Several years ago when I last had a gym membership, I was told that for every one person I got to enroll, I would, in turn, receive a month for free. I thought, "sweet deal!" because, in all honesty, I loved that gym. What was there to NOT like? They had free monitored childcare, televisions in every direction & angle imaginable so I could watch what I wanted (one channel being the childcare room). I had free access to all areas of the gym including the pool, jacuzzi, sauna, women's machine room as well as ALL fitness classes (I took belly dance). And the price was about what all other gyms were charging too.
Who's NOT going to want to join me, I wondered.
As I began to invite friends and family, even people I'd small talk with, I'd mention all these great qualities & amenities; how I was losing weight & fitting into old jeans again. I'd get great comments about how motivated it made them feel, how they were meaning to get a gym membership because they "really need it". Great! It was a win-win so I was ecstatic that (a) I was going to have workout buddies & (b) that I was going to get a free month in return.
But of course, as days passed, then weeks, I'd ask them, "So when are you coming by?". Most would answer, "Oh, I'm too busy these days" or "I don't have the money right now". Excuse after excuse after excuse. It upset me but not because of the free month I was missing out on (really), but because these were not reasons...they were EXCUSES. Not even well-thought out excuses. Just simple, "I've given up" excuses! They might disagree on the meaning of said excuses but I know what half-ass "trying" looks like! I invented half-assed "trying"!
When you tell yourself or "admit" (whatever) you don't have time, what you are really saying is that YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT. If you were important to yourself, if you cared about your well-being, if you cared MORE about YOU...you'd FIND the time.
Sometimes my husband likes to criticize and say that the only thing in my schedule that's a sure-thing is my workout session. I don't like that because it's not true; I find the time for many other things but he's also right about my workout session. There's been times that he's tried to get me to not do it or he gives me other "chores". He wasn't very happy when right before his bedtime, when I got un-busy, I changed into my workout clothes & jumped, squatted & jacked right next to the bed. I wasn't lying when I had told him, "That it's going to get done, it's going to get done."
I'm currently on a school break but I have ran a small business, volunteered at my daughters school, attended classes, remained the ever-present Stepford wife AND worked out. Many others do it as well, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. I sat down & I actually created a schedule for myself to follow because, it's true, that unless I have that to guide me, I would have too much to do (in my eyes)! But with a schedule, it was not impossible.
My schedule (Dec. 2010)
When all those people finally said "I'm not going to the gym", I realized that a whole lot of people really mean to, want to or need to go workout....but few rarely ever do.
You can sit there, write goals, plan workouts with friends or even print a schedule out but none of it matters unless you take the first step to reaching those goals & working out.
You don't have to hit the gym running, doing bent over rows with 20 pounders or doing 200 lunges as if you were Kim Kardashian....but go. Take a step, any step...it doesn't have to be a big one.
It just has to be a step.
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