Workouts - Oh How I've Missed Them!

Though we've had a membership at a gym for about 18 months,  we've been under-utilizing it. Mostly because we've been concentrating our time on the house project. Well, last week, both C and I started 'poking' at the implementation of regular gym workouts. I started carrying my gym gear in my car, and pushing things around on my calendar to make room for workouts. Though I didn't actually get in to the gym last week, the setting-up process sure got my appetite going.

C, on the other hand, succeeded in getting to a morning class or two last week. She was ecstatic, as a result. This is, after all,  something the oncologist has been counseling her to do ever since she finished her cancer therapies.

 This week, she's already done three classes, with plans for more. She says pilates 'hurts so good' and that it's rewarding to be going again. Looks like the schedule works in her favor, too. She can drop the kids at school, go immediately over to the gym and be on with her day by 10am, energized and exercised. Apparently, the class instructor has already made a relationship connection with C, and is working with her to develop specific strategies for improving her overall fitness post-cancer. I'm proud of her for making this a priority.

For me, Wednesday nights are an obvious choice for a non-negotiable workout time, as are Saturday mornings while the whole family is over in Tigard doing ballet, gymnastics, etc. Even if I can't get to the gym on Saturday, I can still use that time to jog, or something. It'll be put to use, I'm sure. I worked out yesterday, with bike time and some upper body weights (light  weights, high reps, concentrating on remembering the form). This morning, my chronic back pain (from falling down the stairs last spring) is noticeably better. As is my posture. Dang but my body likes it best when I work out.

There's still room, I think, to fit in a morning session or two during the week. I'm continuing to sculpt my schedule to support that idea. Not being a morning person, for example, I've been actively working to move my natural wake-up time forward. I'm not actually going to the gym yet, but the clock radio and the timer on the coffee maker are cooperating to train me for an earlier wake up.

I haven't mentioned it to C, but she seems to be getting up earlier too. I sense that she's moving things along more purposefully so as to get to her class on time. This has the side-effect of a more relaxed, in-front-0f-the-curve school prep. The kids are feeding off the calmer atmosphere and stepping up their performance as well. It's all good - so much less drama nowadays!

So, it seems we all got an immediate emotional boost from the return to the gym. The children sure connect with the benefits of their dance and gymnastics time. Now, us parents get to have the same benefits.