Lately, the boy and I have been talking about getting out more — out to dinner, out to concerts, out for walks — just out. We are basically limited to the weekends since weekdays are hectic and we both like to get in a good workout after work. Fridays are that rare hybrid day – we worked a full day and are tired, but it is also a weekend.
On most Fridays, we make plans to go to the gym or to go to dinner or to go to the gym and then go to dinner. None of these things happen. Instead, we are too tired to workout. But we rest, with the idea of going to gym in our minds, and wait to see if we can muster up the energy. We can’t. By the time we make the decision that we are way too tired to get ourselves to the gym, we also realize it is late and we are too tired to go to dinner. Then we feel guilty about not working out and we don’t get to go out to dinner. A double whammy. Bad feelings all around. Well not completely bad, we do get to relax in pajamas!
We were figuring out when to go out to dinner at Blockheads this weekend, as part of our plan to go out to dinner once a week. I have plans on Saturday, so I mentioned that I could do Friday or Sunday. Then I started thinking about last Friday when we had Blockheads in mind but toyed with the idea of going to the gym first, and ended up doing neither. Then I started thinking about how much I DON’T want to go to the gym on Friday at all – any Friday. The thought of it alone wears me out. I don’t want the responsibility, I don’t want the guilt.
A light bulb lit up next to my head.
I said, “Let’s not go to the gym on Fridays anymore. We are both so tired and rarely make it there, but we still talk as if we will go and then we lose a night out to dinner. Let’s just plan to not go on Fridays. If we are very tired, we can rest and lounge around without any feelings of guilt, because we never planned to workout in the first place. And if we aren’t feeling too tired, we can go out to dinner and not feel like we’re missing a day of exercise for it, since once again, we weren’t planning on exercising anyway!”
To my surprise and delight, the boy immediately agreed and thought it was a great plan.
Thus, No Workout Fridays has been established!
And I must say, what a relief! It’s pretty unhealthy to even have these feelings of guilt in the first place, but we both have them and I think No Workout Fridays will be a wonderful relief for both of us.
30 Day Shred Challenge
I flipped out last night when I realized I didn’t bring a cord I needed to connect the DVD player to the cable box. I have it at home and I can bring it tonight and hopefully this is all that is left to finally set this thing up — but I already feel so delayed with my Shred challenge and I just wanted to do it already! Sure, I could wait another day, but I didn’t want to! I want to do the challenge when I have the support and knowledge of the other wonderful ladies doing it with me — and if it wasn’t for Caitlin organizing this challenge, I never would have done the Shred in the first place!
But, there was nothing I could do. Until the second light bulb lit up next to my head!
Remembering that Caitlin had mentioned something about people with Comcast getting the Shred for free, and remembering that we have the Exercise TV channel, I jumped out of bed, ran to the TV, put on Exercise TV on Demand, read through all the options (WOW, so many exercise videos on there – who knew!) and — ta-da — the Jillian Michaels section. In this section was the 30 Day Shred. For free. No DVD player needed.
I don’t regret buying the DVD because I never would have figured this out without my attempts to set it up, but it is so good to know – and a great resource for other workouts! So many of them were quick ones too. This is great! So for all those with Time Warner, check it out! The Exercise TV website also has some workouts you can do as well. So in a way I am glad I had the DVD player struggles or I might never have known about this fantastic resource. I’m still going to try to hook up the DVD player though — just in case!
On Saturday, the boy and I once again have registered to spin at SoulCycle. We always try to get into the 10:45 AM class and it is always filled up, so this week I was on the site the very second registration opened up — and it was already booked! How?? My guess is that a lot of people have some kind of permanent sign-up for this class already and there are never any available slots. The teacher for that class is a very popular one, so it could make sense. I will have to inquire. Oh, well. We are going at 11:45 instead. I will give my review next week!
Last night I loved the spin class I took at my gym. We did so many jumps, attacks and hills that it never got boring — and my heart rate got up to 199 without me feeling that I was going to pass out. It happened effortlessly, due to the nature of the class. That is so much better than when I force myself to work harder on my own because it really happened naturally. The teacher really makes such a huge difference with the overall experience. I left the class feeling great.
Another thing I loved last night was the first Butternut Squash that I ever cooked — and I just have to say, why did my mom never make this for me! It was delicious! Sweet and tasty and I devoured it! I remember being given vegetables that weren’t quite so tasty. (Sorry, mom!) I ate half last night and saved the other half for tomorrow night. I used canned at lunch today, and will give my status report on how I did on Thursday or Friday.
Lastly, I surpassed my record for unique visitors yesterday! I set a goal for myself, hoping to meet it sometime in March, and went 95 visits ABOVE that goal yesterday! A big thanks to everyone who reads this — I need some kind of motivation to even bother, and you give it to me.
