BLOG: Gymaphobia

By Kristi Lambert

When it comes to writing up a New Year’s resolutions, one of the most common things I hear is to develop a daily exercise routine. As resolution makers, I’m sure many of us have the best intentions to lose those few extra pounds we gained over the holidays, if you know what I mean. Or perhaps we are simply seeking to live a healthier lifestyle.

Then come around March -or even earlier if you’re like me- schedules get busier and we tend to lack in or completely give up on hitting the gym every day and we contract the fatal condition of gymaphobia. Let’s face it, it’s a vicious cycle. We find ourselves making a long list of excuses.

·         You can’t justify leaving the apartment when you have that English paper due, even though you’ll be procrastinating it because you almost have your entire wedding planned on Pinterest.  

·         You’re afraid that Jack Frost will abduct you on your way to the Fieldhouse.

·         You just happen to “lose” your darn ID card again.

·         You’ve already showered once this week and you wanted to test the endurance of one application of your deodorant.

·         Perhaps your roommates decided to have a Call of Duty marathon for the fourth time this week and you simply can’t cancel that appointment.

·         You’re frightened certain areas of your anatomy are more buoyant than others and will draw unwanted attention while on the treadmill.

·         You don’t want that impressively sculpted Megan Fox look alike or the hunky Hugh Jackman you sit next to in Chemistry class to realize what looks like muscle is actually fat.

·         Thanks to Andy Anderson’s anatomy class, it has become too stressful watching people move in their skeletal form.

·         You have a World of Warcraft raid with your clan whose members mostly reside in Shanghai, China.

·         No shave November may have lasted a little too long because some of us are too cheap to use more than one razor in one sitting.

Here’s the thing, I’ll be one of the first to admit I am sick of being out of breath walking up those three flights of stairs to get to my class. Long gone are the days where I can rely on my rigorous high school sport practices to keep me in shape. Something needs to change.

This is precisely why I enrolled in the Fun Fit Forever program offered on campus. No longer am I going to be gymaphobic.