Submitted By: Caitlin Buttimer, Human Capital Operations Manager
I was recently asked to write this blog about physical wellness, and to be honest, my first thought was, “HA, I’m the last person who qualifies for writing a blog on physical wellness”. If I’m still being honest, that thought hasn’t stopped running through my mind. You see, back in my younger years, I did it all: soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, kickball, cross country, and on top of that strength conditioning and weight lifting for all these sports. I was an athlete, and I loved every aspect of it! Practices were always hard, which made the games that much more fun. The teams, the coaches, the competitive atmosphere all made an active lifestyle exhilarating.
Now you may think with my athletic background that I would be the person to run 10 miles every day before breakfast, but you would be utterly mistaken. I don’t think I could run 10 miles today if my life depended on it. In the past, I could run, jog, walk and crawl those 10 miles, but I no longer have the endurance I once maintained. After high school, the team sports faded. I played intramurals on and off, but it was much more laid back and less demanding than organized leagues. I’d go to the gym every now and then, and I would run fairly often, but as life got busy it became hard to find the time to get in a workout. Cue the rationalizations…
“I’m having a good hair day, sweat would mess it up, and that would be unfair to my hair.”
“I didn’t eat that much today; I don’t need to exercise.”
“Work was busy and hard. I deserve to relax.”
“It’s cold. No.”
“I have too much work. I can’t let my career suffer in the name of exercise!”
“Oops. I forgot my water bottle and/or gym bag. Definitely can’t work out today.”
Full disclosure, I googled these excuses, but they are funny and there are tons more out there that will make you laugh. Also, I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t used every single excuse listed above. It happens, and for a while I was stuck in a rut of constantly making up reasons why I shouldn’t be active. That is, until Christmas of 2017 when my mother gifted me a gym membership. Yes, you read that right, my mother handed me an envelope on Christmas morning that contained the member sign-up document for a gym membership at Fitness on Broughton. Most people would be highly offended by this, but it was my mom so it was coming from a place of love – right!? In all seriousness, I had been telling my mom for months that I wanted to be more active. This gift was her ever so subtle way of telling me to quit talking and start doing – and I couldn’t love her more for that needed push!
With additional encouragement from co-workers, I got myself signed up, and started bringing my gym bag to work. Since the gym is literally one block away from the office, a good number of “TMX’ers” utilize their lunch break as a workout break. It’s a nice break in the day to get out and be active! Whether you’re going to a cardio class, lifting some weights or just walking on the treadmill – any type of physical activity is good for you! I try to go minimum three times a week, but it’s great if I can go every day. It is a tremendous help that I have a few accountability partners who squash any excuse I come up with to skip a day. Trust me, they show no mercy (Erin, Kate, Daria – I’m looking at y’all). We typically go together and do a group workout. Right now we are working through a 12-week program that consists of three weekly 28 minute workouts. On days that we don’t follow the program we might pull up a 30 minute YouTube workout video. The workout is never too long, but I refuse to say they are not intense. I promise, you can get in an intense workout in 28-30 minutes. Don’t believe me? Join us one day! Finding a workout is never a problem – it’s just having the drive to push through and get it done! Personally, for me it’s about making myself move and feeling accomplished. I’m not in peak performance shape like I was when I was playing three different sports in a season, and I’m ok with that. I’m just taking this physical wellness journey one day at a time! Next on the agenda is developing healthy eating habits, so I can’t wait to see what my mom gives me for my birthday this year! 🙂
