Confusion Corner: Go to the Rec? In a world where burritos exist?

FILE PHOTO / THE FLAT HAT

I have a question to pose to the dedicated fitness gurus and weightlifting buffs of our campus: How exactly do you force yourself to go to the Student Recreation Center and work out? This question comes from someone who has only been to the Rec once this semester. And it was to meet with my group for a class project. And I was eating Chipotle.

I mean, it isn’t that I don’t like working out. Okay, okay, I don’t like working out. No one really does. The feeling after is what motivates most of us to do it again. But for me, it is something about the gym itself. I don’t mind going for a run in Colonial Williamsburg or around campus — mostly for the endorphin rush after — or trying out yoga in my dorm room. My advice for anyone who wants to do this: Warn your roommate first, or they will be very taken aback when they come home still groggy from their 8 a.m. class. Yet, going to the Rec to get on a treadmill or try my hand at the weights fills me with a sense of dread.

This problem amplifies as the temperatures cool and winter rolls around.

How exactly does one crush this gym dismay? Unless you live in Yates, the Green and Gold Village, or the Fraternity houses, getting to the gym and back takes up the same amount of time as a workout itself. The frosty weather makes outfit choice difficult for the hike to the Rec. One is forced either to walk there in workout shorts and risk pneumonia in the process, or to bundle up in sweatpants and then awkwardly have to take off said pants at the gym.

Then there is the problem of feeling a bit ridiculous while working out surrounded by gym rats and/or exercise experts. I ran cross country in high school and have no idea what I am doing when I walk into a weight room. While I would like to be able to lift with the rest of them, my dearth of dumbbell knowhow could be a danger to not only myself, but to the innocent bystanders exercising around me as well. I also always seem to feel out of place, no matter where in the gym I attempt to get my fitness on.

The biggest issue any TWAMP may face when attempting to squash a distaste for elliptical machines is time. We are all busy, whether with schoolwork or extracurricular activates. While it may seem like a great idea to get up at 7 a.m. to exercise, I always find myself hitting the snooze button in an attempt to get a few more zzz’s and feel more rested during the day. Every fall semester, without fail, as schoolwork gets more intense and the weather gets colder, I am less inclined to try to get myself to the Rec to work out.

What I am trying to say, truly, is congratulations to those who don’t get weighed down by excuses to avoid the Rec. Hopefully, a little of your perseverance and motivation will rub off on the rest of us in the spring semester. Or, if you are someone that struggles with the idea of going to the Rec, just remember that while working out might not be great, getting some post-workout Jamba Juice is.

Sky Sprayberry is a Confusion Corner columnist who wrote this column from her room — but she was wearing workout clothes and typing extra hard.

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