Monday, March 19, 2012

Excuses, Enlistment, and Corned Beef

I almost didn't go to the gym on Friday.  That's right ONE DAY after my "It's Happening" post, it almost happened again.  Week 2 of Bootcamp is pretty much the same as week 1 which has its pros and cons.  The good thing is I know what to expect and am more comfortable with the exercises.  The bad thing, especially in this Workout C thing, is that I know what to expect.  And it scares me. 

So Friday, I stayed in bed.  I don't have a specific excuse.  I knew what I would wear to work. Lunch was handled.  If I had thought hard enough I would have realized that my gym bag with still in my trunk.  I couldn't possibly go outside in my pajamas.  Mind you, plenty of people Townieville think pajamas are acceptable outdoor attire.  I assure you, I am not one of those people.  But I didn't think of that excuse until I was in the car driving to work.

Then the magical thing happened.  I realized that if my gym bag was in the trunk I COULD go to the gym, after work.  This little glimmer of an idea grew larger and I started to be HAPPY about the idea.  It evoked the memory of an obnoxiously fit friend of mine who said, "I make excuses to go to the gym."  Excuses to go the gym.  Excuse me?  That is craziness.  But that was the type of craziness that I was thinking. This is progress.  However, with 8 hours of work and a corned beef buffet ahead of me, I didn't trust that this would last. So I called in some reinforcements.

Enter: K the Intern.  You remember K the Intern.  She's even had her own post.  She is good at holding me to things, for the most part.  I told her right away that I was going to the gym at the end of the day and she had to remind me strongly.  However, my thoughts flashed back to that Friday when we went to get drinks and I may or many not have checked in at the gym on facebook while drinking a lager. I realized I might need something stronger.

Enter: PR gym guy.  PR because he does our communications and gym guy because he is on a fitness journey of his own.  PR gym guy was raised with a healthy dose of Catholic guilt which he more that happy to share.  If you don't feel guilty eating a cookie in front of him, you are officially immune to guilt.  You don't even have to be Catholic to feel it, trust me.  Anyway, PR gym guy was meeting his trainer on Friday afternoon so I knew he would know if I skipped out.  So as 5 pm drew near, PR gym guy left a bit early to get ready and said he'd see me there.  I said, "yup see you there" and actually believed myself. 

So I made it to the gym.  I decided to share my grotto with PR gym guy and his trainer.  Apparently, sharing is not optional in the afternoon.    And PR gym guy, bless his heart, did not laugh at my crab walks and bear crawls.  Work out C kicked my butt.  It made me regret the corned beef buffet. But the one thing I didn't regret was, of course, going to the gym. 

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

It's happening



It's happening.
That thing that always happens when I try to get in a work out routine.
I get into the routine, I'm feeling good.
Then it happens.
I think to myself, " I can do this for the next eleven-dy-million days."
I remind myself, "Slow down, one day at a time, one foot in front of the other."
Then the excuse monsters creep up.
"You did two workouts yesterday, stay in bed today."
"You didn't pick out your clothes for work yet.  Stay in bed."
"You haven't been right home after work all week. Skip the gym, go home."

There is no room and no time for the excuse monsters because, as I've said before:
 And in bootcamp, no excuse monsters are allowed.

Bootcamp was mentioned before, but I didn't explain it fully.  It is created by Tina from Best Body Fitness .  I signed up for it on a whim, like most things I do, after reading about it on Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life  another Capital Region Blog.  It was $25 for 8 weeks of work outs and I love having someone tell me what to do at the gym (probably the only place that type of behavior is acceptable!)  Another great element of this plan (besides all of the prizes!!) are the two goals we set for the week.  These are goals we can control, like drink 64 oz of water a day as opposed to lose 2 pounds this week.  For week one, my two goals were to take a mult- vitamin every day and to drink 64 oz of water.  I rocked these because they are things I love to do, I've just fallen out of the habit.

For week 2, my goals have been to keep up the first weeks goals as well as eat 3 servings of vegetables every day and log my food.  But based on the excuse monsters circling, I am calling a game time decision to change them.   I'll keep the veggie thing because I've done well so far.  The second one will be to make sure I am packed and ready to go the night before and have checked out all the exercises online so that when I get to the gym, there are no excuses.

Because it's happening.
And it cannot happen. 

Comment below with an awesome picture of an excuse monster or a solution to keep them at bay.  Best answer gets...well...uummm...the title of excuse monster exterminator.  And a crown.  I promise.