The base of my fitness routine is a daily 1+ hour dog walk. I have two active, young dogs and an hour is the minimum of walk time they need in the morning (they get another short walk in the evening). This is an easy one to work in - I couldn't look at those bright eyes and wagging tails and disappoint my fur kids because of my own needs. The walk is great, and it does provide me with a good minimum of activity every day, but I find it is not enough. What do I mean by not enough? It's not enough activity to maintain my weight, and the walk doesn't include other critical components of fitness namely strength training and stretching. I would like, at some point, to include more high-intensity cardio since the dog walk doesn't elevate my heart rate much.
To fill in the gaps, I do a weekly yoga class and 1-2 gym workouts. My challenges in getting to the gym are a bit different than a lot of people. I actually like going to the gym and yoga. I enjoy the exertion and a bit of soreness the next day. I'm pretty knowledgeable about weight training and have done it for years, so my workouts are varied and adapted to how I feel that day so boredom or intimidation isn't a problem for me.
So what is the challenge in getting my workouts in? There are two. The first is that it feels very vain and self-indulgent to spend that much time exercising. Yes, I know logically this doesn't make sense, but I am talking about how it feels. Even as I was writing this post, I was thinking that it sounds like I must spend so much time on body-improvement pursuits. This was a barrier for a long time for me. Now that I am into my 40's though, I have come to view the gym as necessary preventative medicine. I certainly don't think it's vain to eat salad, wear sunscreen or drink water and the gym for me is in the same category. Of course I like the effect it has on my body's appearance, but much more critical is that it staves off backaches, bad posture and the dreaded buddha belly from weak stomach muscles. It also prevents injuries. I do a lot of the work on our fixer-upper house, and I love being able to lift heavy things, bend, climb ladders, crawl through the attic and generally do heavy manual work without getting injured. I find I have very few aches and pains from all this work when I am hitting the gym regularly. I recently lifted my 75-pound dog into an elevated bath tub, and was pleased that I was able to do it without a problem. I want to be active and strong into my old age, and this is the foundation for that. I like that even at my age, I can comfortably sit on the floor and pop right up to standing. All this is due to they gym.
Another benefit of the gym for me is mental. The obvious part about feeling good about how I look is one thing, but that is minor compared to the other mental effects. I feel much more competent, confident, positive, friendly, tolerant and happy with regular gym workouts. Without them, I start to feel negative, irritable and unable to solve problems. When I've missed a few workouts, I leave thinking "I needed that" and "why did I do that to myself?" (i.e skip workouts). So part of fitting fitness into my schedule has been changing the way I view it. I no longer see it as a vanity thing, it's a health and quality of life thing.
My other challenge in getting to the gym has been coming to terms with the fact that the gym is the best use of those few hours every week. Like most people, I have a loooooong to-do list that I am perpetually behind on. As fast as I can finish things more come in. It's a never ending treadmill of trying to stay current. On top of this, I have a fixer-upper house, which after 3 years is still very rough and in a lot of ways uncomfortable. We have no real window treaments or permanent flooring. I am embarrassed by the bare dirt in our front yard. The walls are a patchwork of paint, spackle, drywall mud and holes. We still have many boxes in the garage simply because the spot where the contents need to go within the house isn't done yet. Given this, I was finding it hard to justify spending time at the gym that could be spent moving the house forward. But again, after looking at the contrast between how I feel with and without, it's clear I need to go. It's also been an acceptance that no matter how much I give up in personal life, the house will be in this state for an indefinite, but long period. I cannot sacrifice my health to shave a little time off the process.
Once I came to view the gym as non-negotiable in my schedule, it became easier to fit it in. My gym appointments with myself get sheduled first and everything else fits in or falls off afterwards. I wouldn't blow off a dentist appointment because I needed to work on the house, and now I treat my gym workouts the same way.
Best of luck with your fitness goals in the New Year!
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