I've been using an elliptical to workout for a while. For the last 7 years, I've had one at home. The advantage of this arrangement is that I could workout whenever I liked. The disadvantage was that my workouts were never quite perfect. For one thing, I could be interrupted by a number of domestic issues (from snack provision to bootie-wiping and homework assistance; there was always something). For another, at-home machines simply cannot generate the same range of workout options as gym-grade machines. But it was a mandatory compromise: I needed to workout to keep my psyche on an even keel and I needed to do it at home so I could keep an eye on the boy.
Though I longed for a gym membership, I set it aside as a pipe dream. Then my machine broke, just when I needed it most because JT was scheduled to be at Camp Ex for a week. As a temporary measure, I scored a free 10 day pass at a local gym. And I continued the search for a replacement home elliptical.
That didn't go all that well once I realized the range of options at the gym: weights, spin classes, a variety of ellipticals and other cardio machines……..all the features of workout fantasies, should you suffer from this particular affliction. Shopping for home ellipticals after working out on gym ellipticals was a bit like driving a BMW one day and a Yugo the next. And I was hooked on the Beamer.
Though I am by no means a selfless person, much of my day-to-day existence is devoted to taking care of other people's needs. Every once in a while I have a meltdown related to this fact. A quality workout is a way to care for myself so that I remain capable of caring for others. It's a way of ensuring my own marginal sanity in a life that I still find difficult.
So even though JT's detention at Camp Parenting Time has ended for the year, I've still got my gym pass. JT and I will have to work out the logistics of a workout plan which will now take me out of the house. No doubt it won't go as smoothly as I would wish. But it's not a luxury for me to work out and it's long-overdue for me to come first for a few of hours each week.
Yes, yes, yes. I finally got fed up with being a fatty, never getting out of the house, and putting 5 other people ahead of me. We got our YMCA membership in January, and we are so much better because of it. Now that three kids are in school, I can drop them off, take Soren to the on site daycare, and get my ass movin'. I figured the kids and hubby are going to need me around for a long time to do their laundry and such, and me being healthy is a big part of that.
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