Zumba Rulz

May 10, 2011 By 5 Comments

I’ve learned something about myself recently that I once knew, but had forgotten.

I’m not a solo exerciser.

A few weeks ago I joined a running group for moms that meets at a park near our house. It’s basically a group Couch to 5k program, and it’s every Wednesday and Sunday.

I have stopped and started C25k on my own countless times. Aaron and I even tried to do it together to no avail.

But it’s been easy for me to meet up with these women, and running with a group is so much more motivating. After all, it was how I trained for a half marathon back in 2005. I need the support and the accountability.

Last week, after seeing an infomercial (truth), I looked up local Zumba classes and found one just up the road. Tonight was my second class, and I love it. (Loooove it.)

It’s fun and an intense work out. I like that the class is all women, and a range of ages and sizes at that. Plus I love the music and that I can sort of trick myself into thinking that I’m just dancing. (In my mind, I am awesome. Luckily there are no mirrors in the classroom, so I can maintain this delusion.)

How is it I can make myself show up to a class where I know no one to Zumba it up for an hour, but I can’t make myself go down to my own basement to get on the elliptical machine? I don’t know, but there you have it.

When I lived in Atlanta, I went to the gym several times a week, and I almost exclusively went to classes — spin, step and body works were my staples. But I didn’t have a long commute or a husband or a baby to get home to in those days, so a gym membership was a good fit in ways that it is not these days.

I am learning, after quite a hiatus, that I need to be intentional about how I add exercise into my life and routine, and regularly-scheduled groups and classes are attractive options.

How do you fit exercise into your life?

 
Filed Under: Weighty Issues Tagged With:

Back to the Gym

November 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I went back to the gym today for the first time since I left Atlanta.

Which is not to say that I haven’t exercised since I left Atlanta, although really, I haven’t done much. We do have bikes and with four dogs we take our share of walks. And last summer when it was actually warm, we went swimming quite a bit. But I was really missing the amenities of a gym, and the discipline of having a place to go to work out.

I’ve had many days of good intentions where I planned to come home and do 30 Day Shred or take Scout on a walk, but as soon as I walked in that door, there were about a dozen other things I feel like I needed to do or would rather do than exercise.

And the new gym is pretty sweet. Way nicer than the Crunk Creek LA Fitness I used to attend.  There’s a pool (that they close 2-3 afternoons a week for family swim, so it has a waterslide and a deep end), and tons of cardio machines so you don’t have to worry about stalking a elliptical or sighing really loudly when someone decides to run for an hour while there are people waiting. (They even have tanning beds! That I will never use, but still.)

So I’m back in the saddle, and I hope to make it a regular thing. Wish me luck.

 
Filed Under: Weighty Issues Tagged With: , ,

Ten

February 22, 2007 By

I somehow managed to lose 10 pounds since Halloween, which means I survived the Single Girl’s Trifecta of Misery* (Christmas, New Year’s and Valentine’s Day) showing an actual loss. If I knew how, I’d make a million dollars.
*TM my friend Mary D. I don’t really buy into that notion, but it’s still funny.

 
Filed Under: Weighty Issues

Five Pounds

February 1, 2007 By

I finally stepped on the scale today for the first time since early November, and I’ve actually lost a few pounds in the interim. I was hoping it would be lower, but hey, I’m not complaining.
Even though I’ve gained about 15 pounds since my lowest recorded back in April 2005, I was pleased when I realized I only weigh five pounds more than I did on February 3, 2005. (The weight tracker is the greatest thing about weightwatchers.com.) Early 2005 was when I felt the best – I was running regularly and I was buying smaller sizes and people were really noticing all my hard work. Mary Lee, Jenn and I went to Q100′s Bitter Ball that year (a waste of time and money, I assure you), and it was one of the first times in my late 20s that I felt like not only did I fit in with the fit and trim of Atlanta’s beautiful people, but that I was noticeable. That when people checked me out, they weren’t wondering why that fat girl was infiltrating their world. I felt confident walking into JCrew knowing I could fit into anything there. It’s stupid to measure your progress by such arbitrary markers, but I know I’m not alone in doing it.
Fast forward two years and it’s an entirely different story. I feel uncomfortable in my skin and all my clothes are stupid – either ridiculously too big or just tight enough that I feel awful all day. I feel like a failure and like I’ll always be just out of shape enough and just overweight enough that I’ll never feel normal, and I think, all of this over FIVE pounds?!
Sometimes, when they say it’s all in your head, they mean it.

 
Filed Under: Weighty Issues

Training

October 26, 2006 By Leave a Comment



Training for the 2007 Mardi Gras Marathon has officially begun.
Jennifer and I met at the office yesterday at 6:45 a.m. for an easy (and very slow!) jog around Olympic Park and downtown. Right now our plan is to meet twice a week, but I have to figure out how/where/when I am going to do my Saturday long runs.
This is the first time I’m doing this on my own – without the support of a Galloway group – and the prospect of waking up on a Saturday morning and heading out for six, seven, eight plus miles all alone is a little daunting.
The road to February stretches out before me and it may be only 13.1 miles, but it looks a lot longer when you’re still at the starting line.

 
Filed Under: Weighty Issues
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