I have a confession: I love the elliptical.
My life is extremely hectic and I’m always on the go. These days at work, I’m constantly craving to just leave my desk, go downstairs to the gym, put on my headphones and zone out on the elliptical. But of course, I don’t often because I’m trying to maintain discipline. Cycling will always be my primary form of cardio and since I already do way too much of it, I know I need to work on balancing the rest of my body so most of my free time at the gym is spent lifting heavy-ish things and squeezing in a couple super high intensity interval workouts once or twice a week. I really can’t afford to do anymore cardio!
It seems like ages ago but I use to be a such a gym-rat. I use to be the queen of the elliptical, the queen of HIIT training, the queen of burpees, the queen of wall balls… okay, self-proclaimed queen. I definitely wasn’t the queen of lifting because I didn’t care too much about increasing strength, but I lifted almost twice as much as I can now. I use to do these workouts that would leave you face down on the dirty gym floor, curled up in a ball and gasping for breath… and I always looked forward to them.
These days, I have to admit I don’t love burpees or wall balls as much as I did a couple of years ago. I rarely do any intense circuit training. If my old gym-buddies saw me now, I would need to hang my head in shame. I did intense circuit today and was dreading it the entire morning so I had to make a constant effort to remind myself that I’ll deal with the pain when it’s happening, instead of agonizing over it beforehand. I want to throw up when I think back to how I use to do hundreds and hundreds of burpees for fun! Maybe one day I will get back into that…
Once I set my mind on something I always follow through, so after I finished my circuit and some heavy lifting, I rewarded myself with 20 minutes on the Elliptical.
I found my solution: the elliptical will now only be an award after a proper workout. I cherish it because it allows me to totally zone out with my music while not having to worry about my surroundings. It is therapeutic and I use it because I want to, not because I need to. On the bike, I am constantly on high alert and if were a runner, I would be paranoid about falling on the treadmill (thank god I don’t run). I still very rarely do steady-state on the elliptical… but I really really love you, elliptical! You were there since the beginning of my journey.
