I just wrote about the fun feeling of walking in to a hotel fitness room after waking up. I do brush my teeth, but really, what does that count when I look the way I do? Colgate can't fix this mug.
But I do love that feeling of rebellion.
In my view, and I sometimes feel like I am in the minority on this, the sweatier the better. I mean, let it waterfall over my forehead and down my neck. I gotta know I have EARNED that shower.
Here's another time I feel like I am the female version of Jack Bauer: walking into an-all male workout room - as a woman.
There are no such things as all-male workout rooms. What am I talking about, right? Wrong. The all-male workout room is where there are free weights. It's hilarious. I mean, I hope that the Crossfit phenomenon is helping to change that - and that I have given some clients the know-how and confidence to bust up my stereotype - but thinking and believing in equality is one thing - seeing it happen in real life is another.
Just like Idleman wrote in Not a Fan (can you tell I am loving this book?): thinking something and doing something in real life are two quite different things.
So, like I was saying, a friend and I recently walked into the free weight room. The all-male dominion. Don't think we weren't noticed because it's perfectly natural for a woman to want to work out there. It's not. You won't believe the following story if you think men and women are equal. A Michelin man actually walked up to us once we finished some lifting and added weight to our barbell. "It's a weight room, not a bar room," he said. He definitely was not accustomed to women working out near him. How dare he!
How dare WE, as we didn't sock him one. Or subtly correct him, depending on which side of feminism you reside.
Regardless, I am STILL laughing about that. Hopefully, my friend gets to bust up in there again. My plan is that she re-enters the all-male bubble armed in bright pink workout gloves with embroidered hearts and gems all over the place.
SO GREAT. My own special blend of rebellion and residual feminism.
But hold on! This blog is about stealthfully getting back in shape. What is this talk?
Well, I thrive on this stuff. My blend of rebellion and a teensy bit of feminism is actually the result of latent spurts of extroversion: they pop up at the strangest times. But I have to admit I do thrive on exercising outdoors because other people see me. There doesn't need to be just one source of motivation; there is something to be said for getting motivation from lots of different ones.
But I do get energy from exercising where people will see me. That's just the truth. The rules of the game are tough:
1) Run faster than the person on the treadmill next to you so they poop out first. It can be in intervals that you run faster, but make sure there are a lot of intervals, so that at any one snapshot, you are running "circles" next to the other.
2) Always run faster when a car is passing. Try to outrun it if it is traveling in the same direction.
3) Make sure you are on a road with a lot of traffic (well heck, that's a safety thing too).
4) Definitely pass any Army Rangers ahead of you (that is THE BEST feeling, and who cares if they are on mile 20 and that is why you were able to pass them. Pass them. It's their problem if they have to go to counseling for getting passed by a girl).
I have to have this source of motivation once in a while. It fuels me for days, so it's not always necessary. I know I don't have a complex because I am not alone. A buddy of mine used to lunge across the 200 meter quad at Fort Benning to keep motivated. There, he knew at any one time, 50 people were watching - so he couldn't stop. Excellent idea!!
To add my extroversion to a need to be suburbanly rebellious is just fun.
So yeah, go to a gym without makeup on. Go to an all-male workout room with bright pink workout gloves (heck, and fluorescent blue workout clothes, just so you stand out, and especially if you don't like pink, because, you know, you don't have to like pink if you are a girl but you could rebelliously perpetuate that stereotype while you are at it).
Regardless, keep moving!
But I do love that feeling of rebellion.
In my view, and I sometimes feel like I am in the minority on this, the sweatier the better. I mean, let it waterfall over my forehead and down my neck. I gotta know I have EARNED that shower.
Here's another time I feel like I am the female version of Jack Bauer: walking into an-all male workout room - as a woman.
There are no such things as all-male workout rooms. What am I talking about, right? Wrong. The all-male workout room is where there are free weights. It's hilarious. I mean, I hope that the Crossfit phenomenon is helping to change that - and that I have given some clients the know-how and confidence to bust up my stereotype - but thinking and believing in equality is one thing - seeing it happen in real life is another.
Just like Idleman wrote in Not a Fan (can you tell I am loving this book?): thinking something and doing something in real life are two quite different things.
So, like I was saying, a friend and I recently walked into the free weight room. The all-male dominion. Don't think we weren't noticed because it's perfectly natural for a woman to want to work out there. It's not. You won't believe the following story if you think men and women are equal. A Michelin man actually walked up to us once we finished some lifting and added weight to our barbell. "It's a weight room, not a bar room," he said. He definitely was not accustomed to women working out near him. How dare he!
How dare WE, as we didn't sock him one. Or subtly correct him, depending on which side of feminism you reside.
Regardless, I am STILL laughing about that. Hopefully, my friend gets to bust up in there again. My plan is that she re-enters the all-male bubble armed in bright pink workout gloves with embroidered hearts and gems all over the place.
SO GREAT. My own special blend of rebellion and residual feminism.
But hold on! This blog is about stealthfully getting back in shape. What is this talk?
Well, I thrive on this stuff. My blend of rebellion and a teensy bit of feminism is actually the result of latent spurts of extroversion: they pop up at the strangest times. But I have to admit I do thrive on exercising outdoors because other people see me. There doesn't need to be just one source of motivation; there is something to be said for getting motivation from lots of different ones.
But I do get energy from exercising where people will see me. That's just the truth. The rules of the game are tough:
1) Run faster than the person on the treadmill next to you so they poop out first. It can be in intervals that you run faster, but make sure there are a lot of intervals, so that at any one snapshot, you are running "circles" next to the other.
2) Always run faster when a car is passing. Try to outrun it if it is traveling in the same direction.
3) Make sure you are on a road with a lot of traffic (well heck, that's a safety thing too).
4) Definitely pass any Army Rangers ahead of you (that is THE BEST feeling, and who cares if they are on mile 20 and that is why you were able to pass them. Pass them. It's their problem if they have to go to counseling for getting passed by a girl).
I have to have this source of motivation once in a while. It fuels me for days, so it's not always necessary. I know I don't have a complex because I am not alone. A buddy of mine used to lunge across the 200 meter quad at Fort Benning to keep motivated. There, he knew at any one time, 50 people were watching - so he couldn't stop. Excellent idea!!
To add my extroversion to a need to be suburbanly rebellious is just fun.
So yeah, go to a gym without makeup on. Go to an all-male workout room with bright pink workout gloves (heck, and fluorescent blue workout clothes, just so you stand out, and especially if you don't like pink, because, you know, you don't have to like pink if you are a girl but you could rebelliously perpetuate that stereotype while you are at it).
Regardless, keep moving!
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