It’s been going on for weeks. Mr FFF knows and is all for it. The ‘someone’ I’ve been seeing is a personal trainer and so far, it’s going well.

I made the decision back at the beginning of the summer. I have a personal training session once a week and then I go independently another 2 times. My reasoning for paying more on top of my gym membership for PT sessions is that I’m an obliger* – I find it difficult to meet expections that I set for myself but easy(er) to meet someone else’s expections of me. I don’t want to turn up to my PT session on a Saturday and have to say to my trainer that I haven’t been since I last saw him.

I’ve also chosen to go with a gym program for a couple of reasons, despite the fact that I’ve previously always found the gym to be mind-numbingly boring. Historically, I’ve always preferred to attend group exercise classes such as Zumba, Step and Body Pump. I love the music and find that I push myself harder when there is an instructor watching me (there’s that obliger tendancy again). However, my busy schedule during term time means that meeting or training sessions sometimes cause me to miss a class. The problem is, rather than simply going again the following week, this can be enough of an excuse to kick me out of the habit. Going to the gym, however, means that although I’ll still have scheduled times for attending, if I can’t make it for some reason, I can simply go at another time that day or during the same week as I’m not relying on a class timetable.

I’ve been going since the second week in July and so far haven’t missed a session, even when I was on holiday. Before I went, I also booked a PT session for my usual time on the day I came back from holiday to get me straight back into the swing of my healthy lifestyle rather than letting any holiday laziness continue until the following Monday.

So far, it seems to be working and I’m seeing small steps of progress. I’m already lifting heavier weights than I was when I started and finding it easier to do so. The thing I am most proud of is that I can now do 3x 1 minute planks. Previously, I’d always struggled to get to 30 seconds when doing them in a group class, but when there’s someone sitting right next to you with a stopwatch in hand watching only you, (that obliger tendancy kicks in again) you dig that bit deeper.

The real test is going to come now that I’m back at work and have to exercise afterwards rather than getting it done out of the way first thing in the morning. I’ll update you in a few weeks and let you know how I’m getting on.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

What are your top tips for keeping to your exercise routine when you’re busy with work? Let me know in the comments section.

(*For more information on obligers and to find out whether you are an obliger, upholder, questions or rebel, visit Gretchen Rubin’s website to find out about her Four Tendencies Framework.)