Workout Journal: I don’t want to workout.

I never really want to workout. Which is probably surprising to most people. Even when I say it to myself I sometimes don’t believe it, but it’s true.

I DO always want the feeling and the results, but I don’t want to do it. And after over 20 years of chasing results and the high exercise can bring, I’m fortunate in some ways to know when it’s lacking. So, I’m able to push through on a daily basis despite being fatigued, or in pain, or lacking time. After all these years I can’t survive without physical movement.

But most times, once the workout has started, I’m just ticking down the time until I can be done. Usually, especially lately, there’s about a 10-15 minute long window during my workout in which I feel really good and I push it. The rest of it is really just warm up and cool down. Going through the motions, knowing it’ll be over soon and I can get on with my day.

But I do it because I know it’s good for me, and I know it’s the only way to get that feeling and see results I’m after. In all my years of training, there remains only one way to achieve results. And that’s putting in the work every day.

And so I remind myself that sacrificing my comfort in the short term will pays for itself in the benefits I receive long term. Checking out from whatever else it is that I think I’d rather be doing for that hour, is worth it. It’s always worth it. Never isn’t.

In over 20 years of fighting the battle to workout or not, choosing to work out has never disappointed. Likewise, not working out, skipping a workout, ignoring that internal push to workout, always results in negative physical, mental, and emotional consequences. It never pays.