Who's in my Way??

I went to the gym 5 days last week and every day so far this week! I've been doing 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by 15-20 minutes on the treadmill.

I am doing some brain reprogramming about the gym. I did this years ago with Algebra and it worked. Every time I think about the gym, or working out, I consciously say positive things to myself, i.e. "I love the gym", "Working out is my favorite part of the day", "I feel so good when I go to the gym", "I love weight-training and I'm good at it." Often my mind wants to protest, but I know that eventually it won't. As I said, I did this with Algebra in under-grad (15 years ago?) and I actually went on to tutor math for a while. Anyway, I do really like going to the gym and right now I'm so motivated I don't have to push myself. But I know from experience that the motivation will wear off, so I need to get a genuine foundation of enjoying it to maintain. As I was waltzing into the gym the other day, feeling happy and confident, I realized how much easier fitness is when you aren't battling your own negative ideas about it. Sometimes I have to get out of my own way to accomplish my goals.

I rode my bike to the gym the other day! It's a tad over 2 miles and that bike hasn't seen a 2 mile ride in probably 10 years. My butt is still sore, I'm not used to that seat. I'm thinking of getting one of those cushy wide ones For all intents and purposes the road is flat between home and the gym, but on a bike I noticed these little "uphill" sections. It wasn't easy, my legs were hurting, but I made it. There's a longer "uphill" section on the way home. Miguel rode the bike home. I want to get to the point where I can ride round trip.

On that note, I met with the trainer last night. A 24 year kid who doesn't really seem to grasp how out of shape I am. While I was warming up we were chatting. I told him I'd like to try the couch-to-5k thing in the spring. Here's how it went:
Trainer: you can run a mile.
Me: no I can't
Trainer: a mile? sure you can, it's only a mile. I did a half-marathon without even training once.
Me: I can barely run for 60 seconds
Trainer: oh.

Needless to say he went on to torture me with the weights. I'm going to do everything he gave me to do but I'm worried about the squats. We were going to meet again in a week but I pushed it to two weeks while I, hopefully, adjust to some of the exercises.

Anyway, when I went to bed last night I was worried I wouldn't be able to walk today. Glad I can.

I love exercise, it feels so good. I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to get in the gym, I feel so great after a workout....