Fitness Experience.

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 Motivation

Today I laced up my pink-striped Pumas with a conviction and motivation I've never had before and I entered my school gym. In the past my fitness has consisted of a dance class here and there but the thought of entering a gym had never sounded appealing to me; just seemed like a bunch of people going nowhere fast on all those machines. Ever since I quit ballet a few years ago my level of fitness has gone drastically downhill. I just never got off my lazy bum. Last semester I tried getting into the whole "gym experience" but the one time I entered the gym I got all intimidated by my perfectly toned peers who look like all they ever do is work out (that's a college gym for you). Being weak in front of all these strong bodies was not something I was interested in. I had gained a few pounds I wasn't quite thrilled about but I didn't really have the motivation to start a workout regimen...

When school ended this past May I began to waitress at a local restaurant, and let me tell you, being a waitress is very physically demanding. I worked three to five days a week over the summer and in effect I was working out three to five times a week. It was like interval training for hours at a time! I find it ironic that I was losing weight while working at a restaurant with delicious food. I've cut my hours down to working only once a week now that school has started back up again but after my job whipped me into shape a bit (I'm still definitely out of shape but not as badly now), I'm ready to enter the gym with a little more confidence that I won't look like a complete fool who can't even speed walk for five minutes without sweating buckets and breathing wildly.

I sweat buckets and breathed wildly today but I worked out for almost one an hour and I really pushed myself. I walked on an incline for 15 minutes, did 100 sit ups, did 6 reps of 10 on some leg strengthening thing (two directions), 10 minutes on the bike thing, and attempted to lift some 10 pound weights that I mistook for 5 pounds (no wonder I was having very apparent issues). I am definitely still intimidated by the other girls who can run on the treadmill for an hour or do the stepping thing like a maniac but it's less a feeling of "run! (not literally because I wouldn't get far without my lungs forcing me to stop)!" and more a feeling of "that's what I want to be like by the end of this year".

The whole going nowhere fast on the treadmill and bike is  still weird to me but I guess I can get used to it. I actually had a moment of deliriousness in which I looked up from the bike and was surprised that I was still in the same place... Working in getting used to it.

What's your favorite type of exercise?

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Sincerely, Ella