If you’ve talked to me in person recently about anything remotely exercise-related, the ridiculous amount of love I have for my current gym has probably come up. I joined The Movement Minneapolis in October of last year, finally making a serious move on my long-term crush, strength training.
It started with wanting to re-frame what it meant for me to be and feel healthy, personally. I have gone through various ups and downs nutrition & exercise wise (as most of us do), tried Weight Watchers, tried to get into running, done yoga, and of course gone to a ton of dance classes, all with varying degrees of success. And I went from defining healthy as “10-20-30 pounds lighter” to “eats veggies at every meal” and “is active 3-4 times per week”. But the major changes came when two things happened – both inspired by Nerd Fitness. First, I started identifying myself as a healthy person. No, I’m not kidding. I have said to the mirror many a time, “I am a healthy person”. And weirdly, it helps. But I also reinforce that with doing things that make me *feel* healthy. Like doing body weight exercises. Pushups, lunges, squats, under-table-inverted-rows, etc. It is super gratifying to see myself improve week by week – take note, TRACK EVERYTHING. But more importantly, it made me feel good. Body weight exercises have the added satisfaction of being completely self-contained – if you can do one pull up (something I’m still working toward), you just hauled your own ass up over that bar. And that’s badass.
Eventually, I wanted more. More weight, more challenges, more variation. I set out looking for a gym and/or trainer, and that’s how I found The Movement. I’ve been training there for about nine months now, and I love it. Not that I haven’t had bad days – days that I *really* didn’t want to go to the gym, days that I ate super poorly and felt guilty, days that I ate super poorly and felt like it was the best choice I ever made, bad moods, sleep debt, yada yada yada. Those things happen. But there are a few things that keep me on track. My gym is pretty expensive, as gyms go, which keeps me motivated to get as much value out of my membership as possible. I have an accountability partner – in my case, a friend that I check in with daily, and we keep each other on track for various things. And I have a routine. I am at the gym Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:30 without fail, unless I am out of town. On weeks I am out of town on Friday evenings (because dance events), I usually try to squeeze in a workout Tuesday or Thursday night, or work out over the weekend. Partly because I don’t want to be mega-sore when I get back to the gym, but partly because – and I know everyone’s heard this a thousand times, but holy crap is it ever true – I’m happier when I work out regularly.
The other day, I went rock climbing for the second time in my life, and was unsurprisingly much better at it than the first time I went several years ago. And much like body weight exercises, it is extremely satisfying to get to the top, look down (or not, still not awesome with that height thing), and think “I just hauled my own ass up this very tall wall.” That thought gave me great joy. And more joy is one of my life goals. Which brings us back to the title of this post, and my own current daily mantra. When in doubt, move more. It fixes more than you think it will.
Laney Barhaugh 