Working out feels SoOo GoOD !!!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 12:15 AM filed under Diet & Nutrition postings
This post is to remind myself how good it feels to go to the gym -- so that next time I'm making excuses or feel like blowing off exercise to chill in my pajamas and watch YouTube videos -- I'll get off my ass and get on the treadmill :)
Sometimes I don't understand why I get lazy and go long spells without working out... I just got back from the gym and I feel better than I've felt all day -- it's almost euphoric. Every part of my body feels energized, like I'm conscious of every muscle, ligament, and joint. As I walk through campus on my way back home from the gym, even my senses are heightened. The smell of magnolias is sweeter and the sound of water crashing in the gorges is more crisp and musical. Maybe it's a runners high or an eight pound dumbbell high or a jumping-jack high, who really knows or cares? I can't pinpoint what particular aspect of working out makes me feel so good, but I'm certain that I like it and that it's good for me -- what I don't understand is the resistance I put up in actually getting up and going. It's like I keep myself from feeling my best because I'm too lazy to bother finding my sneakers and tying the laces.
The point is: working out shouldn't just be about losing weight, it's about pleasure. Think about how self-indulgent the very idea of the gym is, by definition it's a place where people go to focus entirely on themselves. It's sexy. When you work out, you focus in on every movement of your body and repeat it over and over, you run as hard as you can until you're hot and sweaty, you contract each muscle until you squeeze the strength out of it -- it's relentless and exhausting -- but you keep at it because in the end, it just feels so good.
Note to self: next time you want to eat dark chocolates or cookies or ice cream cones, remember how good you feel right now [April 20th, 2010; 11:54pm] and how long the satisfaction of going to the gym lasts over the shortlived sugar-high of junk food!!! Look at the happy ball... that's how you want to feel, so get up and go :)
