Let's begin

It's time to start updating this blog on a consistent basis. I've been exercising regularly and that gives me most of my inspiration. As any one who knows me knows by now, I fall in and out of love with workout methods all the time. One month I love Bikram yoga. The next month I'm pumped about bootcamp. This variety is a tremendous way to keep myself excited about my workouts. However, it does get old and it makes me wonder: What do I really enjoy? I think I'm starting to realize that I am one of those people who happens to love going to the gym.

There's a saying in accounting that you can't improve what you can't measure. This is true for many other areas. In the gym, there are so many numbers. I love numbers! I love keeping track of my accomplishments and this is a tangible way to do that. I love striving to increase the number of pounds I can lift, the number of reps that I can do. I love challenging myself to increase my pace on the treadmill, or my level on the elliptical, or the time spent pushing myself to exhaustion. I am in touch with my inner nerd. I think if I can harness the enjoyment of numbers and put a strategy into my plan, I could accomplish so much.

I have said continually that the hardest part is getting out of bed, getting out of the house, changing into my workout clothes, strapping the leash on my dog, etc. The hardest part isn't staying at the gym, it's geting there. In the past two weeks, I have reunited with the gym and it's like the sappy, lame story of the excitement you feel when you see an old friend. (I said this was sappy and lame, didn't I?) I'm remembering the 2-up/1-down squats I did on the leg press while in physical therapy. I loved what those exercises did for my buns. I'm remembering to switch up the sets of cardio and weights like I've done in bootcamps so that my heart rate never slows down. I'm remembering how excited I felt to increase my pace while running on the treadmill.

It's so satisfying to know that every single day I can go into that gym and I can give a little bit more effort than I did the previous time. And that satisfaction begets a positive cycle where I want to go back and trump myself again. I think I will start to use this blog to track my progress and to chart a forward direction for continual, constant self-improvement!