Gym or No Gym? 29

How do you view the Gym? Social affair or blood, sweat and tears?

Perhaps it is not that Black and White. After all, we like to have fun in any activity that we do and the Gym should be no different. I have often found that the best way to achieve your goals whether it’s fat loss, to gain lean muscle tissue or for general fitness is to have a positive view towards it.

To be honest, I like training but there are some exercises I cannot stomach, crunches being one of them. I know some people (majority being women who do regular pilate’s classes) who would put me to shame regarding this area. However, I have been engaging in the popular ‘Spartacus’ workout in the Gym where a few of the exercises concentrate on the ‘core’. I enjoy doing these and the best part is; I am working my midsection. So while I wave the white flag on doing endless abdominal crunches, I can safely say that exercises such as: Jacknife’s, Alternate leg and Arm Raises, Plank Hops from Side-to-Side etc will make your core strong and efficient in no time.

Apart from the laboured breathing, I find these activities fun. It also happens to burn off fat. What a major plus!! It seems in the Gym that this sort of Activity is favored by other Gym User’s. This is where the social aspect kicks in. We can refer to it as Positive Peer Pressure. When you see someone giving it their all, you cannot help but smile, give them an encouraging remark and feel spurred on to emulate their zeal in your own workout.

Trying to do this on a daily basis is tough. We all have work schedules, family time so we have to schedule time in the week to do this. The beautiful thing about working out is that it can be tailored to us.

The reason I like doing the ‘Spartacus’ workout for example is that it is intense, short and does not cut into to my other commitments. There are also different variations on it that have been advertised by others so you can never get bored of doing the same old routine.

At the moment I am also following the bodyweight version of the ‘Spartacus’ method and this can be done at home as well as the Gym. So If you are unable to get to the Gym because of Time, Money or anything else, try doing it at home. What’s 10-15 minutes that cannot be spared in becoming more fit, losing fat and just feeling good about yourself.

I am trying to burn fat personally So I am doing this in the Gym. But If I cannot make for any given reason, I can still fall back on doing this at home. I am trying to achieve a daily exercise rota so basically something everyday. But that’s my choice. Feel free to do some research on this to see how you can fit this into your lives. These are ideas are not limiting but progressive.

So is the Gym social or hard work? I like to think it is somewhere in between.