With the exception of Christmas weekend and my sick day last week, I’ve achieved my goal of getting to the Y three times a week since I rejoined in mid-December. Part of my workout is getting to the gym. It’s 3/4 of a mile from our apartment, which is a distance that I absolutely refuse to drive. If the weather is so bad that I cannot walk there (which is very rare), I just don’t go that day.
Most days, I alternate walking and running on the trip there. Other than the walk/run to and from the Y, my workouts mostly consist of weight lifting, though I’ve thrown a couple of Zumba classes into the mix. The first class was a disaster, with my uncoordinated limbs all over the place, rarely in-sync with the instructor. I went to my second class last night, and it went much better.
I’m not a complete Zumba newbie. In fact, I bought the video tapes back in college, when Zumba was relatively new. After my embarrassing debut at the Y class, I searched for the tapes so I could work on my moves in private, but they’re nowhere to be found. Fortunately, Zumba is a great cardio workout, and it’s FUN — like one big dance party — so I’ll just keep going to the classes and work on my skills there.
Tiny Choices just posted on the environmental impact of gym exercise:
. . . there’s not much of a contest that exercising at the gym is probably not the greenest way you can exercise. . . . in general [a gym] is a large open space that is kept brightly lit and heated/ventilated at all times. That is a huge energy sink!
Fortunately, they did not conclude that gyms are a bad thing to be avoided at all costs, and they give some helpful suggestions for making your gym-going as green as possible. For me, the fact that I am paying for a gym membership is definitely a motivating factor — I want to get my money’s worth!
Anyway, after the decidedly sedentary start to the beginning of my pregnancy, I’m very happy to be getting some regular physical activity. I’m looking forward to continuing to use my bike for transportation on the weekends, but that’s a bit limited due to weather and road conditions this time of year, so for now, the Y is a great option.
Her Green Life 