I am the kind of person who hates to exercise, and even more than that: hates the gym environment and the sight of big buffed up bodies. Somehow, I have always found the setting very aggressive and completely foreign to me. I guess because the esthetics of the gym ( iron, hard muscles, machines) seem very punitive.
I wish there were gyms in forest settings, populated by the Elves from "Lord of the Rings" with ab work done on a bed of flowers to divine flute music... But I disgress.
Believe me, by looking at me: you can tell that the bookstore is my place of predilection and not the gym
!
But of course, I do hate to look like a big piece of lard with the muscle mass of a firefly....
I have to admit: vanity is my motor, and that looking good is the reason I would do any kind of exercise. ( well, being paid could work)
And also, like everyone, I like a quick fix solution!
The past 5 weeks,I was successful at losing weight, by restricting my food intake, but I could not get myself to be motivated to go to the gym.
Even though there is one in my building. I tried and tried and tried to get myself there, but couldn t push myself to do it. I have muscle trained, with trainers in the past, yet I profoundly disliked the work on machines and the no pain / no gain attitude, as well as the way I gained muscle. I was getting a firmer, more muscular body, but I was not getting the type of body I wanted.
I then asked myself: when was the last time I transformed my body significantly, in a way that was esthetically pleasing to me ( remember, I am vain) and in a short amount of time? I remembered doing Callanetics, years ago. I decided to give it a try. I have a 20 Mns Callanetics on my computer, a copy from a VHS, and I have started doing it every day.
I go to bed very late, and tend to eat my last bite at about 9 pm. I know that it is optimum to exercise after your last meal, but have never been able to do it, because I have no energy for the typical muscle training routine at that time. Because the Callanetics program is challenging but short enough to tackle, I have been able to exercise, even as late as midnight, without demotivating myself.
The results have been amazing! I have never seen my body shrinking and firming at that rate! Not only that, but my posture has changed, the lower back pain I usually get after sit ups and regular gym exercises is history, and I feel a tingling in my muscles hours after I have exercised. I went to check the DVD on Amazon.com and the reviews are raving about this type of exercise. I even get better results than with Pilates.
The production values are horrendous and the fashion in the DVD is laughable, but I can live with that for 20 minutes. I am going to buy the DVD that has both routines( AM and PM) and endeavor to do both routines in one day.That would be 40 minutes per day.( The AM segment I am doing is 25 minutes but only 20 minutes of actual exercising).
I recommend this to anyone who has a hard time getting motivated. Results are a wonderful motivation.