Daily Archives: April 4, 2011

Gym vs. Yoga

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As you may have deduced from my post earlier (thanks for all the amazeballs comments, as usual!) – I’ve been in a bit of a funk on the workout front.

There are may reasons.

1. I’ve been busy as hell.

2. I’ve been exhausted.

3. I can’t schedule my life right now, which means I can’t plan to run any races, which means no training.

4. I’m currently ill.

5. I just haven’t felt like working out.

There have been a few pathetic attempts at working out, but my heart just hasn’t been in it and as I said this morning, forcing myself to workout when I don’t want to or to feel guilt about not wanting to isn’t an option for me.

Still, I believe that exercise is good for mind, body and soul and I’d like to find something that works for me right now.

Lately my workout loves have mainly been running sprinkled with a little bit of Body Pump when it fits into my schedule.

I still like both of those things, but lately haven’t been feeling them as much and I’ve been craving yoga.

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My body responds well to yoga for many reasons.

1. I have the tightest hamstrings on the planet Earth and yoga is the only thing that helps loosen them up.

2. I’m a crazy stress ball most of the time, and yoga makes me a happier person.

3. I sleep better when I practice regularly.

4. I’m not going to lie – I don’t hate the way yoga makes me look. I like the lean, sculpted results and my arms usually turn into baller guns after a few weeks. Just sayin’.

So, you may be wondering, if yoga is so amazing then why aren’t you doing it all the time?

Well, it all comes back to that pesky budget.

Yoga is ca-razy expensive.

I can’t practice properly at home – I need a studio complete with mood lighting, patchouli, lulling music, a couple hippies and a helpful instructor.

So in order to get my yoga on, I have to shell over criminal amounts of cash in order to so.

Currently, all of my workout moneys are going to my gym.

I have a great gym that I really enjoy, but lately I just haven’t felt like going there. I feel guilty about spending money on something and not utilizing it, which means increased stress levels.

So, I’m thinking about cancelling my gym membership and signing up for a month of unlimited yoga.

I will still end up spending about $45 more than I would if I just kept the gym membership – $80 a month for yoga (at the only studio that I like that’s in a convenient location) versus $35 for the gym - but at least it’s something I think I’ll actually feel like doing and will rejuvinate my workout spirits.

I still intend to run outside and do strength workouts from home, so my fitness won’t really suffer – I’ll just be kind of sad to leave my gym behind. I have gym buddies and I’ll miss the treadmill option on rainy or windy days.

I hope I’m making the right decision, and that my gym doesn’t charge me hundreds of dollars to cancel my membership (I don’t think I signed a contract and I’ve been there for over a year so hopefully that won’t be the case).

I probably won’t be able to start the yoga until I’m healthified (got the doc to call me in some meds, so shouldn’t be long) and done with this crazy week of business travel but then I’m pretty excited to get my om on :)

How do you allocate your workout budget (if you have one)? Gym membership? At-home workouts? Yoga or pilates studio?

Any money-saving tips or fun, affordable workouts to share?

Incoming search terms:

Enough

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When I decided that I wanted to move to D.C. – I knew I had to adjust my budget.

I’ve always been a ‘spend it if I have it kind of gal’, and any money that wasn’t earmarked for rent or bills was usually spend on socializing and shopping.

I’ve had a full-on shopping addiction ever since high school, and considering that I’ve stayed roughly the same size since then – I have a disgusting amount of clothes, shoes and bags.

So when I decided to stop shopping in order to save money for the move, it wasn’t that difficult. I clearly had plenty of clothes to wear. Shopping was a want, not a need.

I expected it to be harder, but I’ve actually enjoyed shopping in my own closet and finding old gems that I haven’t worn in a long time.

That is, until I went shopping with my stepmom on Saturday.

Suddenly, in the face of all the new fashions and adorable clothes that I knew I couldn’t afford, I started to feel like nothing in my own closet was good enough.

I wanted to buy everything. My credit card was pulsing in my wallet, whispering sweet nothings into my ear.

“Go ahead, max me out, it will be okay. You can pay it off later.”

Had I not been in the company of my parents, I might have given in.

But I didn’t, and I left the stores feeling strong and in control.

Still, it got me to thinking.

We can go along perfectly content with who we are what we have – until we’re face to face with all the things we want but haven’t realized yet.

Truth time – the same thing happens to me a lot from reading blogs or looking at my friends’ lives.

One day I’m perfectly happy with my job, looks or love life and then I read someone’s blog who runs every day even when they’re sick or think about good friends who I find more successful than me and I start to question everything.

Suddenly everything I thought I loved about myself seems dull compared to the shiny lives of others.

This weekend, I got down on myself for not wanting to work out more – for not feeling constantly compelled to have a fitness goal.

I felt self conscious about my body because summer is approaching and more skin will be on display.

I worried that I’d never feel confident in my career – that the move to D.C. might not ever happen.

These are things I wouldn’t normally think about (okay, maybe I would but I wouldn’t normally dwell on them), but lately they’ve been pressing on my mind.

Luckily, I’m confident enough in who I am to realize when this is happening and stop it from going to far.

In the same way that I can’t control my lack of shopping funds, I know I can’t control how my life stacks up against the lives of others.

It’s not a matter of tailoring my life to look as good as someone else’s, but instead staying strong and remembering that what I have is enough – just the way it is.

So what if I’m not always in love with exercising?

Sometimes life is just too exhausting. I stay as fit as I can, but always feeling like I’m not doing enough isn’t me. I know better than that. 

The body consciousness is the worst. I hate when I start to feel down about the way I look.

The truth is that my body is strong and capable. It’s gotten me through three half marathons and countless other workouts. It’s also pretty hot and has had several admirers, if you want to get right down to it.

My career is on the rise and I’m certainly successful in my own right. I have a lot left to accomplish, but I know I can do whatever I set out to do. I need to stop doubting myself.

A lot of times, it seems like we’re always thinking of how we can improve, what needs to be fixed and and taking the next step. It can turn into a never-ending succession of makeovers to a life that was great to begin with.

Changes are great. We should never be complacent. But we should also be happy with what we’ve got in the present.

If you’re constantly upgrading yourself, it’s easy to lose sight of who you really are.

To me, it seems just as important to remember that what you have is already pretty great.

Who you are, right now – today – is good enough.

On another note, did this post title remind anyone else of that Jennifer Lopez movie “Enough“? I miss JLo on the silver screen. Except for maybe this movie, which (full disclosure) I did see in theaters.

Happy Birthday Vicky

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Despite all my brussels sprouts consumption and rest yesterday, I woke up this morning feeling worse. It seems the old sinus infection has reared it’s ugly head yet again.

I took action and called my doctor to try to get some medication this morning. I will be out of town the rest of the week for work, and dealing with ear infections, mucus and a cough while mingling with people and driving six hours there and back with my supervisor sounds less than enjoyable.

I had planned to write a thought-provoking post about guilt this morning, but that sounds too tedious. Instead, I want to dedicate this post to my friend Victoria – or Vicky D as she’s known on the internets – because it’s her birthday!!

Victoria was actually one of the first real-life people I told about the blog, and she’s been a faithful reader ever since. She always has kind things to say about what I write, which makes me love her even more. Flattery is definitely the way to my heart.

I’ve been friends with Victoria ever since my sophomore year of college when I worked as photographer at our school’s newspaper.

We originally bonded over some inappropriate shared interests, and after that she ignored my slight shyness/awkwardness by always talking to me in the newsroom and asking me to have lunch with her.

We always had at least one class together each semester, and worked closely at the newspaper.

She was driven and motivated, which I found very inspiring. I was kind of a lost soul academically in college, but that’s another post for another time.

With her leading the way, we won some sort of journalistic award for one of the stories we wrote together (you can tell how much journalism meant to me, since I can’t even tell you what the award was for… oops) and I’m pretty sure she single-handedly aided me in passing our TV news class my senior year.

I certainly owe her a lot!

After college she went on to get a fabulous job in PR and is almost finished with her MBA. I’d kind of like to be her when I grow up.

More than just being successful, she’s a great friend and listener and is always willing to put in the work to make sure we stay close even though we no longer live close to each other. I love that about her.

Happy Birthday Vicky! I hope you have a fabulous day!