Working On My Fitness: No Breaks

Pinned from here . . .  and of course, there's a Pinterest board for that!

Happy holidays and all that.

The holidays are weird.  Do we celebrate them so much as we endure them?  Just me?  Okay.

The thing that I have learned this holiday season is that if I slack off anywhere, it should not be on my gym schedule.  I took a break from working out the week of Thanksgiving because of traveling and weird work schedules and that break stretched into about three weeks-almost without my notice.

There were no physical changes to snap me back to my senses.  Instead, I noticed a steady slump into depression.  Not working out regularly is a little too taxing on my mental and emotional health.

Here's the thing. . . I don't LOVE working out.  I am mortally embarrassed by the people at the gym who like to make love to themselves in the mirrors with their eyes while working out.  I am a little put off by the manic sounding fitness updates of some of my more committed facebook/pinterest/internet friends.  I can't imagine myself ever looking forward to just sweating.  If I ever post a selfie from the gym I have probably been coerced in some way.  Like-it might actually be a proof of life thing because I've been kidnapped.  Seriously-call someone.

But, I have come to realize that I NEED  to work out. 

I need to go out and do things that are really hard for me because focusing on doing those things makes it possible to just be quiet in my mind.  I guess working out is a kind of meditation space for me.

I need to work out because I need to stick to a schedule that is just mine.  Every other part of my day feels like it has been taken up by things I need to do for other people.  I work to make money for myself, sure, but my schedule is still dictated.  My fitness schedule is really the only one that I have complete control over.

This wild impulse to commit some holiday martyrdom over Thanksgiving meant I relinquished my schedule in favor of other things. . .  and it did not go well.  I felt more stressed, more rushed, and more unhappy than I have felt in a while.

So I will be heading back to the gym-along with everyone else this month.  

I Have an Addiction . . .

. . . called YouTube.

It's getting serious.

I have discovered that you can pretty much learn how to do any damn thing you desire on YouTube.  There are these awesome people who break things down into step by step videos called tutorials.  There's even one for making crack.  (I know this because one night I was all, "YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO DO ANYTHING ON YOUTUBE!!!!!" and Wes was all, "Can you learn how to make crack?"  I put it in the search box and well . . . yeah.  Apparently you can also make hot dogs at the same time.)

Anyway-YouTube is awesome.

My execution is somewhat less so as evidenced by my previous Alton Brown mishap and various undocumented hair disasters.  But the successes . . .  oh the successes!

Shall we talk about my latest find?  Zumba!

I am one of those people who is completely entranced by those Saturday morning BeachBody infomercials.  I am fortunate, however, to not be deluded about my actual level of physical skill.  P90X. . . oh hell no.  But Zumba . . .

Here's a confession.  I can't dance.  The Black authorities might take my Black card for making that known but it's the damn truth.  I suppose to be completely accurate, I should say that I can't dance well.  However, lack of ability does not negate the desire for serious dancing skills.  Zumba has your regular aerobic elements but the music and a lot of the moves make it feel like something way more fun. 

Ultimately, Zumba lets me live the dancing dream.  YouTube lets me do it for free in the safety of my living room until I can get up the nerve to attempt one of the many, many classes offered in the area.

Check it out!