Get Into the Groove

The title of this blog takes me back to my college days, dancing in clubs with Madonna’s song Get Into the Groove blasting through the air. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude. Her music kept me from gaining the Freshman-15. Well, her and my best friend and dance partner, Ben. We danced atop the enormous speakers at the Limelight club, various tables and bars around the city, and sometimes even on the floor. (Can you hear my heavy nostalgic sigh?)

Fast-forward more than twenty years and this phrase takes on a completely different meaning. A more mature (a/k/a boring) definition, but still fitness related. I guess we all have to grow up sometime.

At the beginning of this week, Week Three of the In8 program, I realized in order to permanently incorporate fitness into my life, I needed to get into a routine. If I have any hope of taking this beyond the initial eight weeks, then it needs to become a regular, scheduled part of my life.

The last two weeks I made it to the gym most of the days I wanted to, but not all of them. It’s amazing how quickly you can rationalize not working out. Something always comes up to push those plans aside. So I’ve decided to have a weekly schedule. I find that if I put it in the calendar it’s more likely to get done. Except for meditating. I’m supposed to be doing that twice a day for 20 minutes and that’s not happening. But more on that later.

My weekly exercise plan is the following;

Monday – Rest (no point in starting the week out hard right?)

Tuesday – Work out with Marq

Wednesday – Interval training at the gym before DOMS sets in

Thursday – Rest and crawl around the house waiting for DOMS to subside

Friday – Work out with Marq (Only after smacking him for making my legs sore)

Saturday – Interval training at the gym

Sunday – Interval training at the gym

What this boils down to is: if it’s not a Monday or a Thursday, then I need to be either working out with Marq or at the gym.  That’s so simple I don’t have to write it down. But I do anyway.

No more excuses. No more rationalizing my laziness with the following: well, the kids have soccer tonight so I’ll just catch up tomorrow at the gym. Uh huh, right. Then tomorrow the excuse becomes, I was so tired from running the kids around to their soccer games that I’m too tired to go to the gym. I’ll do it tomorrow.

Uh huh, sure I will.  Tomorrow has always been my favorite day to go to the gym.

Not anymore.

I’ll see you at the gym. Unless, of course, it’s a Monday or a Thursday.