While on vacation, I had lots of free moments to address an issue I’ve discussed many times before – my poor track record with going to the gym to exercise.  While on vacation, I set the goal to attend the gym twice per week for the two-weeks I was home.  I didn’t set a specific time or day to go, only that I would make the effort.  Using the excuse log idea, I noted that when I didn’t feel like lifting heavy weights, I would commit myself to going and riding the bike for an hour.  As you can see below, I was successful in my goals.

I noted a few observations that seemed to help spur me on to success.

• I always strove to exercise while my fiancee was away at work.  That meant I would have more time with her when she was home since I had so much free time during the day to do anything else I wanted.  With this in mind, I knew that the closer I got to 5pm, the more likely I was to miss the window for the day to go to the gym.
• Going during the day time, when everyone else was at work, was an amazing breath of relief.  While I may be passed the point of feeling super self-conscious about going to the gym, it was still refreshing to have a relatively empty gym to do whatever I wanted.
• As noted above, my trips to the gym included both lifting weights and cardio-only sessions.  As part of my commitment, I knew that if I didn’t want to go, then I had to commit to just “30-min on the bike,” which I could turn into a full hour after I was already at the gym and sweating.
• Getting dressed in my gym clothes at home also made it easier to go.  Maybe it’s because it cuts down on the overall time commitment, or because it primed me, or even because I always shower at home anyway (so why dirty street clothes?); whatever the reason, it helped.
• I still couldn’t bring myself to go first thing in the morning.  I considered trying this during my vacation to see if I could potentially carry it over to when I returned to work.  This strategy would be the easiest to implement if I wanted to dedicate three days a week to the gym without sacrificing other obligations.
• Likewise, I wanted to try swimming at an indoor pool once during my vacation as a form of exercise.  I was not able to make this happen.  I did, however, get time in the lake, so that should count for something.
• I found the gym a good source of “therapy” when I was in a foul mood.

Overall, I’m happy with how things went and am looking to try and carry the 2-days/week practice into my normal routine.

Stay Awesome,

Ryan