You can only get a good workout at a gym.
Home is supposed to be relaxing.
Unless you have a team of professionals monitoring you, you’ll never get fit.
Paying a club fee keeps you accountable.
No one ever got a good workout on their own.
You don’t have a DVD player anymore anyway.
There’s no way you can actually stop watching Netflix long enough to throw in a workout.
You have no equipment to do any of those fancy moves.
There’s no way you can sweat without someone yelling at you.
Your pet/spouse/child won’t leave you alone long enough to have time to yourself to work out.
Does any of this sound familiar? It should. We are continually sabotaging ourselves from any of the healthy choices we need to make by the voices we listen to. Sometimes they are in our head, from experiences we’ve had. And sometimes they are from people in our lives. They can even be from society and culture in general! It can get pretty overwhelming and I have to admit that I’ve listened to them, too.
I have done lots of things in my fitness life. I’ve been a member of gyms. I’ve been gone regularly! I’ve taken classes in a devotional fashion. I’ve run on the streets, in traffic, where everyone can see me. I’ve worked with personal trainers. I’ve been in small group circuit training classes. I’ve met up with friends to do fit stuff out in the world. I’ve even run a fitness class outside of my house!
But I ALSO workout at home.
Getting PUMPED up at home.
I used to think that the act of getting dressed and getting in the car was what I needed to make sure I didn’t drop out of my workout routine. I admit, I’ve never turned around on my way to a gym. I also get dressed and head downstairs, fire up my Apple TV and drink my pre workout Energize. That’s my NEW ritual to get going. I’ve bagged gym workouts when I pushed too hard. I’ve surrendered during home workouts when I haven’t had it in me.
The thing I had to change was my mindset. I had to question the truth of all of those 10 statements. The funny thing is, there’s a little truth in them, but there’s also a whole lot of excuses and fear.
The gym isn’t the answer, running isn’t the answer, and working out along to a program at home isn’t the answer. You are the answer. You have to find what’s going to work FOR YOU. And what that is will change. You will change. Tomorrow’s solutions aren’t the same as yesterday’s – otherwise we would just be doing the same thing over and over again until things were perfect. Shit happens. Conditions will change. Your metabolism will change. What you like will change. What challenges you, will change. You may have a physical set back, which will change what you need. You will get stronger, better, faster, more awesome. You’ll have to seek out new mountains to conquer. That’s the greatest part about being a human!
The at-home thing works for me now. I get to pick from a bunch of programs. I’m close to my own shower, which I know doesn’t have plantar warts growing in it. I can even access them when I’m traveling. (Like the time I did the line dancing workout in a tiny hotel room.) But I can ALSO go swim some laps, go for a run, go the the gym and lift some weights.
I can do anything I want, and that’s totally okay. But I DO stuff. It’s often easier to START at home. The gym is scary. People driving by you when you are trying to run on the street, that’s intimidating. If I need the people portion, I can workout with a friend at home or find the friends on Facebook who are also doing the same thing as I am. That way, I have a gym buddy, anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
So forget what you think about working out at home. It’s as awesome as you want to make it. And it’s pretty great when you let it.
Triathlon-My-Ass-Along 