I started my ~fitness journey~ last winter. After finishing my last season of gymnastics, left a little shocked I realized if I wanted a "spring break bod", to tone up before college, and to NOT gain the Freshman 15 I'd need to start moving my butt. That's where it all started, I got a membership at the Princeton Club with a group of friends and we went. At first all the time, and later less, we encouraged one another but at the end of the day, even when I went, it was something I almost always dreaded. Forcing myself to start with 10-25 minutes of cardio was 10-25 minutes too many for me, even on the elliptical.

I started to weight life and although I was intimidated going in I found lots of good recourses, namely Gymshark Models like Whitney Simmons who taught me lot's about eating well, staying fit, macros and micros etc. I was in pretty good shape, and it was easier for me to workout during the summer when I had lots of time and ambition.

That drive carried into the school year and I continued to workout although a little less diligently through my first semester of college while experimenting with my diet through eating habits like veganism. However, soon Winter Break came, aside from the poor weather of Madison Wisconsin, it was overall just a difficult time for me. I quickly lost my motivation to work out and by the time second semester rolled around, I hardly worked out. I was stressed about going to the gym even though I dreaded the idea but equally stressed about not going and losing my physique. I was stuck in an endless cycle of stress and not working out.

And queue what changed my attitude...

This summer I was looking for a cheaper way to stay fit, after some exploration I decided to try out a boxing gym I found on Groupon called Canvas Club Boxing. I was extremely nervous, boxing sounds like lots of cardio, and if you've gotten anything thus far, I hope it's my hate for cardio. I was worried I wouldn't be fit enough or that I wouldn't like it; but I decided to give it a shot nonetheless. Canvas offers a couple different classes, I started off with a 45 minute cardio intensive class that offers you "rounds" like in a boxing match of 3 or 5 minutes.

After the first class, my mind was made. I loved it. It was faced paced but switched up enough that I never got bored or tired of an exercise. It was exciting, whenever I went feeling tired I would leave energized and excited. I liked the look. I felt empowered. Months after I started I find myself liking it more and more everyday, especially now that I began to take the more advanced, technique and boxing focused Ringwork classes. Being the smallest girl in a classroom full of large, boxing men, only fuels my drive. I want to surprise people, I want to have skills and be able to hold my own with these men. I love feeling strong, empowered, and independent which is exactly what boxing enables me to do. Having something to work towards (becoming a better fighter) makes working out different every time, a goal to work towards and not just a repetitive routine I do a couple times a week for the rest of my life.

So, my advice to you, no, it's not to join your nearest boxing gym. Although if you feel that's what you need, GO FOR IT! My advice to you is don't settle. You can find a way to make working out fun for you. For it to be more than just a chore to check off and instead something that you look forward to and like to make time for. Whether it's Zumba, TRX, community soccer etc, take a look at what you DO like to do and research how you can incorporate that into a workout. You might be surprised.

From one former cardio-hater, to you,

get started, you got this!