Monday, January 25, 2016 at 8:24PM GYM CLASS HEROES
Instagram via @basebodybabes
I just looked up lethargic in the thesaurus. Slothful. Somnolent. Spiritless. I'm trying to figure out what word would best describe me for the past 7 years. It's not that I haven't been active because I have young kids, so that's impossible. But let's just say that I used to be really active, really toned, really strong. And then suddenly, I wasn't. I worked out at least 3 days a week, quite religiously in fact, for most of my life. And then suddenly, I didn't. I used to feel like I was missing something when I didn't exercise because I craved it. But for the past 7 years, I honestly just wasn't interested at all.
Turns out my total lack of motivation coincided directly with having kids. And while having babies provided loads of convenient excuses, I realized that my reasons for not working out had morphed from valid to ridiculous. With a 5 and 7 year old, I found myself still saying things like 'I don't want to mess with their schedules,' or 'I'm just too tired.' I work from home. They're at school all day. They sleep like rockstars. Like I said: ridic.
This past fall, that all changed. I decided it was finally time to get to the bottom of things. And by bottom, I mean my own. My formerly perky, well, everything, had begun migrating south and it wasn't even winter yet. I'd been making a monthly donation to my gym for the past 7 years but only ever went a handful of times. Still, I refused to give up my membership because it felt exactly like that: giving up. But I finally did. Turns out breaking up with your gym is a lot like quitting a job or ditching a bad boyfriend - sometimes you have to leave to find something better.
In September, at the urging of a fellow mom, I reluctantly signed up for a Bums & Tums class at a local community centre. Despite the cringeworthy name, the instructor more than made up for it. Every Tuesday, I'd meet my friend for our weekly B&T and found myself, for the first time in 7 years, actually enjoying a workout. Then another mom and I decided to try bootcamp. So every Thursday, we had a date at the XTreme Fitness Torture Chamber where Pedro threw tires at us until we begged him to stop. And somehow, I found myself hate-loving it. Before I knew it, I'd done 4 straight months of consistent workouts and I hadn't once made an excuse. For the new year, I've signed up for an evening pilates class while my son does ball hockey in the gym next door (no mom guilt - yay!) and two lunchtime B&Ts. I haven't felt this good, this strong, this healthy since my pre-baby days.
After all these years, I finally figured out the 3 things I need to stay on track with my workouts. (If you're feeling similarly derailed by your lack of motivation, maybe these will help you, too)...
