Ahhh. The empty hotel weights area.About a week ago Ren Man and I ran away I went to see Joel McHale.
(If you dont know J.McH I highly suggest you check out The Soup. If youre of a delicate ‘dont make innuendos around me’ nature I highly suggest you skip The Soup)
It was a fantastic evening and, to top it all off, we spent the night away from the Tornado & had the lovely opportunity to sleep past 530a on a Sunday morning.
That said, as anyone who’s a parent, nanny, aunt, uncle, babysitter etc. knows all too well, I was *still* wide awake by 6am.
I had coffee. I checked my email. I tried to figure out precisely which room in our hotel The McHale was staying. I skimmed through Twitter and Facebook.
It was 6:20a.
I glanced over at a snoring Ren Man, resisted the urge to wake him & headed to check out the gym and lift.
The hotel gym was crowded (impressive for a Sunday morning).
The hotel gym was fancy (see photo above & that’s only half!).
The hotel gym was filled with women & they were all using the cardio machines (not pictured. I dared not ask. these women were sweating & serious.).
I happily lifted (enjoying both the empty weights area & being in no hurry) & when I finished four of the women approached me.
They were all exceedingly hungover friends in town for a wedding and, longstoryshort, wanted to know how I motivated myself to lift weights. They all lamented the same thing:
I want to lift weights. I plan to lift weights. When it comes time to lift weights I bail 95% of the time & just do more cardio.
I hear this frequently from blog readers & friends.
The simple answer is I LOVE RESISTANCE TRAINING. I enjoy the process of it. I love the results of it. Who wouldnt look forward to that?
The more comprehensive answer became clear as I early-morning chatted with my four new good lord I felt old. I barely remember 25! friends.
Please to enjoy the fruits of our morning convo.
Four misfit tips for finding & maintaining your resistance training mojo:
Plan. Plan. Plan. This is something we all know (I literally saw one woman roll her eyes when I said it) yet few of us do. Whether youre lifting at home while watching TV (dont knock it till youve BRAVOtried it!) or going to the gym—plan your workout. Get specific (sets, reps, rest periods etc). Have a Plan A & B. Yes the marriage of mind & muscle is important, but sometimes so is the opportunity to NOT to have to think once you begin a workout. PLAN. It gives you less of an opportunity for excuses.More muscle = higher metabolism. Now, I’m in no way saying we *shouldnt* do cardio, but this is DEFINITELY a way I keep myself motivated to hoist the iron. Im not willing to watch what I eat as I age. Im not willing to limit my portions & shift from mindful eating to calorie counting as the years creep on. Im *very* motivated to resistance train by the higher metabolism it gives me.It’s fast. I am not training for an event. My competition is LIFE. My workouts are short (some of this is the result of pre-planning some is they need to fit into my life) and focused. Twenty minutes. I can always find (& motivate for) twenty minutes in my day especially when the pay-off is lower stress and higher metabolism.It empowers me. When I finish cardio—I feel depleted. When I finish resistance training (be it a silly PLAYout with the Tornado or a traditional lift) I feel empowered. I feel strong. Im reminded I AM MY OWN SUPERHERO. Weight training helped my find my voice. It gave me the confidence to speak up, demand to be heard & know Im worthy of taking up *space* in the world.Who wouldnt want to make time for something when it feels that amazing & extends into all realms of life?I know.
I realize I can be a weight-training evangelist if given the merest of opportunities & I do think there’s a small chance the poor dehydrated hungover foursome entirely regretted asking.
So now I throw it back to you (as the four are reading, ready and waiting for all your best tips too):
How do you motivate to resistance train when the call of the cardio is so easy to hear?
How do you track down D-List celebs when you KNOW they are staying at your hotel & you KNOW you must have a photo of you two together?
Please to hit us all up in the comments below.
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