Back to the gym

I still haven’t figured out what my schedule is going to be, but I decided that I needed to just go… because I refuse to fall into my classic pattern of not starting until I have EVERYTHING figured out and then never figuring ANYTHING out! So I took my gym clothes with me to work and committed to going right after work, regardless of how late that was! 

I got to the gym a bit after 7, which turns out to be a pretty good time as most of the after work crowd is gone. I paid my annual dues (I got a super deal on my membership 12 years ago, so I only pay $99 a year… which is why I kept my membership even when I wasn’t going for the last few years!), went and found an elliptical and hopped right on. Dameon, my fitness guru, wrote his Masters thesis on HIIT and told me that 30 second high intensity intervals were most effective & suggested 30 sec with 4 1/2 minute recovery (or however long I needed). I started with a 5 minute warmup, then went all out for 30 seconds. I felt good, my heart rate was up, and was ready to go again after my recovery. Did another 30 seconds, but this time recovery was much longer, so took another 5 minutes for recovery. I did a total of 4 of the 30 second intervals in 30 minutes. 

It didn’t go quite as planned, but I did it! And more importantly, my first thought after I was done was that I was excited to see my recovery time improve and NOT beating myself up about how out of shape I’ve let myself get!!! That’s HUGE for me!! I can’t change where I am now… but I CAN change where I’m going to be!

I think my first day back lifting weights is going to be Saturday… 

Progress, not perfection… that’s my goal!