My whole teenage and adult life I have been an on-again-off-again buff chick without ever actually reaching the ‘buff’ point. I always stop somewhere before being fit and now looking back, I wonder if it was just that each time I reached fit (or back when I was naturally fit) I just denied myself the satisfaction of believing it.
I remember going for after school runs through the nearby cemetery all through middle school and high school, rain or shine, and being the first girl to finish in our 6th grade funrun (and running in jeans no less – who DOES that?). But something changed when I got to middle school and all of my friends started going out for sports and I trailed behind scared to take shots in Junior Varsity Basketball games. Maybe it was a slow loss of confidence in my ability to succeed in sports (it was a lack of coordination more than anything) that led me to feel like I wasn’t physically fit enough.
When I see photos of myself galavanting around Florence in the summer of 2010, I’m shocked at my skinny frame, but I don’t remember feeling that skinny.
It’s time to take note and take control.
I’ve had gym memberships, tagged along to spinning classes and have even done a pretty fair stint of bootcamp in Seattle but I’ve never really stuck it out. I was just a face in the crowd. And then I joined Bottoms Up! Fitness in Bondi Beach and from Day 1 the trainers called me out by name, suddenly I felt like someone might notice if I stayed in bed for a day. So, I did the rational thing and signed up for a month-to-month contract to meet the trainers and 15-20 fellow Bondi Girls on the beach at 5:45am and kick some butt!
Photo credit: lululemon athletica
Imagine it being your job to get up at 5am every day and not only exercise but more importantly be so passionate about what you are doing that you actually make other enjoy exercising. That’s pretty impressive.
Not only do I enjoy going, despite that when my alarm beeps at 5:15am I think I couldn’t possible manage another morning of sand sprints. I do it because I know that the trainers will be down there just like every other day and chances are my new friends will be there too!
I suddenly feel like my life entails more than just Facebook monitoring, brief writing and bus rides to and from the city. More than sporadic weekend runs and cheeky weeknight wines with friends. At BUF there is one more element to my life, one where no one knows or cares what my job is, what I’m stressed about or whether or not I have weekend plans. For that 45 minutes each morning, none of that matters and every day I’m amazed at how my day-to-day worries and responsibilities don’t cloud my workout time.
I’ve been going for about 10 weeks now and other than two non-consecutive weeks off (one for back pain and one for a nasty cold) I have been Bootcamp-ing it up 3-5 mornings per week and to be honest, on the morning I don’t go I’ve realized I’m A) grumpier B) More tired and C) I actually feel less fit (just in one day!).
Cheers to ass-kicking and sand sprints!
