Exercise in the City

I am a lazy person. At least I used to be. When I moved to NY from Boston a year and a half ago, I was super stressed about not having a car, and having to walk everywhere, and especially having to carry things!! Carry cat litter home with me? All 14 lbs? How many blocks??

The idea of exercising never even entered my mind. I’m walking everywhere! Why would I need to dedicate time to exercising?? In Boston, I did hot yoga a couple times a week at a fantastic studio called Inner Strength (I highly recommend it). But the whole experience was “easy” - I kept my yoga mat in my car, drove to and from the studio and that was that. In NY, if I wanted to even do something as relaxing as yoga, I would have to face crowds, subways, bring my yoga mat to work, lug things around etc. etc. whine whine whine. No way, not happening.

Then... I got engaged. What is it about a wedding that changes your outlook on things? I started thinking about exercise, which for me was a big step. In August 2011, I officially joined the New York Sports Club near me and started running. Er... using a treadmill. I have been consistently exercising for about 6 months. But the thing is, running on the treadmill every time is really boring.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that I can watch TV and run at the same time (I’m kind of a TV-aholic). Part of the reason I haven’t kept up with an exercise routine EVER is that I get bored and stop wanting to do the same thing over and over again. So I tried to switch it up a little. I went to a yoga class, I tried the bike, and most importantly, I started running home from work (which is a 5 mile trek). But... I wanted to do something different. Oh and, I want to get my arms and abs into better shape, and cardio doesn’t really do that.

My wonderful fiancee suggested the weight room, but I really can’t get over the stereotype that a weight room is full of meaty guys and I’m just this tiny little girl who has no idea what she is doing. Also, I don’t like people helping me with things (I’m a little OCD as you will learn) and I feel like when you look like you have no idea what is happening, people want to help you.

I found the Pure Yoga website and saw that they offer 1 complementary class at their studio, and decided I’d like to try it. I went with a couple of friends and did a hot yoga class reminiscent of my Inner Strength days in Boston. Loved it. Unfortunately, Pure Yoga’s prices and my teacher’s salary do not agree with each other, and I will not become a member there anytime soon. However, I hatched an idea... what if I take trial classes at lots of different places? It would fulfill my desire to do something different all the time, keep me out of the meaty weight room (no offense to those who like the weight room) and hopefully get me into better shape without breaking the bank.

So here is my experiment... will I reach my fitness goals by taking classes at different places across the city?