.  That being said, finding time to get to the gym today was tough.  It was only nine floors down, but it might have been two miles down the street for the amount of work I had to get accomplished.  I found myself working though lunch and not shutting my computer down until 6:30.  I live about an hour away from work, so I was itching to get on the road.  I always exercise in the middle of the day instead of taking lunch because I know my motivation to do it after work is next to none.

But, I knew that I needed to get it done, so I drug myself down there despite having minimal desire to do so.   I even almost turned around when I got halfway to the locker room.   It would have been easy.   None of my gym buddies were there or my trainers.  There were probably four people in the gym, including myself. The locker room - usually a hive of hairspray, girl talk, and laughter - was quiet as a tomb.  Boo.

Deciding to get on with things, I changed clothes, cranked up my music and got my workout done. Someone had left behind a Glamour magazine with some interesting articles, and that helped too.  I must have been in my own little world, because when I got off of the bike, I looked around and for the first time in my life I found myself totally alone in the gym.

Weird.   I wasn't sure I liked it.  Then I realized, I am totally alone in this gym, I can do anything I want. It turned out to be awesome.  No waiting for equipment. No worries about looking ridiculous when trying new exercises like the Perfect Push-up paddles I see the guys using - yep, I can do them.  No feeling self-conscious about how silly I feel when I run, which if you're a fan of the show "Friends" looks a lot like Phoebe in the episode "The One Where Phoebe Runs."  And I could sing along to my music as loud as I wanted.  All in all, not a bad time.  I still prefer to have my buddies with me, but tonight I proved to myself that I have the motivation to get things done, even when everything told me to forget it and go home.