apologies/ late post for Friday

This should be on Friday.... sorry....

In my defense, the wi-fi was out at the hotel we're staying at.  I should have scheduled a post for today in the event that happens, but now I know that I should do that thing.

I'm currently on a school trip until Wednesday; we're doing cool Shakespeare-y things at cool theaters and stuff. More on that when we get back to school.

Tonight, however, I'm writing about working out - going to the gym and stuff.

Most of the time, when I tell people I'm trying to work out and get in shape, the first thing they say is, "but you look fine. You don't need to go to the gym." This doesn't help.

I do need to go to the gym. The CDC recommends that adults get 2.5 hours of moderate exercise per week (half an hour, five days a week), or 1.25 hours of vigorous exercise per week (15 minutes, five days a week). I did that in high school. During 2014, I didn't really do that. I didn't really eat too well, either. I'm not expecting myself to get back to my high school level of fitness, but I do expect myself to get onto a healthy track. Though weight loss is part of my goal, it is only one part. Going to the gym every day is more important than the number on the scale.

What troubles me is how people react to my announcement that I'm Trying To Be Healthier - the gut reaction of "oh, you look fine, you don't need to go to the gym more often." The implication seems to be that there's only one reason for going to the gym - to lose weight. Again, weight loss is a part of the goal, but not the whole goal. My bigger goal is to lower my mile time and increase my muscle training. If that means my weight stays the same, so be it. There are more important things than the number on the scale.

I can't help but wonder, though, why people keep telling me that I look fine and that I don't need to go to the gym. People on sports teams aren't told that they look fine and don't have to go to the gym. People who are already very fit and muscular aren't told that they don't need to go to the gym; those folks are expected to be in the gym every day. So why not me, too? Why not everyone?

It could be that people are trying to be complimentary when they say these things - that does seem like the overt sentiment. Somehow, though, it seems like there's something underlying that compliment. It seems as if the people are saying, "you shouldn't go to the gym. I don't go to the gym. You look reasonably fit, and if you're increasing your gym time, I feel bad about myself because I haven't gone to the gym all semester, and I want to maintain my good body image, so please don't increase your gym time because now I feel worse about myself."

In the end, it doesn't matter wherefore or whether people think I should or should not work out more. The only thing that really matters is maintaining a healthy lifestyle, which includes increased time working out. If people are insecure about maintenance of health, maybe they should look at their own health and why they're insecure about it.

On public gyms

I went home for a volunteer gig this weekend. While home, my mom and I pursued our quests for personal fitness by going to the community center to use the workout machines. I have no problem with this. I like this plan.

The part I always forget about public workout facilities is that they're public. Technically, there is nothing wrong with this. When I'm home, however, I'm used to running on trails in regional parks - outdoors and alone. The only real social courtesies you have to remember are to make sure the people ahead of you hear if you want to pass them, and not to let your dog poop on the trail without picking it up. However fast or slow you go is up to you - and you run into all speeds and skill levels.

Public gyms put everyone in the same room and add a social layer of visibility: no matter you fitness level or mile time, THEY CAN SEE YOU. Sometimes the only consolation I can offer myself on a bad day is that only God and I saw the whole run. When I'm in a public gym, though, I'm plagued by self-doubt - usually along the lines of "I bet that five-year-old chasing his dad around the track is running faster than me" and "I'm sure those teenagers playing basketball are secretly laughing at my lack of endurance" and "those gray-haired individuals probably think this 20-year-old is a wimp."

The thing is, most of those are probably untrue and are very self-centered. I dom't have any kids I have to look after, so I have many years of training to make sure I can keep up with any five-year-olds I may wind up having custody of. As judgmental as people can get, I'm pretty sure the teenagers and gray-haired people alike care more about their own games of basketball and badminton than they care about my mile time.

And yet, all the fears I have are directly proportionate to how many other people per square foot there are in the workout area. There are few times anyone else cares about my pace: to make sure they can get their basketball off the track before I (or any other runner) accidentally run them over, or when my mom is wondering when I'm done. So why do I care so much? The very fact that I'm priming my muscles for fitness should send the signal that I am working on being a physically viable member of the species, and that I am resisting the urge to sit on the couch and marathon Doctor Who with a bunch of yarn and cookies.  Maybe I'm scared that people would realize I sometimes prefer the TV-and-cookies route and call me an imposter?

In the end, though, nobody really cares. Just like in real life, be polite to people in the gym. And that's all.