Fitness Funk… Even When I Don’t Want to

Every once in a while I get into a fitness funk. Usually it lasts a day or two but this last one went on for a month. It started with a cold and it was the month of December, it’s cold, it’s dark and life is busy already and then you toss in the holidays and my plate started feeling way to full. Then I had to go to the dentist and have a tooth pulled and I am NOT a fan of the dentist at all.

Every week I would schedule and go to my classes complaining about going before I left the house and complaining through the entire class. There have been many days since I made fitness a part of my life that  I haven’t wanted to go but once I got there and got started I would feel good and I left happy I went. This was not happening at all, but I knew I had to keep going.

WHY…

I know that moving is incredibly important for me for way more then just a calorie burn. When I work out I do make better food choices, it keeps my head in a much better space, I definitely manage stress better, I have crazy PMS and have been able to get off meds for that, my Doc told also me this is the reason my cholesterol has gone down and I don’t have to take meds for that either. I sleep way better and that swings me back to better food choices again, when I am tired all I want is carbs. I feel stronger when I work out, I do things that are challenging and that gives me a confidence that helps me in all other areas of my life. When I overcome some of the things I do at the gym it helps me believe I can overcome other challenges in my life. I also feel better in my skin and in my clothes

WHY NOT TAKE A BREAK…

Believe me I wanted to! I take 5 classes a week and they have just become part of who I am and what I do. I knew if I stopped that I would fill those spaces with something else and I remember how hard it was to start and find time to go and how much harder things were to do when I started then they are now. I remember a guy I use to take class with every Friday years ago. He was super fit and was always there and then one day he just disappeared. I saw him about a year and a half later (not so fit), when I asked what happened he said that he decided take a break that summer and he had been struggling for the past year and couldn’t get back into it. That conversation more then anything is why even when I don’t wan’t to I go.

HOW…

This is the longest funk I have been in and I have to admit I was starting to get a little nervous that I wasn’t going to come out of it. Every week I would just sign up at least a week in advance and look at it just like it was an appointment (I didn’t want to get my tooth pulled either but it was necessary for my health). I tried to remember how good I use to feel after a workout. Philippians 4:13 – I can so all things through Christ who strengthens me was a verse that I would go to in my head while I was in the class sometimes just to get me through. I also did share the way I was feeling with a few people that I knew would encourage me to keep going.

 January 2nd is when it all turned around. On the car ride there I started having the conversation in my head that I had been having for weeks now “maybe I’m bored here” (NOT! I have been going to this place for 2 years and never taken the same class. One of the reasons I go there is because it keeps it fresh and I have learned that’s incredibly important for me). Wayne had been laid off just before Thanksgiving and my next gym payment was scheduled to come out at the end of the week and I had been pushing off that as an excuse to “take a break” but walked in the door that day thinking I would talk to them about putting it on hold until he went back to work. I got there just as class was beginning so planned on talking to him after. This day was an obstacle class and 2 obstacles in I realized it was back! I was feeling good I was happy to be here!! It was hard but I was looking forward to conquering or at least attempting to conquer the obstacles ahead.

I was able to maintain my weight through the holidays and I can’t imagine how that would have looked had I not continued my routine. Had I stopped there is no telling when I would have started again. I am not at all interested in going back to where I was and most certainly don’t want to do it all over again