Working Out

For a solid year now I think I would put myself into the category of a person to "works out". When they doctor asks, do you exercise? Why yes, yes I do. Sometimes more often than others, but it's still there. First off, let me tell you that I do not believe the key to losing weight is working out. Eating well is the key. Working out might make you stronger, shave some inches, and give you more energy, but if you want the scale to change, you gotta eat what's good for you. Secondly, I'm completely against fad dieting. It will screw your metabolism to pieces!!! Yes, it works in the short term, and that's an amazing feeling of accomplishment, but eventually you're going to want bread/sugar/dairy/calories again and then you're on a downward spiral. I can attest to the fact that working out and eating well is a sloooooooooooow process and it can be discouraging. I'm also a human who doesn't always eat the best things (especially on the weekends). But that's really not the point of this post. I want to share with you some observations I have made while entering into this new "work out" world that I had been so blind to in the past.

1st- If you don't know what you're doing, the weight lifting section of the gym is terrifying. There could be some guy on the machine equally as confused as you are, but the difference is that he's on it and therefore a genius.
2nd- "Running" isn't really running. This was a true "ah ha!" moment when I figured this one out. I started "running" around Boomer lake and I would get worn out so fast. The problem is that I thought running meant sprinting. Turns out, anything above a brisk walk falls into the category of a "run" so it's just a matter of picking your foot farther off the ground. My distance tripled the first time I gave this a try. Sprinting is for track meets. Furthermore, in a 5K run, some people don't even run, they walk and that's perfectly acceptable!! I had been dreading a 5K for years!
3rd- In a gym it is apparently customary to ask someone how their work out was. The appropriate response was "Great!" not "Look at me, I'm covered in sweat, it sucked". Whoops.
4th- People seem to always inquire about your work out which I think is a step away from asking someone how much they weigh. "What did you do?" "How long did you go?" "What's your best time?" Uh... um... What?
5th- P90X is for people who don't like themselves very much


Some other things that I have noticed:

If you have the ability to update your facebook status while in the middle of a work out, you're not working that hard
Now matter what the calorie counter says on the machine, the elliptical aint got NOTHIN on running. I know it's better for your knees and I even do it sometimes (I never thought I'd see the day where I would have a sports injury, but sure enough my knee is tore up) but running is so much harder than the elliptical. Elliptical=weenies (ha ha I can say what I want it's my blog!).
Finally, wearing jeans to work on Friday is all good and fun until you have to put those same jeans back on after working out and your sweaty.

Have a good weekend!

Posted in: Reflections