Day 5 Power 90 Challenge: Rolodex of Excuses

Throughout the day, I ran through a litany of excuses for why I couldn't workout tonight. Here's a brief list:

1. I had to work late.
2. I'm tired and might hurt myself.
3. My throat hurts so badly that I grimmace to swallow and find no pleasure in food, thus,
4. I must skip my workout and go to bed early in order to build my immunity.
5. My eyes might not stay open for the whole workout.
6. Because I'm so tired, I might injure myself. (It's twice as likely and therefore deserves double consideration.)
7. Who's really gonna be mad at me for skipping my workout? It's not like I'll get a detention or a late fee.
8. I'll just switch Day 7, a rest day, for today.
9. I deserve a break.
10. Etc.

I finally decided on a combination of "explanations" for why I wasn't going to workout (an even split between numbers 3, 4, and 7). But then I came upon a reason TO workout. As I was checking Facebook (because I'm not too tired or sick for that), I saw a comment on yesterday's blog entry. One of my colleagues wrote a short, quick congratulatory note - praising my elbow sweat, I think - encouraging me to keep going on my journey. All the excuses not to workout melted away. I decided to workout. And it felt good.

Though life is busy, we must make time to share with others a word or two of kindness. We never know when we might make a difference in someone's life. Some might think the difference in my case was small. But for anyone who has a rolodex of excuses for why they can't/shouldn't/won't workout, the difference between working out for 50 minutes and not at all, is huge.

Day 4 Power 90 Challenge

Today's workout was like all my workouts. I came home exhausted and dreading it. I thought about ways I could avoid it. In truth, had I not committed myself to doing the Power 90 challenge and announced it on Facebook through my blog, I would have skipped exercising today. Which would lead to not working out tomorrow. And probably not the next day. Etcetera. This has been my history.

But I did workout today. And as usually happens, about five minutes after I started, I began to enjoy myself, feeling my muscles working and my joints growing more limber. I could tell I was making progress. As I was doing pushups, I could tell that I was growing stronger. I could do 5 half-pushups before I needed a break instead of 3 (sadly, I'm not exaggerating) . I could do 4 sets instead of 3. I could go lower to the ground. And as always, as I was marvelling at my small improvements, I found myself wondering why I don't workout more often. And how sad it is that I can't even do a pushup.

Day 3 Power 90 Challenge

Today, motivation was relatively easy. I figured if I can drop off my barely three month-old, beautiful, perfect, angelic, cuter-than-all-heck baby to daycare (however great the care-takers) AND NOT CRY (until I picked her up anyway), then I can at least excercise for an hour. Even though my arms and abs were especially sore in places I never knew I had muscles, I worked hard and pushed myself, taking only a few very short water breaks. (Okay, one time I stopped to pee too.) It felt very rewarding to finish the workout, despite the fact that I cheated at the end and didn't do the last 1/2 minute of abs (anything called "full body crunch" deserves to be skipped - at least in the beginning). I know I worked hard because my elbows were sweating. And the best part was I didn't even cry afterward.