Hello!

You’d think that writing a blog post about going to the gym would inspire me to go to the gym today to get a photo. Of course not. I might go tomorrow though?

However, I have been going to the gym a lot more recently than I did when I first paid for my membership and I’ve learnt a lot about myself in terms of fitness and what works best for me so I thought I’d talk about my routine, as a very not fit person, to perhaps inspire anyone that also has thought about the gym to perhaps give it a try? I don’t know, that was pretentious but I still don’t consider myself a ‘gym person’ so I thought that might help.

Firstly, to really, really get into the gym I know I have to make it part of my routine – at uni, I did this by taking my two or three hours gaps and filling them with going to the gym instead of getting food I didn’t need or lounging around my room watching YouTube videos (which might be why I’m still two months behind). When I finished uni, I had a couple of productive weeks where Lucas was still going to uni and I’d leave at the same time as him and start my day with gym and then… do… stuff? I can’t remember what I did with my day, probably MarioKart.

Currently I’m still trying to find a routine to fit it into – going to the gym every day was too much so I don’t want to do that (not again, I tried!) so I’m trying to make it that I go to the gym after I’ve been to work but that’s currently only once I week so I’m trying to go three times a week. Preferably in the morning to start my day!

And it was when I got it into my routine that I really started to enjoy it – I felt dead and in pain after my workouts but I felt good that I’d worked out! It was really satisfactory to have made it to the gym and worked out for a couple of hours despite not wanting to and everyone using weights and actually knowing what they’re doing judging me – I survived that and it feels good!

My current routine involves three different cardio machines and then I do some stuff on the mat. I’ve been tempted to do a session with a personal trainer or do more research but that takes time and effort, so I’ll continue doing what I’m doing!

• I start out on the treadmill to warm up – I stay on it for about twenty minutes and I use songs to change my pace. I walk for the length of one song to warm up, then I run at a moderate pace for a song, then I walk to get my breath back and repeat twice more so I run three times total. I then walk until I hit 20 minutes and go into cool down mode on the treadmill (I didn’t know it existed and then it automatically put it into that mode and now I use it as an excuse to walk very slowly for two minutes).
• Then I move onto the sitting down cycling machine (so technical) – I prefer the seated one because the upright one hurts my back from leaning over. On this machine I set it to fat burn mode so I don’t have to manually change anything and I just sit and cycle for 20 minutes while I watch YouTube videos. I started originally at 10 minutes but I really like cycling and I feel quite strong in my legs so it’s something I’m working on. It’s one of those enjoyable pains that fit people talk about and I walk away from the machine really fast when I’m done because no one needs to acknowledge how sweaty the seat I leave behind is.
• Next is the rowing machine – here I like to work pretty flat out for 10 minutes. I generally row a minimum of 1500m but when I was at school I used to be able to ‘row’ 200m a minute so I’m working back up to that. The only issue I have is that I can’t listen to my music and row at the same time, but I generally use this as people watching time which is probably why I don’t row 200m a minute. Lol.
• After that, I stumble over to the mat and try to stop the other people with weights and actual workout routines from judging me. From there, I look at random lists of stretches (not completely random, usually) and as of recent I’ve been doing: 30 sit ups, 12 crunches, 12 leg raises, 20 second plank. If I’m feeling super fit I’ll do some lunges and attempt some press ups too but I’m working on which exercises to do.

As of July, I’m doing a 30 day ab challenge and potentially 2 flexibility challenges so I thought I’d include them here!

(I hope this formats properly)

I did this ab challenge before I went to Ecuador last summer and I think it had a good effect but I needed to actually carry on doing it! I’m hoping it’ll help me figure out what i’m doing at the gym after I’m done in July! The flexibility challenges are old posts from Blogilates and my sister used to use her workouts and she’s very popular online so I can only assume that it works – I’m willing to give it a try!

I’m actually excited about those challenges, I’m going to continue going to the gym throughout July but whilst I’ll be working out/stretching every day, I won’t be going to the gym but I’m going to balance all three.

Like someone who actually has their life together!

Another thing I’m hoping to find over the summer is a dance studio to rent – I’m struggling to find any dance school let alone a dance space in Southampton but I’m really craving to just go into a studio with loud music for a couple of hours and choreograph but I just need the space to do it. I can’t find anything and any hints, tips or studios would be greatly appreciated right now!

At first, making myself go to the gym was mostly so that I could make it cost effective – my membership is £15 a month and an individual session is £5 so I have to go three times to make it effective and I’m aiming to go three times a week so it’s gone from ‘IT’S COST EFFECTIVE I SWEAR’ to a much easier task.

I’m definitely not a gym junkie and I’m still scared of all the weights machines, but the gym definitely isn’t as intimidating as everyone anticipates!

Also buying gym clothes is fun. Even if I only bought them from Primark.

And I’m planning to get a yoga mat for the flat so I don’t have to go to the gym to do my ab challenge! First pay check should go on rent but here we are. (lol?)

It gets to a point where I don’t know if I’m being ‘funny’ or, like, ‘mum funny’.

I hope that helped anyone who’s wondering whether they should join the gym or not! Any questions, leave them in the comments!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

 

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