Gym Rituals

Happy Fitness Friday, from the confines of my office where I have spent the vast majority of the past 12 hours sitting on my behind. I did make it to the gym between starting my experiment at 6:00 AM and taking a sample at 8:30, so that should cancel out some of the sitting, amirite? I’m pretty sure all of this sitting is still going to kill me one day (that is if the arsenic doesn’t get to me first).



That’s my research by the way; I’m not just like…slowly poisoning myself with arsenic. At least not intentionally.

Since I starting lifting (all of two months ago; I am a young padawan), I’ve come to recognize just how desperately I’ve needed a fitness routine. When I only did cardio, I would basically just screw around in the gym for 30 minutes. I never kept track of my progress, and I as a result I was never pushing myself to do better. Lifting is an entirely different beast, and one that I took to immediately. I think that something about researching each lift, watching videos, and keeping track of the weights and sets and reps resonated with my neurotic scientist side.

I thought I was your beast?

I’ve also realized that once I establish a routine, I will stick to it with religious fervor. I’m the same way with a lot of things in life: from managing my schoolwork, to brushing my teeth, to my very intensive facial-cleaning regimen. I love the ritual of it. I love going to the gym at the same time on the same days, and recognizing the people on same schedule as me. I love switching up to that next, heavier dumbbell or adding another plate to the barbell. I even love my five minute warm-up on the elliptical, the entirety of which I spend willing people away from whatever lifting equipment I need to use first.

This is not the squat rack you are looking for.

As someone who’s spent her entire adult life (and most of her life before that) focusing all her energy on coursework and research, it feels so great to take an hour out of my day and do something for my body also. Like how sitting in my office is a rest for my body, lifting, to me, is a rest for my mind.