Day 17 - Goodbye Ruby Tuesday

FitCamp for Tuesday October 23rd is square in my rearview mirror, as I near the halfway point of this little experiment. And today, to be honest, the hardest part of the workout - is figuring out what to write about! My brain is still on vacation, and thinking is a lot tougher than following directions blindly around the gym.

But, the show must go on, so I'm going to give it a shot to see what I can dredge out of my brain this morning. Yesterday, Marlee commented on my post, asking for inspiration to get back to the gym. Marlee, I don't know what I can tell you other than referring back to a couple of old posts, and some quotes that I try to keep in mind when I'm fighting the alarm clock, and the dark mornings, and the rain, and the general feeling of "do I have to?"... because the answer to that is - no - we don't have to. But we should find a way to WANT to.

"A year from now, you'll wish you started today" - and that rings true for much shorter periods of time. I regret every single sit-up I DIDN'T do while I was on vacation. Every squat, push-up, lunge and jumping jack that I pictured doing in my mind while I was away that didn't get done... once that time is gone, you can't get it back. If I'd managed to do even a little bit while I was away, I would be further ahead today than I am. Yes, I had a wonderful vacation, but in the back of my mind, I know I could have done more. So my goal is to not let that gap happen again.

"Know what I do on days that I don't want to workout? I workout. True story." - I assure you up down and sideways that even though I'm almost 4 weeks into this process, I have not fallen in love with early morning workouts. I HAVE however, fallen in love with the way they are changing my body, and my mind. The upside of these late sunrises, and early sunsets, is that with what feels like 20 hours of dark - there's really no difference between working out at 6am, or 6pm. So you may as well get it done and out of the way, so that no matter what happens during your day, you'll know you've accomplished something just for YOU.

"Work and reward" - give yourself something to work for. Your mind cannot grasp motivation without a goal. Is there a new fall outfit screaming your name? Office Christmas party coming up (yeah, I said the 'C' word, so sue me) and you'd like to drop a couple jaws? Or if you're motivated by numbers - start charting your progress, because I assure you, it's addicting when you see those numbers start to change. You'll just want more and more.

"The journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step" - That hasn't actually been a topic on the blog yet, but after yesterday's challenge of a thousand REPS, it seemed fitting to throw it in for today (given that I currently can't sit up straight from the core work portion, thanks for that Chris). Don't think about running a marathon, or dropping 10 clothes sizes, or powerlifting hundreds of pounds... start with a simple week of FitCamp, or a walk with friends in the beautiful fall air, anything to get you moving. As your body starts to adjust, so will the way you feel about making it a priority.

Alright - that's all I've got, so I'll end on a bittersweet note: Today was our second to last class with amazing trainer Megan Cofield. She's moving to Winterpeg, and I will dearly miss her sunshiney face kicking our butts every Tuesday and Thursday. All the best to Megan, and a warm welcome to Kendra, who will be picking up where Megan leaves off, next week.

Marlee - I hope this gives you something to latch on to. Talk atcha tomorrow. :)