At the beginning of this semester, I started to go to the gym just about every day where I would cycle, treadmill, row, or use the stride trainer. Although those are all pretty great ways to get in exercise, I didn’t realize how long it has been since I truly worked out until I tried to do my old daily work out Sunday. It was sad… I couldn’t do 10 decent push-ups until my fourth try and doing 10 sit-ups was a challenge until I got warmed up more.

This is unbelievably frustrating for me because although I have built up the stamina for hours of cardio it used to be strength training that was my bread and butter for lack of a better term.

So where do I go from here? Back in my middle school and high school days my Dad used to have me do 10 push-ups in the morning and the evening as a baseline. I really didn’t appreciate that until today. It’s time to revive the old routine, because Dad, was right. (I know he reads the articles I write so I can’t wait for the call I am going to get after he sees this.)

Working my way back up to a strong core is my way to get back to real training because I honestly miss the feeling of my muscles burning, the satisfaction of lifting more than I have before or doubling the number of repetitions I did last time. Working out is one of the most satisfying activities I can do in a day because it is something that I am doing completely for myself.

It took me a long time to get to the attitude that I am working out for me and not because someone is telling me I need to or I should. As much as I appreciate my Dad’s encouragement to work out daily it took getting to college and having absolutely no outside pressure to work out besides my want to have my rock hard calves again, or to climb a mountain this summer to really motivate me and help me realise what working out really does for me.

There are so many perks to getting back into the workout game besides the “gains”:

1. Regulation of sleep and digestion
2. Motivation to work out increases the more you work out
3. Feeling your muscles burn and knowing that progress has been made
4. Making friends at the gym
5. Seeing or feeling real results, whether it's being able to increase your amount of repetitions or even slimming down a little

Working out is a personal experience and journey, when someone embarks on a fitness journey it is theirs and theirs alone. No two bodies are exactly alike therefore my work out may be different than yours but the mental and emotional gains could be the exactly the same. The feeling of empowerment from hitting or surpassing fitness goals, looking in the mirror and focusing on the positives, like your eyes or your smile, or the new shine that your hair has taken on recently.

Being proud of yourself and your body, having a positive body image, those are the true gains of working out.