I have a sport
Friday, August 23, 2013 A kind stranger in my foam roller class approached me and asked what sport I do. I pretty much looked around to see who she was talking to. My thought process: Oh, me? Seriously? Oh, hey cool! Oh right, you're still waiting for me to say something...
Well I do Parkour! And powerlifting! And man it feels good to have an answer to the question, "What sport do you do?" that's not, "um...elliptical?" Not that there's anything wrong with elliptical per se. I just didn't love it. Or I should say I didn't love it anymore, and I had tricked myself into thinking it wasn't so bad. Here's a little story about how the right activity can change your life.
The elliptical saved me in a way. When I was almost at my highest weight, I could look out my dorm room window and see other students running on the bike path. It made me feel frustrated, like there was something wrong with me that I couldn't just will myself to be one of those people.
Every once in a blue moon I would build up my determination and go out to run. Well, jog. Okay that's probably too strong of a word too. I would get all psyched up, go outside, and jog for about three minutes. Then I would want to die. For whatever idiotic reason I didn't consider walking to be exercise so walking was a huge failure. And I was a failure because simply jogging for three minutes was the most painful thing I had ever done to myself willingly. I would catch my breath, try again, and this time only 30 seconds would pass before I wanted to break down in tears, I thought I was so pathetic. And oh, I was mean to myself. Man, I didn't even realize at the time what a collosal BITCH my inner monologue was. I sulked over my five minutes of "exercise," and decided my time would be better spent calling myself names in my head. I vowed to never work out again.
After a few more guilty months of no activity and even more pounds aquired at the cafeteria, I agreed to check out the campus gym with a friend. We did the tour, signed our waiver that said if we died the university was not responsible, and got started. I looked at the other people exercising and wondered how I was supposed to have self esteem while working out next to people who might as well be fitness models. How did these people exercise for so long? It didn't seem possible. But then...I discovered the elliptical. I loved this machine instantly. I could get on, turn it down to negative five intensity and just go. Throw a towel over the display and no one has to know! And you know what, it worked. Because I came back. And I came back. Again and again because I felt accomplished. Why shouldn't I? I had exercised for AN ENTIRE TWENTY MINUTES!
Then one day the guy checking student IDs at the locker room let me in without looking at my card because he knew my face. And it hit me: I'm a regular at the gym. Lol, wut? And that's the story of how I didn't gain any weight the second sememster of my freshmen year of college. Yeah, I didn't lose any either. But I had gained 20 pounds in my first semester so I counted it as a victory. Consistancy had triumphed over intensity.
And many years later, this year in fact, I said goodbye to the elliptical. I had loved it but I had also grown to dread it. Too many hours of trying to stave off the boredom had left me viewing the gym as a chore, just something that had to be done. At twenty minutes a day it was fine, but when you're talking about 8 hours of treadmill and elliptical a week, that's enough to drive a person mad.
But now that I've found something I truly love to do, it's hard to get me out of the gym. In fact, the other day the front desk guy joked that if I was headed home it must be closing time. Me! I can't believe that this is who I am now.
Are you still dreading the gym? Have you found your sport? There is a whole world of cool activities out there to explore. Have you tried rock climbing, aerial acrobatics, power walking, mountain biking, snow shoeing, yoga, swimming, basketball, soccer, zumba, backpacking, and badminton?
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