Getting bolder with my exercise achievement so far, so I decided to finally attempt one of the monster-sized stairmasters at the gym this morning.
Suffice it to say I wasn’t as physically prepared for that kind of workout as I thought I would be. Lasted 10 minutes.
Ever have that experience after intense exercise when your legs are shaking, and they feel like wobbly spaghetti as you walk?
Part of me wants to feel embarrassed that I had to give up so fast (was starting to see stars in the perimeter of my vision, a pretty good indicator that loss of consciousness is imminent 💫).
At least I gave it my best effort. I’m happier with myself for doing that.
As I wrote yesterday, setting and reaching goals requires a certain amount of discomfort. The discomfort of changing our routines. Of doing the actual work that comes with achieving the goal. Thinking new thoughts – and thinking them on purpose. Being a different version of ourselves. Often small, daily doses of short-term discomfort.
When we avoid smaller doses of discomfort it often comes at the price of long-term discomfort.
Long-term discomfort is worse.
When I joined a gym a few years ago, my goal was keeping in shape, long-term. Now the cumulative effects of skipping many days of exercise (not experiencing the discomfort) has resulted in the bigger discomfort of tightening clothes and a growing muffin top.
So which of those experiences of discomfort has gotten me closer to my fitness goal?
You guessed it – it’s not the one with the muffin top.