The Absolute Best Workout For A Great Body

This morning my alarm went off at 8.30. I wasn’t overly happy about it. 8.30 is not so early, I hear all you busy people thinking. What’s she complaining about?

A few important things I think you need to know:

• It’s Saturday morning (I don’t have kids yet so weekends should be precious sleep-in time, shouldn’t they?)
• Although I went to bed at 11.30 I was woken about 4 times by my unusually restless boyfriend
• I didn’t feel like getting up (I think you’ll agree this is the most important point here!)

I had been planning to attend a 10am Bikram yoga class, preceded by a little writing and some great coffee. 90 minutes of sweaty yoga may not appeal to you on a warm Summer’s day, but I bet you’ll agree that starting your day with exercise always makes you feel good after, if not during.

But when that alarm went off, when I became aware of the crustiness around my eyes that symbolized an incomplete sleep, when I thought about the idea of simply turning the darn thing off and enjoy a lazy morning, you have to bet you know what I did.

Damn right. I turned it off and went back to sleep.

Except –

I couldn’t get back to sleep right away. I started thinking about how I was going to feel later today if I miss my workout. Especially given I know we’ll end up going out for breaky and I’ll probably indulge in a big meal, even if not an unhealthy one. And then that pesky mind of mine started reminding me of how great I always feel after I workout. Of the sense of pride I get after every sweat session. Even after the ones where I don’t give 110% – I’m still proud that I’ve kept the ball rolling. Fought the onset of the ‘I-can’t-be-bothered’s’ for another day.

The absolute best workout you can do for a great body is the one that you nearly flaked out on. It disguises itself in different ways. You can’t always recognize it at first. In fact, sometimes you probably have a genuinely good excuse. Doesn’t matter. If you want your Body Incredible this year you’re going to have to suck it up and do it anyway. Here’s what to look out for:

• The workout that you’re too tired to go ahead with

• The one that you miss because a meeting goes overtime or the boss asks you to stay back

• The one that you give up because your partner/your kids/your friends are demanding your time

• The session you decide is not such a great idea because you’re just not feeling your best

• The one that threatens to interrupt your morning sleep-in/favorite TV show/mid-afternoon siesta.

There was a time when any or all of these things were good enough reasons for me not to follow through. Each time I genuinely had a good excuse. Or I justified that it’s not healthy to exercise every day, that I needed a rest day. What’s more, I really was very busy. But the funny thing was, the occasional skipped workout each week kinda turned into two each week. Plus none on the weekends. Didn’t take long before I was barely doing one ‘real’ session each week.

I put on 8 kilos (18 pounds) that year. And it took me nearly 2 years to lose it.

You know these workouts. You’ve seen them coming your way in the past. And you’re sure going to meet them again.

The absolute best workout for finding and keeping your great body is the one you don’t want to do but go ahead with anyway.

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