Category Archives: Passion Blog (Spring Semester)

This semester was really an experiment for me. I never thought going to the gym  could be something I do regularly. It’s always been this thing that I tell myself I’ll do eventually and never do. I would definitely call this semester a success and I feel really great about actually doing something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

My new challenge is going to be transitioning that success over to the summer. Being away from school and all the motivation I’v found here worries me a little bit. I can no longer walk a minute to get the gym or grab a floor mate for motivation I’m going to have to find new ways to make sure this is a part of my life for more than a few months. Going to the gym at school has been easier than I thought it was going to be. Once it becomes a part of your life it’s really easy to keep it going.  I’m really taking this summer as an opportunity to make sure this stays something that I do because I really like it.

Saying that I like going to the gym even surprises me. I didn’t think I would ever have feeling other than complete annoyance at the idea of having to work out. It’s always awesome to succeed at something and the nice thing about the gym is that it gives you the chance to do that everyday. The little victories and steady progress are what keep me going back and feeling better every time.  This gives me hope that I’ll keep it going. There are so many opportunities for me to become even healthier over the summer and work on more than just how much I exercise. With new places to work out, new ways to work out, and the possibility to really change my lifestyle for the better I’ve never been more excited for a summer.

The IM building while I’ve been here has  always been the worst, but most convenient gym on campus. It always seems like when you live in east you get the short end of the stick when it comes to facilities. The worst dorms, the worst food, and the worst gym. Until they finally finished renovating the IM building and it went from having a one room fitness center in the basement to a full sized, fully equipped gym.

It opened on march 31st and I was really surprised to see how nice it was. The entire bottom part of the gym is for weights and the top is all machines and the mat. It has way more than it did before and instead of just a few cardio machines it probably has the most of any gym on campus. I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of work put into it and also disappointed that they couldn’t finish it sooner. I always felt that working out in the IM building was holding me back from getting the best workout because it never really had much. On the weekends I had time to venture to other gyms but during the week I go to the gym in between classes and just don’t have time for anywhere else but IM.

Working out in the new gym makes me want to push myself harder. With all of the new machines and options I feel like I can make my workout better. There is an opportunity now for me to really mix it up and try new things and see what really works for me. I hope I can use these last few weeks at school to further reach my workout goals and that in the next five weeks I see even more improvement. This whole thing has just gotten me really excited and makes me want to go to the gym more.

When you are as weak and lazy as I am you manage to make it through life with arms that incredibly lack any sort of muscle. Never really bad, just useless beyond daily tasks. I never thought it was necessary to change this or try and make any sort of improvement to my arm strength but since I’ve been going to the gym I’ve started working out my arms.

Now don’t get me wrong I never pick up a weight heavier than 8 lbs and when it comes to working out my arms the machines are typically my home. The weights section of the gym is definitely the most intimidating part to me and I have not built up the courage to enter it ( I also don’t really feel a need to).  My amazing feat of never obtaining any muscle in my arm has pretty much left me unable to work them out. After a whole two months of consistently going to the gym my arms are the only part of my body left that I genuinely still hate working on. The progress is much slower than it has been for anywhere else and it’s starting to drive me crazy.

This is really my first frustrated blog post. The gym is awesome and I don’t have much to say about it other than I love it and everyone should stick it out until they like it because eventually you will, but it can be frustrating. Some days it makes me feel better than ever and others it really puts me down. However, today while I was frustratingly working out my arms and being super self depreciating I realized that I’m starting to see real results in almost every way and the only reason I’m frustrated about my arms is because everything else is improving so quickly. Is that really something to be that upset about? No not really. It was a really nice moment of clarity  and I guess I have to thank the gym for.

I think what I really came to realize today was that I need to learn to recognize and appreciate the work I’ve been doing on myself lately. It’s easy to focus on where I’ve been coming up short but it’s hard to give myself credit where it’s due. When you’re frustrated it just means that something matters to you and especially when it comes to you’re own body that’s important. I also ended up with a simultaneous lesson that self motivation is best served as self appreciation. It’s okay to be frustrated and to care about something important but you should focus on the positive aspects like new found importance on your own health and what a big step that was to take.

To say that spring break was relaxing would be an understatement. It was definitely a nice week away from school. It also ended up being a break from my weekly five day gym schedule. I was pretty excited about this going into break, not having to worry about getting to the gym and not having anyone judge me for it. However, to my surprise I missed it.

I definitely wasn’t expecting to miss going to the gym. Everyday I dread having to get up and walk to the gym although this has been getting less and less. It was different over break, after skipping my usual Sunday and Monday gym runs I started looking for a way to get to the gym. It wasn’t just that I felt bad about not going I genuinely wanted to go.

Being at home though I didn’t have a gym membership and I decided to go for a jog instead. So on Tuesday I laced up my Nike’s and ventured out. It felt really good to jog outside, something I’m way more using to doing from running heavy softball practices and my short attempt at cross country. I was embarrassed to run outside before going to the gym just because I figured I was too out of shape. The two mile jog I decided on was not too difficult and I actually decided to run for longer than I thought I could. This was really encouraging and was a really nice sign of progress. I decided to do the same jog for the rest of the week and any other exercises I could do in my living room.

When I arrived back at school Sunday afternoon I was excited to get back to the gym. It felt nice to work out as much as I had become used to. Being way from the gym gave me a new appreciation for it I didn’t have before. I’m also happy to say I’ve added jogging to my weekly workout and I’m really happy about it. I enjoy it way more than running on the treadmill and it’s especially nice since the weather has been getting better. I don’t really know when it happened but I think all of the sudden I like going to the gym.

After a few weeks going to the gym, I’m definitely starting to see results. Not only physically but mentally. I feel happier, healthier, more awake, and most importantly inspired.

Actually seeing the results of my hard work and dedication have inspired me to kick all of my unhealthy habits and to work harder at pretty much everything. I’ve definitely been studying harder and getting my work done sooner and I even finally have the motivation to go on a job hunt which I really need to do.

As far as unhealthy habits go I don’t really have that many. Like any college student I enjoy fun nights out, cups of coffee, and lots of sleep. However, I probably sleep and drink more coffee than the average person. My three cups of coffee a day minimum isn’t usual and can best be described as a crippling caffeine addiction. More than twelve hours without a cup and the caffeine headaches start and I’ll probably be the least friendly person you’ve ever met. I also enjoy ridiculous amounts of sleep, like 12-14 hours on the weekends and countless naps during the week. I know these are not the healthiest behaviors but I can’t seem to kick either one.

However, I’ve never been this motivated before. Thanks to going to the gym I want to give it a try. Working out has already helped me be a bit more awake, but a think I could take it even further. First I’m quitting coffee, I started today and all I can say is it has been a real struggle. But, I figured the coffee is probably causing the crashing in the middle of the day and trouble getting up in the morning so quitting coffee might just fix both problems. If that doesn’t fix the sleeping problem, I’m just cutting out naps completely. They never make me feel better, they only make me feel more tired so avoiding them as much as possible could also help.

I know it’s going to be hard seeing I’ve had both of these habits for years, but being successful at the gym is really motivating me in pretty much every way. I feel healthier because of it and it’s just making me look for ways to be even healthier. Although I still am not totally happy with going to the gym I’m starting to like it more and more. It’s really effecting me more than I thought it would and all for the better. I think overall the decision to start working out is really going to make me better in a lot of different ways.

Living in east halls I never bother to go all the way to the rec building to work out. My three minute walk to the IM building is already difficult enough, especially when it’s freezing out and I like to work out in shorts. However on Saturday a few friends decided to tag along and suggested the rec building. Usually going to the gym is just a Josh and  Veronica adventure, but when Gabe, Jack, Ian, Henry, and Ben want to tag along, how can you say no?

We agreed to go to the Rec building mostly because of space. The IM building on a Saturday doesn’t exactly accommodate seven people.  So in preparation for this adventure I opted for leggings this time and we started our walk to the bus stop. Yes, we took the bus to the gym, but can you blame us, it’s really really cold outside (and we’re really lazy)

When I got there I was more than impressed. The little fitness center in the IM building just seemed pathetic in comparison. It seemed like the rows of treadmills and ellipticals went on forever and there were four ab machines, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but the IM building only has one that’s out of order. It was so nice to be able to use whichever machine I wanted whenever and not have to worry about someone using the one I wanted. The options felt endless and the workout that day was definitely better than any one before.

I had never realized how limiting the size of the IM building was. With only one type of each machine I had to work out according to which machines were open rather than which ones I wanted to use. It was actually a pretty nice time which is really saying something because like I said in my last post, I hate going to the gym.

Even though I really liked going to the Rec building I’m probably going to stick with my typical IM building routine. One, because on the weekdays I go to the gym in between classes and I don’t have time to go all the way to the rec building, and two because I am really lazy. It’s actually amazing that I was able to motivate myself enough to go there once never mind five times a week. I don’t like going to the gym enough to do that on a regular basis. However, it was a nice experience and it’s nice to know the option is there. Who knows, maybe on another random Saturday I’ll make a second trip over there.

For as long as I could remember I played sports, my whole life was been going from one sports practice to another and sometimes it feels like I’ve played almost every sport ever invented (this is an exaggeration of course). One awesome thing about this was between hockey games, horse back riding lessons, and softball practices it was always so easy to stay in shape. Unfortunately though when you play so many sports you not only accumulate a ridiculous amount of injuries, but you also stay pretty mediocre at all of them. So sadly I wasn’t nearly good enough at any of them to play beyond a high school level.

It had been about nine months since I last played an organized sport and that was the last time I did anything that could be considered exercise. My lifestyle since then had become laying around in my dorm room eating food and watching animal planet (please don’t judge me, they have great TV shows ). So about two weeks ago between the jokes my dad kept making over break about me being out of shape, the visible lack of muscle on my body, and my boyfriend Josh asking me to go to the gym with him, I felt inspired and actually went.

I hated every single second of it. The walk to the gym was awful because it was freezing out and I was wearing flimsy gym clothes, I was so annoyed I had to send multiple snap chats about it (as seen in this photo).  Then when we got there, only having gone to the gym like three times in my life, I felt confused and lost in a sea of white machinery and dudes with huge biceps and chicken legs (seriously bros don’t let bros skip leg day). I made my way to the treadmill which I was very happy to see open because otherwise I would have no idea what to start with and proceeded with 20 minutes of cardio. Not to my surprise I was way out of shape and couldn’t do half the stuff I could have done last spring. After another 20 minutes or so of arbitrarily picking machines and using them we left the gym.

Although it wasn’t the best time ever, I was pretty pleased with myself afterwards and I’m proud to say I’m on gym day number 11 and I actually have some sort of routine I feel is working for me. So going to the gym isn’t a passion of mine just yet, and the reason I even picked it as a topic was probably because I was brainstorming ideas for this blog while working out, but I hope it becomes a passion of mine (I don’t think it will, but at least now that it’s my blog topic I have to keep going.)

I would love to continue my passion blog from last semester, but unfortunately  I just don’t see how I can. It’s not just that I’m pretty much out of ideas for that topic, but it’s also being in a new class. All of you don’t know me and you don’t know my blog. I’d like it if you could get to see all I have to say on a topic, not just the last ideas I try and squeeze out of an idea I exhausted last semester.

So I’m taking my blog in a whole new direction. I’m no longer going to be talking about music, but instead I’ll be talking about something more personal, my time at the gym. I know that doesn’t sound personal and I know that no one cares about how many squats I do and how long I run on the treadmill. I’m going to be talking about how going to the gym makes me feel because it’s a little different every time.

The gym is a weird place, I’m sure all of you have been to the gym at some point so I hope my feelings on the topic can be relatable. I can’t really find a great way to explain what I’ll be talking about, but I hope you guys can give my blog a chance. I’m really excited to read all of your blogs and get to know you all this semester! 🙂