In January I wrote about attending my first fitness class at the gym, the classes I’d tried and what I thought of them. I wrote about attending morning classes because it was hard to motivate myself to go in the evening. I hated circuit training and loved zumba.
Things have changed a lot since then.
I never really understood what people meant when they talked about an endorphin rush from working out. I went to the gym once or twice a week and never understood how anyone could enjoy it. Turns out I wasn’t working hard enough.
Exercise is addictive. First there’s the sense of achievement from achieving your goals, then there’s the pleasure of setting new goals and smashing them, then there’s the endorphin rush.
I didn’t get it when I was attending morning classes 5 days a week. I went to the classes because discipline is important. But two weeks ago I added a second set of classes.
My new schedule looks like this:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|
8am: spinning 10am: Aerobics 6.15pm: Body Pump |
11am: Body Pump 5.30pm: Zumba |
8am: spinning 2pm: walking 6pm: spinning |
8am: spinning 11am: Zumba 5.15pm: Grit circuit |
8am: spinning 10.15am: Aerobics 6.30pm: Grit circuit |
10am: spinning 12.30pm: Zumba |
My LifeCycle app reckons I spent 10 hours at the gym last week. That doesn’t count the spinning which I do at home and the walking. I aim for 10,000 a day and managed between 15-20,000 most days over the last two weeks.
And I feel as though I’m on a constant high. I bounce off to the gym, I bounce around at the gym and I bounce back home again. I am flushed and my hair is constantly frizzy from all the sweating. I babble about weights and reps to anyone who will listen. I still love zumba but now I love circuit training too. I love body pump. I love everything. I walk out of the worst workout I’ve ever had and book it again for next week. I have become one of those people.
And I was never one of those people. Never ever. In a future blog post I will lay out my plan for making PE less horrendous but for now let it suffice to know I was always at the back, on the edge, wanting to be anywhere else. I once deep-fielded my way into the library.
Now as the clock ticks down on the grit circuit I try to get in one last squat and star jump. I push and then push harder.
I don’t know who I am any more. But it’s exciting to find out who I’m becoming.