31 Day Gym Challenge
On Tuesday January 27, 2009 I read an article on msn about people who committed to do one thing everyday for 31 days. One woman called her mother everyday, another talked to at least one stranger everyday, and another did one minute worth of push-ups everyday. The point of the article was that little life changes can make significant changes in how you perceive yourself and how you feel about yourself. So I thought about it and realized I'd gone to the gym three days in a row, and decided that my 31 day challenge had started and I wanted to feel badass when I was done. I succeeded!
It was hard, but my goal was to prove to myself I could make time in my schedule for working out. I think somewhere in the back of my head I was hoping I'd magically be skinny with abundance of happiness (the opposite of what I was feeling), but I gained so much more. I have muscles where I've never had them before, I tried all kinds of new machines and activities, met new people, got more comfortable at the gym and consistently found a little zen amongst all kinds of different people (and their people pollution). I learned that in the past I closed down when I entered the gym because of shit in my head, but also because I absorb other people's emotions and feelings (people pollution) and I was allowing that to happen instead of recognizing my shit versus other peoples.
One interesting pattern I was surprised by was my lack of yoga practice. Usually yoga is my go to exercise when I want to get fit, but I only did a formal yoga class once (the very last day actually). I incorporated yoga into my stretching routine, but it wasn't a primary activity. Very different from earlier points in my life where yoga would have been the primary and weight lifting and cardio would have been secondary. I felt a lot stronger when I was in the yoga class, as if I'd pushed past some strength barrier's I'd come up against in the past. I was able to do a fully balanced crane pose for the first time during this 31 day challenge.
I'm considering extending my 31 days to 90 days. I'd like to get more comfortable with climbing, get stronger all around, be able to do push-ups, chin-ups and the hang-board consistently. I'm kind of amazed that the 31 days went so quickly. Suddenly I was almost done, struggling through the last couple of days.
I highly recommend finding something a little hard in life that you can challenge yourself to do everyday.The results will be surprising, unusual and fun.
Lacie
It was hard, but my goal was to prove to myself I could make time in my schedule for working out. I think somewhere in the back of my head I was hoping I'd magically be skinny with abundance of happiness (the opposite of what I was feeling), but I gained so much more. I have muscles where I've never had them before, I tried all kinds of new machines and activities, met new people, got more comfortable at the gym and consistently found a little zen amongst all kinds of different people (and their people pollution). I learned that in the past I closed down when I entered the gym because of shit in my head, but also because I absorb other people's emotions and feelings (people pollution) and I was allowing that to happen instead of recognizing my shit versus other peoples.
One interesting pattern I was surprised by was my lack of yoga practice. Usually yoga is my go to exercise when I want to get fit, but I only did a formal yoga class once (the very last day actually). I incorporated yoga into my stretching routine, but it wasn't a primary activity. Very different from earlier points in my life where yoga would have been the primary and weight lifting and cardio would have been secondary. I felt a lot stronger when I was in the yoga class, as if I'd pushed past some strength barrier's I'd come up against in the past. I was able to do a fully balanced crane pose for the first time during this 31 day challenge.
I'm considering extending my 31 days to 90 days. I'd like to get more comfortable with climbing, get stronger all around, be able to do push-ups, chin-ups and the hang-board consistently. I'm kind of amazed that the 31 days went so quickly. Suddenly I was almost done, struggling through the last couple of days.
I highly recommend finding something a little hard in life that you can challenge yourself to do everyday.The results will be surprising, unusual and fun.
Lacie