Let’s Get Physical!

7

February 13, 2013 by drandmrso

Or not.

I am really, really bad at keeping up with a workout plan. It doesn’t help that I inherited a wonderfully high metabolism and an equally wonderful supply of leptin (which I’m lead to believe is the hormone that indicates you’re full–read about it here). Essentially, I eat an admittedly unrestricted diet (albeit small portions) and somehow don’t have to do a lot of exercise to stay thin. It’s pretty awesome.

But–and this is a big but–I do care about being “fit” in the sense that I don’t want to get winded walking up a few flights of stairs, or have to wait for Dr. O to come with me to the store to be able to buy a 40 pound bag of water softener salt. So I’ve tried about a billion different ways to entice myself into becoming a regular gym-goer. Classes like yoga or Pilates work fairly well, but the new gym that I go to has small class sizes and they are always jam-packed during the hours that are most convenient. A couple years back I tried a personal trainer because the gym was offering a steep discount to first-timers. Having to set appointments with the trainer worked well because of the cost associated with it, but it also was really expensive once the discount ran out, and as soon as I dropped the trainer I gradually stopped frequenting the gym, as well. Most recently I tried to make a deal with myself that I had to either go to the gym or write a section of my novel every single day or else had to put a dollar in a jar. I didn’t even get as far as finding a jar.

My new endeavor involves the iPhone app Vitogo, which produces a weekly workout schedule including exercises and instructions on how to do those exercises (which I definitely need–I had no idea prior to this morning what the hell a Russian Twist was). I’ve only been using it for a few days, but so far I love it (I should note here that I am in no way being reimbursed for this recommendation). What it provides, which I desperately needed, are three things:

1. A weekly schedule planned for me. If it were purely up to me to decide whether or not to head to the gym after work, the answer would almost always be to go home and stick my nose in a book instead. 
2. Exercise instructions. I am not an experienced weight lifter (obviously). So the clear instructions and embedded videos in this app that explain how to do, say, a one-arm cable chest press are extremely helpful and take the fear out of trying new exercises on intimidating machines.
3. The Checklist Phenomenon. Like many Type A’s out there, I absolutely love the feeling of checking something off a to-do list. With this app, the exercises are formatted as a checklist, and you get a happy little green check mark next to each one as you go, and a really happy big one next to the date when you are all done. It’s so satisfying!

So will Vitogo be the miracle cure that gets me in the gym on a regular basis? Maybe, maybe not. But I know that I should go to the gym more often than I do, so pretty much anything is worth a shot to me at this point.

How do you motivate yourself to exercise? Are you like Dr. O in that you go crazy if don’t get physical activity every day (if so…I’m crazy jealous)?

This entry was inspired by the WP Daily Prompt.