As some of you may know, I am a graduate student.
What this means is that I spend a lot of my time sitting and reading books. I’m pretty much consumed by studying, and I’m constantly plagued with the fear that I should be studying more and feel guilty when I step away from studying to do something else, even if it’s in my best interest to do so. When I remember to feed myself, I often make the easy choice instead of the best choice.
It’s extremely easy to tell myself I don’t have the time to workout, and since I’m trying to recover from an upper body injury, it sometimes feels like my fitness choices are somewhat limited, especially when I’m looking for a quick fix.
My behavior is pretty typical for graduate students. But it wasn’t always like that — when I was running with the Arena Fitness Adventure Racing Team, most people knew me as the OCR or Mud Run Girl from pictures and posts on Facebook and other social media. While I’m not sure when I will be able to get back into obstacle races, I do know that I felt better and was generally happier when I was moving around (funny thing, endorphins). As such, one of my resolutions for 2014 is to get back into a sustainable fitness routine.
What this means, immediately, is that I need some sort of consistency in my life when it comes to workout out. This is slightly difficult because unlike my friends who have what my dad calls “real jobs” have a set starting time and ending time. I don’t — I have a few part time jobs that I stick in where I am not going to school and classes that only take place a few times a week. This lack of set schedule makes things difficult, especially when I start feeling anxious about not spending enough time with whatever ancient author I’m reading or whatever French sociologist I need to try and understanding in order to frame an argument.
While this problem may be unique to me, I am certain that there many other people out there in many different walks of life that are wondering how they’re going to realize their fitness or weight-loss related resolutions. So, where to begin? For me, it’s by being consistent.
I need to keep my school-related anxiety in check, but I don’t want to get to 11 pm on any given day and realize that I had once again forgotten to schedule in some active time. To help do this, I’m starting small. While I can’t do burpees or kickboxing, I can walk or run a mile. The good people that put on the Spartan Races are running a 30 miles in 30 days challenge all this month, and while they’ve technically already begun, I think it’s a great idea that can be done at any time during the year. I’m currently on Day 5, and I was pleasantly shocked to find out that I can run a 10 minute mile without going Chernobyl (sorry, Jonathan). But the great thing is that it’s only 10 minutes, and that I usually feel much better after devoting that time to myself.
It may be hard to justify spending 45 minutes or more on a workout if you’re busy and not in the habit of working out. But spending 10 minutes is just the kind of baby step that I needed to get back on track.
If running isn’t your thing (and as is probably extremely well documented on this blog, it certainly isn’t mine), find another way to be consistent. Try a squat challenge, take different classes, go swimming. Find something to do, do it on a regular schedule, and make it part of your life. It’ll make adding new things (like a second mile or salads!) that much easier.
What are you doing to be consistent?
