Hi, my name is Claire and I struggle with exercise. Not as in actually doing it, although I would admit to sometimes being out of breath and a bit red in the face, but as in motivating myself to actually do it. Just do it, as the people with the ticky swooshy symbol would say.
In order to fully explain I think I need to step back in time to when I was a wee school gal. I was ALL about the sports at school. I was in the hockey team, the netball team, the badminton team, I used to run for my school house on sports day, I could hurl myself backwards over the high jump and leap into the sand on the long jump, and I loved it all. I got that buzz that mega-fit people talk about. I carried on with the badminton when I went to college, but by art college? Forget about it. By then I had discovered beer, and that dossing about with your friends was much more fun than being all runny and jumpy. I call this stage the beginning of the slippery slope.
Fast forward by at least 10 years and I've finished university. I've piled on the pounds eating all the carbohydrates and drinking all the lager, my boobs have grown 3 cup sizes and my dress size was also large, possibly even extra large. I'd like to say that it was at this point that I found the motivation to return to fitness ... but I would be lying.
Hit the fast forward button again and other than a brief stint where I used to do a yoga/pilates DVD 3 times a week and was a bit of a lean(er) mean yoga machine, I was slobby. As in lazy. As in definitely not motivated. In that time I would say I joined at least 4 gyms where I paid the extortionate monthly fee to go, ooh I would say zero times per week. Ahem.
I have always been very good at making excuses. Oh I'm too tired/too busy/too this/too that - all of that translated to: I'm too lazy.
And so here I am. I turned 40 this year and with that some little switch has been flicked. I definitely wouldn't say that I was highly motivated, but trust me when I say I am trying to be. I joined another gym. I've been twice. But I have used the card to play badminton. The summer is on its way and I've been out and about on my bike at least once a weekend. And I'm motivating myself to do at home workouts using the YouTube marvel - I'm lucky to have a flexible working schedule that allows such luxury. For me, this counts as motivation. Truly.
The good news is I think it's working. I don't have a 6 pack (yet!) and it's unlikely I ever will but surely motivating yourself to move, even if it's only for 25 minutes a day is better than nothing at all? Step by step, day by day, I hope that the 40 switch flick will be my motivator to stick with it. I hope so. Sometimes you have to face up to the fact that if you like cake and biscuits and ice-cream, that you gotta do some work afterwards to make sure you can enjoy more. For me anyway. And I think this is the important bit - finding what works for you. I'm never going to be a gym bunny, no matter how much I try to pretend, I HATE it! But I do like yoga. And my bike. And walking with some good tunes or a podcast in my ears. Work it baby, work it!
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