Sabbatical is over, but this week, I'm cleaning house and catching up. In the meantime, I'm sharing a rerun about why I'm loving circuit torture.
It's been a frustrating couple of days on several levels. Monday
started with a double-barrel shotgun of irritations, and no sign of
getting better...and it was only eight in the morning. I was so late to
my circuit training class, I almost decided just to skip for the day
and go back to bed. However, I made myself go to the later class
instead, even though I was feeling the time pressure. Why? I'm finding
that working out helps me feel better about myself.
There
are a couple of things at work here. Sure, as you get healthier, it
can affect your mood; and sure, seeing my body shape up is good for my
self-image. However, today, it was something more basic.
If I worked out for the hour, I would have accomplished something.
That's
been the kicker for me these past few days. Sometimes, it seems that
no matter how hard I work, how careful I am, how well I follow the
Recipe for Success, something or someone beyond my control steps in to
declare me inadequate or show me that I'm not going to succeed, anyway.
Or I'll do everything right, and still not succeed for who-knows-why.
When I'm working out, however, the goals are clear--jump on the box as
many times as you can in 60 seconds. Run at your fastest pace for a
minute. Did it without passing out or throwing up? Increase the
speed! Lift as much weight as you can for as many reps as you can.
I
have an personal trainer/instructor who can show me if I'm doing
something wrong, but really, it's pretty cut and dried: Grab the
weights, stand like this, lift, lower, repeat. I'm not in competition
with anyone but myself, so if I improve or even just persevere through
the hour, I succeeded. No one judges my performance, misinterprets what
I'm doing, or scolds me publicly.
Even on the weeks
when I gain in weight or inches, I can point to why--the donut, the
burrito. There's no mystery why I failed, and if I failed (as in
meeting the weekly goal), it was not from some outside influence,
mysterious or not.
So despite the sweat and the achy
muscles and how I shiver when I cool down, there's something comforting
about circuit training. I'm glad I went on Monday. I still spent much
of the day in a crappy mood feeling like nothing was going my way, but
at least that hour of exercise was a success.
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