Bring back recess
Monday, April 8, 2013 I hate going to the gym. Hate. It. I have definitely had more than one day where I have broken down into mental patient sobbing tears because I just couldn't stand to go to the gym anymore. How much time do I spend at the gym to maintain my weight you ask? On an average week I do about 6 hours of high intensity cardio, another six hours of walking, and two hours of high intensity weight lifting. Plus it's 20 minutes each way to the gym, so all in all about 16 hours per week of either working out or driving there. So yeah, it gets tiresome. TV on the treadmill and podcasts in the weightroom help a lot, but I'm still looking for more ways to beat the boredom.
Sure, it's possible for me to maintain my weight without working that hard, but that would involve a lot of skipping social events, something I'm just not willing to do. I mostly manage to not eat everything that calls to me at parties, but it's still heavier food than I would be eating at home. Occasionally when I'm out, someone will tell me that I should cut loose and enjoy myself this time. "It's just once in a while," they'll say. Except that two weekends ago was Easter, the one before that was St. Patrick's Day, last weekend was a two day extravaganza for my father-in-law's 65th birthday, and next weekend I'm going to a bridal shower. There's just not nearly enough time in between events to recover, so party eating has to be close to normal eating, or it doesn't work.
Since I'm not willing to stop going places, I have to make up the difference with activity. I'm a smallish female with low lean body mass, so my metabolism is slow. But if I build more muscle I can make it faster, which is what I'm working on now. (Muscle burns more calories when our bodies are at rest than fat does, this is why men generally lose weight faster.) A friend of mine in San Diego takes and loves aereal acrobatics classes, and another friend said she looks forward to her belly dancing class every week. "Look forward to it?" I thought. Cue jealousy like I have never known before.
I want that. I want it to be fun so badly. That's what I have with snowboarding, but I can only do that about 5 days a year. And I've tried many other activities like zumba and yoga without any improvement in enjoyment, I'm always looking at the clock. But, when you don't succeed, try again! So after failing to find local aereal acrobatics classes, and seeing Parkour featured on The Biggest Loser, I found a Parkour gym near us! They just opened a few months ago. Parkour is all about moving over obstacles efficiently and with style, kinda like gymnastics for grown ups. And it really is fun! My disclaimer is this: As with any new exercise, showing up on day two will be the hardest thing you have to do. Do it anyway. Exercise can be fun but it's still a workout. Muscles you didn't know you had will be crazy sore, your confidence will be low because as a begginer you will not be good at it. Embrace the suckiness, accept that some things take time. Parkour has only gotten more fun with every class. And the staff down at Apex Movement NorCal in Concord are fantastic. Alan, the owner, is really supportive, patient, and knowledgeable about how to use good form to improve your body. In fact, he's also a chiropractor.
Here's a cool video that shows off some awesome videography of Parkour and Freerunning. And don't you dare think, "That won't work for me, I can't do that!" Of couse you can't! Yet! Beginner classes don't look like this at all. Beginner classes start by teaching you how to roll without hitting your spine on the ground, and how to modify pull ups (and everything else) so that even if you can't do one today, you can perform a useful exercise that will help you work toward doing one someday. And then we go play in the foam pit. And I'm in heaven because that's what exercise should be, play.
Reader Comments (1)
Love it! So cute!