making something from nothing

personal trainer diary

Some weeks, even I struggle to get to the gym.  A bad week for me might mean I only get three workouts in, sandwiched between clients, my daughter’s nap schedule and my attempts to keep our home clean enough to at least stave off visits from Child Protection Services.  A normal week usually finds me at the gym five days, with walking, hiking, shopping, playing and housecleaning filling in my off days but still keeping me off my rear end and on my feet, as a human being was intended to do (If we were meant to sit all day, my butt wouldn’t be numb after an hour of commuting…).

Three days in the gym is my complete and utter bare-ass minimum.  Hmmm… an awful lot of buttock references today… A three-day week means I’ve either been sick or incredibly busy.  It happens from time to time.  To get to the gym three days for a thorough workout might be a success in the week of one of my clients.  For me, the problem with a three-day week is this: three days in the gym means four days NOT in the gym.  And I never like to have the balance of my life tipped toward being less active.  Four days means that at least I have challenged my body most days of the week.  While the body doesn’t really function on the Julian calendar, we measure our days in chunks of seven and I am at my most comfortable when I have made my body work on four to six of those seven days.

I almost didn’t make it this morning.  I rarely schedule an appointment for mid-morning for the plain and simple, selfish fact that I go to the gym in the mid-morning with my daughter (or without if she is with her caregiver) almost every single weekday.  But, ladies, you’ll sympathize when I explain that I have been battling two inches of dark roots for a while here and the only time I could get in to see my lovely stylist, the amazing Jake Surette from House of Glamma, was 10:30 this morning.  I had to be home at 10:00 a.m. to greet my wonderful sister so she could watch the little monkey while I was Glammarized.  So what’s a girl with wretched hair to do?  I packed up that kid at ten minutes to nine and booted off to the gym practically to greet the lovely childcare attendants as they opened.  I dumped her in the childcare room with her snack, hit the treadmill as fast as I could and ran a quick 5K (that’s about a half-hour jog at 6 miles per hour, for those of you who are wondering).  I was back out the door just forty minutes after I arrived.  Strength training?  No.  Sauna?  No.  Shower?  No.  Sweat?  Definitely.

I only got a cardio workout.  I didn’t have a nice, leisurely stretch and sauna.  I still haven’t showered, as I write this, nearly five hours after completing that workout.  Not every workout can be perfect.  Sometimes you might only have twenty minutes to do some calisthenics in your living room.  Maybe you will only be able to lace up your sneakers and walk home from work instead of taking transit or driving.  You might think you have “no” time.  But time is relative, and you can make something from nothing.  You can be active most days of the week and you can make it fit your schedule if you really are committed to keeping your body fit and healthy.

Tomorrow will be workout number four this week and all is right with the world.