I'm Lazy

Confession:

An illustrated description of my constant battle with laziness when it comes to working out and running. 

This blog is supposed to be my open journal of fitness and fun. I should be honest about something, then. I'm kind of lazy. I'm not lazy in an "all I ever do is stay in bed and eat doritos all day" kind of way. But I have to expend a lot of mental energy to get myself out the door and running, practicing yoga, or lifting weights at the gym.

This is basically me trying to get out the door to a workout

This is one reason I like to exercise in the morning. I'm just more likely to do something if I'm not putting it off to the end of the day. It's a delicate balance, though, because I'm always hungry in the mornings and skipping a workout to eat can be so tempting.

Excellent question, brain. What about second breakfast?

What do I think makes me lazy? I'm not sure. I don't think I'm naturally inclined to exercise. I love it once I'm out there. Ok, well... I love it 5 minutes after I've started. Sometimes 10 minutes. At the beginning, my body is saying, "what are you doing? why are you doing this to me, you horrible bitch? I want to rest and conserve energy! let's go home and watch bad tv and eat brownies. in bed." (My body is kind of a stoned slacker, apparently.)

My body, in the first 5 minutes of exercising.

Scientifically, our bodies are meant to conserve as much energy as possible because you never know when your next meal is going to be and how much energy you'll need to get it. But in modern-day society, most of us are lucky enough not to have that problem. My next snack will probably be in a couple hours, my next meal an hour or two after that.

Your brain's message to you as you start exercising.

Yet our bodies still don't want to expend energy because they haven't caught up to our modern day lives of (relative) leisure; however, they do want to eat more because they think we might start starving any minute. That's why your body is telling you to stop exercising. You basically have to override those messages, and as you do so it gets easier and easier.

You're (probably) not dying. Really.

I love exercise once I'm doing it, and I love it even more after I finish. That feeling of exhaustion makes me feel so accomplished. So why, after months of proving to myself that I actually love exercise, is it still so hard for me to get out the door for a run?

I think Battier is my body liking exercise and Stoudemire is my brain?
(Really, I just wanted to include this .gif because it's the best thing ever.) 

I have to continually remind myself of how good I feel when I workout and how bad I feel when I don't. Because a day with a workout leaves me feeling good all day, and a day without makes me feel, well, like shit.

Me, without sweating that day. 

This is why I love having workout and run buddies or signing up for a class. If there's a specific time I have to be there, I can't sit around for an hour coming up with things I have to do before I get out the door. Don't get me wrong, I'm still like, "why did I agree to this?"

My brain being angry at its 12-hour-ago self for agreeing to a 6:30 AM run.

But running with friends distracts myself from those painful initial minutes and then it's straight on to the endorphins. I never finish a workout feeling bad. I always feel amazing, and that feeling usually starts soon after I start.

Post-run, post-lifting, post-spinning, post-yoga, post-any-kind-of-exercise

So... what's the point of this post? 

There's really not a point. I just think that sometimes, it seems like people who exercise love it, and if the thought of working out fills you with dread, you should know that someone who works out 5-6 times a week has to push themselves to get out the door.

I write about fitness in such positive terms because I love it. I feel amazing after I work out or go for a run or practice yoga. But it's still really hard for me to get out the door. So if you're someone who feels like you can never make exercise a regular thing because it's so hard to start doing it, take heart. Make exercise dates. Find run buddies (Twitter is a great place to find fun new fitness friends). Join a site where you can track workouts and see progress (I use DailyMile). Figure out what helps you get over that initial hump of dread and on to the sweet, sweaty exercise endorphins.

But whatever you do, keep sweating!!

if not for yourself, then for the good of your husband.

Are you lucky enough to always want to exercise or is it hard for you to motivate yourself, too?