Fitness
We can all be guilty of viewing exercise as a form of punishment. But how do you shake that off and learn to find joy in working out again? One writer found out through an unexpected experiment…
Can I just say, I absolutely love Mexico? After two long years of the pandemic, my boyfriend and I, along with a few of our best friends, saved hard to take an all-inclusive trip to Riviera Maya‚ and I ate nachos with every meal. Including breakfast (especially at breakfast, actually). My twice-a-week workouts became a distant memory as I focused on nothing but having fun. But when it came to sharing photos on Instagram, my thumb hovered over the post button for hours. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I sent friends ‘candid’ bikini shots and asked them, ‘Be honest – do I look awful? Should I be putting this online?’ By the end of the 10 days, I felt unable to just revel in the joy I had experienced. Instead, I was consumed by guilt at my overindulgence, and the sluggish, bloated feeling it had left me with. What followed was a vow to work out every single day for a month when I returned. I reasoned it would boost my energy and get me strong again, but deep down, something else was spurring me on. It was a twisted form of self-punishment. However, surprisingly, taking on such an extreme challenge ended up changing how I work out forever – not just in the way I expected. Here’s what I learned.
Watch out for number wars
Exercise should never be viewed solely as a calorie-destroying operation – something I’ve been guilty of in the past. I’m low-key obsessed with my Fitbit and love intense boot-camp classes, especially those where you can see how you compare with the others on a leader board. But, during my challenge, I began to think differently about why Iwork out. There was no way I’d be able to complete a hardcore HIIT session every day, so I was pushed into going a bit slower (more on this later). I also began to see that while high-adrenaline workouts are super fun, you need to time them wisely. Those classes can take the focus away from what feels right for you and see you fall into the trap of comparing yourself with your peers. Not ideal if your self-esteem is on the rocks. ‘The nature of this style of class can have a downside,’ says personal trainer Nicole Chapman. ‘Some say the dangers are overtraining or taking shortcuts in your form (in pursuit of your max heart rate or calories burned) so as to “beat” a stranger. That could effectively sabotage our own workouts. Exercise should be about improving both physical and mental wellbeing.’ However, harvesting this competitiveness is always agood thing when it comes to Mario Kart. Just sayin’.
All movement counts
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