THE gym vs. MY gym

For YEARS I went to the gym......well....on and off....  Work, kids, and LIFE seemed to get in the way of the gym at times, BUT, when I DID go, I LOVED going!

My routine was always pretty much the same....

I'd get there and jump on an eliptical machine for a half hour to 45 minutes (or a  stairmaster in my earlier gym days).  Sometimes, I may have even changed it up and gotten on a bike.

From there, I'd meander over to the ab machines and do various crunches and oblique exercises....every day (because at that point, I didn't think of my core as having muscles that needed rest and recovery days like every other muscle).

If it were leg day, I'd then hop on just about any lower body piece of equipment I could and do 3 sets of 12 at weights that would make me cringe to get out that last set.

If it were upper body day, I'd do my 3 sets of 12 bicep curls....then head over to do triceps....  After feeling like everyone on the elipticals and treadmills were staring at me while I struggled to lift the lowest weight on the machine, I'd probably give up after the second set and head over to do some lat pull downs (because I knew I could actually do those...so it would make me feel a little better).  Then I'd look around to see which pieces of equipment had the fewest people around them.  If there were too many people around, I might just go back to more cardio.  I didn't want to struggle through lifting puny weights in front of other people.  I had no upper body strength and didn't want people to see that.....of course....it's tough to increase it if you don't do any lifting!!

Every day was pretty much the same.  I'd lose weight, plateau, and work the same muscles day after day.

When I use MY gym (aka, my living room), I get to follow a calendar for a program of my choice that varies my workouts so that I am NOT working the same muscles each day.

And if I am struggling....and can't finish my reps....or have to stop because I can't breathe...or have to drop the four pound weights and pick up the Q-Tip sized two pounders....nobody is there staring at me.  In fact, nobody even needs to know (although I guess the secret is out now...)

Working out at home has allowed me to actually BUILD upper body strength!  I can actually DO push-ups now!  Without being on my knees!  I actually HAVE triceps!  I even used the dumbbells AT THE GYM....IN FRONT OF PEOPLE!

And I keep seeing improvements!  The plateau doesn't happen because I keep mixing up my programs and working my muscles in different ways.  Could that happen at the gym?  Absolutely.  But I'd rather just pull out the pre-made calendar, grab the disc it tells me to grab that day and press play!