What's in your Gym Bag?

Today was quite the day for my business and my body.

You know that saying “You win some, you lose some”? I didn’t really know that it could be applied hourly.

This morning I had a free day from my personal trainer. Yesterday, he beat me up pretty hard. Then added spritely “Add 40 push ups in every day. I don’t care when you do them, just get 40 in.” Today my body is pissed at him. Sore everywhere. Nonetheless there is still work to be done.

You see, I have goals. I am not just maintaining a healthy weight. I am still working to lose the extra weight that my body put on over the first 25 years.

Over the past year, my trainer has really whipped me into shape and has given me plenty of homework assignments:

- 1 hour a day additional cardio

- Full servings of fruit and veggies every day

- No carbs after 4pm, you won’t burn them

- Lean protein daily

- Cut out cheese and most dairy

- No high fructose corn syrup aka corn sugar

-…And now with the 40 push ups.

I appreciate his assignment list. You see, I was a fat kid. The fat kid turned into a fat adult. My time in the gym has really changed my life- has helped me to face up to my fears (all of them) and push onward.

When I was in college I was scared of the gym. I thought ‘If I go to the gym I have to account for extra shower time. Plus, then I need to account for the time to do my hair and make up. This is too long a process. I need to schlep around a ton of crap just to make sure I can come and go and be clean. It is impossible.’

Then, when I lived in NYC I bought myself a gym bag.

Duh.

A gym bag fixes most of those ‘issues’ that I created. A little pre-planning, and my gym bag turns me into a work-out ‘anytime-anywhere’ girl.

I’ve got it loaded. Shoes, socks, swim suit, 2 towels, shampoo and conditioner and body wash, clothes for working out, clothes for post swim, 3 hair ties, an energy drink (just in case), hair brush, flip flops, change for the lockers, gym pass, chapstick.

There it is. It’s all there. Now there is no excuse!

Over time I’ve figured out what to put in my gym bag. Each night, before I head to bed I figure out the routine. I replace towels, I hang up the suit to make sure it’s dry. New socks.

“Ok, I need a half hour drive time to get there. Then time to change. The hour and half cardio swim, shower, redress, head out and half hour to get to point B for food.”

And that’s how I do it. Daily. And daily this ‘chore’ has become an exciting routine. Easy. This thing I just do. A gym bag always half packed.

And today, like my business, the tools came in overly handy.

I’m in the process of figuring out the name for my business. It seems like such a task. Like I must be sure and get it right. The pressure almost paralyzed me. Not quite unlike the pressure of all the responsibilities of going to the gym. I looked up thesaurus.com for three hours. I had to literally get up and walk away. Boyfriend had to call to calm me down.

Then, I remembered my gym bag. I have the tools to make this work. I reached out to my network. I used my Social Media skills for my social media business. I set up my gym bag. So tomorrow, when I come back to it, it won’t seem so daunting a task.

And in the meantime I was productive in a plethora of other ways; reading emails, responding, researching, chatting, catching up, moving forward. I got more done than I would have thought. Pshaww, how these things work out.

The worry is for naught. I’ve got this.

All in a days gym bag.