It’s a weeknight, my daughter is asleep in her room and in my room, I’m sweating profusely while a woman in a sports bra yells at me. I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. I bought a Peloton.
Like I am with most parties, I was late to this one. I bought mine a little more than half a year ago, which is at least a year after the big Peloton craze first got underway. I didn’t even have pandemic gym closures to blame, as local gyms were reopened by the time I bought my internet-enabled stationary bike. And I like gyms. I’ve worked with some great, thoughtful trainers here in Fort Lauderdale. But I needed to find something that worked best for me.
It’s January and each January, like a gym free trial week or a grapefruit diet, along comes our health and fitness issue. We try to not give you the same old thing you get every year at this time, so this year for our main feature story, I spoke to four people who take fitness seriously and have some different approaches to it.
One theme that came through is that you have to be true to yourself and find things that work for you. I’ve struggled with that over the years.
For years, I tried to make myself into a 6 a.m. workout guy. I could make it work for maybe two months tops, but I finally had to admit it wasn’t for me. Early mornings are for a second cup of coffee and the soothing tones of NPR for me, not a chipper trainer breaking the bad news about how many crunches I’ve got to do.
Beyond that, life gets in the way. I coach my daughter’s softball team. I go to PTA meetings. I stay a bit late working on the product you now see before you. One fitness pro I talked to, Christmas Abbott, talked about scheduling in blocks but cutting yourself some slack. If she’s blocked off a morning workout that starts at 9 a.m. but she’s running late at 9:05, that’s OK.
But I work best with instruction, and that five or 10 minute delay isn’t as good when I’ve booked in for a one-hour class.
So now I’ve got a bike with a screen that lives at the foot of my bed and is available literally whenever I want it. Is that the right option for you? Might be, might not be. Is it the right option for me? Early signs are good.
It’s easy to beat ourselves up about so many things; failing at a fitness plan shouldn’t be one. There are some proven methods when it comes to health and fitness, but there’s no one right answer. The thing that works for your neighbor or your cousin or that one high school friend with the annoyingly perfect abs might not work for you. The goal is to find the party you want to be at and then join it.
Doesn’t matter if you’re late.
