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Fast facts:
- I go to a gym, but a non-traditional one
- I hate gyms
- You don’t need a gym to be fit
- Cardio is hardio, and won’t gain you muscle as much as you think it will
- Quit the gym (unless you’re there to run into a favorite sports team in your city, like my brother-in-law did a few months ago)
Gyms are great – in theory. You have a wide array of workout equipment, you can meet like-minded people, you can lose weight, gain muscle, feel happy about your body, heck, even some nicer ones have fancy shower and locker room facilities, and some pools! However, if you don’t know how to work that great equipment, or only use the treadmills, you won’t be losing weight, gaining muscle, and feeling great about your body. And are you REALLY going to go make friends with the also very sweaty people who are probably stronger or better at the equipment than you??? (says your own internal lying monologue)
There are some people who can totally rock the gym consistently and gain muscle and lose fat there. It’s their second home and they love it and know how it works. But if you are anything like me, you aren’t what I just described.
My company provides a gym membership or reimbursement for a specified amount if you chose not to use the gym. Since the gym membership was so much more money than the reimbursement, for my first two years there I got the gym membership. If it was my wallet providing the cash, I would NEVER have spent that much money on a fancy schmancy gym, so I went for it.
I hardly went.
I was consistent for a bit, a few times a week in the morning. I’d go, workout in the “ladies only” section because I was intimidated. I’d run for a bit or half-ass the elliptical while I read the closed captioning on the Today Show while also listening to music. Then I’d go over and crush the rower (perhaps my favorite all-time gym equipment. I don’t know, I just love it) and then meander around the strength equipment that I didn’t really know how to use but I hoped to gain strength through just being around them? Then some stretching and back to shower and dry my hair.
When we only had one car, Aaron, husband extraordinaire, would drop me off at like, 7:15 am before going to HIS job, and then after I showered I’d just walk the half mile to work. Then it turned to winter and walking that far sounded terrible.
I went a few times to the free spinning class at noon with a few coworkers but I always felt rushed with the shower and getting back to work so even though I liked it, I didn’t go a lot. I bought a 12 pack of yoga classes too! It was not expensive but an added fee to pay the instructor. I found the badge holder that I used to keep the pass in this last weekend (because I’m a terrible recovering hoarder). It was valid for a year…I went twice.
Unless I had paid the insane amount to get a personal trainer, I wasn’t going to get a darn thing out of this gym except feeling fancy and a discount if I went to the spa.
So I quit the gym.
I took the money they give instead. With it, it’s paid for almost a year of Fit Body, a solid chunk of 30/10, and this year, it will buy me a new TreadDesk (because mine died and it hurts to talk about)
But speaking of the TreadDesk – I have more progress and consistency on that than I ever did at the gym. That should speak volumes.
Also, now that its the end of February, let me remind you of some “fun facts” about the holidays and New Years Resolutions that I provided you with in December…
- The average American gains 1-3 pounds between Halloween and New Years Day.
- 45% of people who make New Years resolutions resolve to lose weight.
- Only 8% of people achieve their New Years resolution – no matter what it is.
- 80% of people who have a gym membership don’t actually use it.
- 70% of people who start a weight loss resolution don’t last 90 days.
- In fact, only 2% of people who start a weight loss resolution stay consistent for those first 90 days.
Take a reeeeeeeeeeallll good look at that fourth bullet. EIGHTY PERCENT FOLKS!! WHY in the name of Dave Ramsey are you spending that money if you don’t go!? (If I could have added the clapping emoji in between those last three words to further drive my point home I would have)
March 1st is the 60th day of 2019. 2/3 of the way to the 90 day mark of the 5th bullet. Did you join a gym in January? Are you still going? How consistently? Have you seen change? DID YOU CHANGE YOUR EATING HABITS TOO?
Listen, a gym can be great, if you’re the type of person who can “do” the gym. Who can stay motivated and who learns and figures out exactly what to do and how to do it when you need to do it, or who can pay for the personalization of a trainer who will do that work for you. If you understand that you also need to change your eating habits to make progress.
But my blog isn’t about those people, because I am not one of them.
Not to say you arent welcome, but just like in weight loss, I wanted to feel “normal”, I didn’t want to sacrifice who I am in order to achieve a look. I didn’t want to commit to a lifetime of kale and no prosecco, and have to be in the gym 12 hours a week in order to lose 50 pounds. I wanted to eat the damn potato skins (which I did this past Oscar weekend) and enjoy time with my kiddo.
For my own sanity, I had to find a way to make weight loss and exercise fit me instead of the other way around. It’s the only way to be successful and to maintain weight loss. It’s the only way to find balance in your life and not go off the deep end. Its the only way to stay sane.
So if you are like me, who thrives in being told what to do and when to do it, who doesn’t like wasting time or money, then follow my lead and quit your gym!