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January 16, 2013 by little hurdles big race

So it seems that there is an epidemic sweeping my friends and co-workers.  While many of you have given away clothes, started back on diet plans, cleared out your pantry, or started any other kind of healthy living plan – there is one major complaint I hear more than any other…

“I hate going to the gym”.  Now, it’s not that you hate working out – it’s the actual preparing and driving to the gym that is the problem.  Believe me I hear you…  Those 10 minutes I take driving to the gym are filled with a deafening roar of excuses.  My knee hurts, the gym is probably crowded, it’s too late, I’m hungry…  I work through it everyday.  Most of the time I take my gym clothes to work, change there, and go directly from work to the gym.  This is how I have circumvented the allure of the couch.

What is holding you back?  How can you make exercise a part of your day or week?  Don’t want to miss you TV show?  Record it or watch it at the gym.  I promise you that your time will fly if you are watching a show you really want to watch.  Maybe you can make a commitment to two days a week to start?  Maybe you are better working out in the morning?  Me?  I’m a workout in the evening to exhaustion and then go to sleep kind of gal.

Then there is working out at home.  You don’t have to be at the gym to do strength training.  There are tons of good video programs out there – P90X, Beach Body, Zumba, Wii, and many many more.

There are yoga aps for your phone, ankle weights, kettle bells, exercise balls, resistance bands, doorway trainers, and plain old dumbbells.  Most of these things can be done in your living room and you can find plenty of exercises on youtube for all this equipment.  Kettle bells, if you are not so clumsy, are a great workout.  Exercise balls really work your core.  Resistance bands are great for your whole body.

Ladies, weight training is not going to make Hulk out.  It will make you lean and toned.  Male or Female every health plan needs to include strength training.  Resting muscle expends more energy than resting fat.  Which means even sitting around the house you’d be burning more calories.  Sounds like heaven, right?

Get up and get moving.  You can do it at home.