Last Updated on March 17, 2017 by Diane Hoffmaster
I recently joined a gym in order to lose a few pounds, gain a little muscle, and just generally get in better shape. I am not a huge fan of exercise, unfortunately. I like to be outdoors and active but usually doing things like hiking or gardening. Great endeavors but I’m not going to drop much weight watering the tomatoes. So, three times a week I trudge myself off to the gym to work up a sweat. I told myself when I started that I would NOT plug myself into my phone or iPad or a book while working out. As my husband reminded me, if I am capable of reading a book I am not really working out very hard. So, I find myself rather bored while doing my gym workout…am I the only one who deals with exercise boredom? So, here are a few things that I should NOT be thinking about at the gym but do anyhow!
Things I Should Not Think About at the Gym
(but do anyhow!)
1. Food. Yes, I push myself harder and faster on that dang elliptical machine while trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Which inevitably makes me hungry. Which leads to thoughts of dessert. Which makes me wonder if I should hit the grocery store on the way home just to feed my exercised induced need for more food. Vicious cycle…work out more, increase appetite. Eat more food to feed increased appetite and need to go to the gym more. Seems like a bad system to me.
2. How I will never look like that insanely ripped chick bench pressing a small car in the free weight section. Honestly, there are some scarily built women at my gym. Like, the kind I would not want to make angry for fear of being stomped on. I know I will never look like that. Heck, I don’t really WANT to look like that. But, those negative thoughts about how a 40 something woman with two kids is never going to have a flat stomach just make me want to give up and go home. I try to keep telling myself that every day I work out I am healthier than the day before but I still have enough of a belly that I think I look 3 months pregnant. And my youngest is 12. Just repeat after me… I think I can, I think I can…..
3. How many (or how FEW) calories I am burning. The amount of exercise actually needed to burn a significant number of calories is depressing. I sweated my butt off on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. Sweat was pouring off of me and my legs felt like jello. I burned 250 calories. Do you know what 250 calories is? 1 small apple, 12 almonds, a hard-boiled egg and 1 slice of whole-wheat toast equals 250 calories. I eat more than that just for breakfast! How the heck am I going to burn off all the food I need to buy at the grocery store because this dang exercising is making me hungry?
4. How ridiculously silly I look. Seriously, I am not the most coordinated individual so anything that requires me to move my hands and feet at the same time is fairly risky behavior on my part. Not to mention the fact that I have no clue how to use half the machines. I just stand next to them scratching my head and trying to figure out how the heck to make the seat go where I need it to be. Please, if any of you SEE me at the gym come and tell me how to use whatever piece of equipment I am standing next to because I guarantee I am clueless. And please don’t laugh!
Ok, so what CAN I think about at the gym? Lately I have been trying to work on a mental to do list. Or sometimes I create blog posts in my head that I will inevitably forget all about by the time I get home. Of course, there is always my all time favorite gym activity: mentally drooling at all the eye candy working out nearby. Some days, I am happy to trudge along on that treadmill as long as the scenery is nice!
I honestly HATE the gym. Watching 20yo tanned fit girls exercise depresses me when I am 47 years old and not toned. I’d rather exercise at home where no one watches me but the cats.
I find that the $30 a month bill I get from the gym guilts me into working out more often!
I think about what ways I can reward myself after I workout, which normally includes fast food LOL. Totally defeats the purpose. LOL
Agreed…I like to reward myself with icecream!
Great tips! If you start to compare yourself to the ripped bodies, you are probably not going to stay for very long! It is hard to get out of our own heads sometimes!
At 42 I think my days of becoming ripped are over!
I’m guilty, too! I hate thinking that other people are watching me…and of course I notice all of my flaws more in the gym.
GAH, I think about ALL these things too. I’m not very nice to myself, I need to applaud myself more.
When I was younger, I worked out at a gym. The last several years I have worked out alone. While I never thought about it then, I might be self-conscious now. Quite guilty of liking to read while working out! This made my smile.
Glad you found it enjoyable! Reading definitely makes the time go by faster!