Finding Fitness

I've always been a really active person. I've done a multitude of sports for as long as I can remember and never felt the need to push myself to exercise because other people were doing it for me. Throughout junior high and high school my time after school was always spent at practice and my weekends were always spent competing in whatever sport I happened to be in at the time. I assumed I would always be an active person and failed to understand people who couldn't find time for fitness in their lives. I ended up finishing high school the same way I had started it; with sweaty bus rides and abs that only existed because I was breathing so hard during practice. I packed up my things and headed north with the idea that (somehow) I would be able to maintain the same level of fitness as I had my entire life without putting any work in whatsoever.

During the first semester, I convinced myself that working out was no longer needed because I wouldn't have been working out normally in high school either. I put off the gym telling myself that high school me would have done the same thing and come out just fine. Then second semester rolled around and the pattern stayed the same. I began to notice a change, not so much in my physical appearance but in the way that I felt. I was tired all the time and had little to no motivation. Skiing and snowshoeing didn't interest me anymore simply because I just didn't feel up to it. I also started to get bad headaches and had trouble staying awake during my morning classes. The falling asleep was the final straw. Being a good student is something I've always taken pride in and, the last time I checked, those students weren't sleeping during jazz class. I knew I wouldn't last very long if I came up with my own workouts so I paid someone to do it for me.

I ended up joining an online community of women who struggled working out on their own. The creator of this community/program is a personal trainer who has struggled with motivation in the past and, after figuring it out, decided that she wanted to help other women figure out how to successfully lead a fit life. The program is twelve weeks long and the goal is to be able to create your own workouts at the end of the program (I'll keep you guys posted on how that goes). I've only been at it for a couple weeks but I've already seen changes in how I feel both mentally and physically. The best part about being a part of an athletic community again isn't the workouts or the routine though; it's the support that comes from all of these women around the globe who encourage each other to do better when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. While the results of the program are enough to stick around, it's the community that makes it worthwhile.