It was a couple weeks ago while leaving work in my workout clothes to head to a Pure Barre class when I overheard, ‘oh, you’re sweating for the wedding huh?’. I threw my gym bag over my shoulder; chuckled, smiled and then continued out the door.
I’m not sure what it was about the comment that just really stuck with me. I mean, no one ever asked me what I was sweating for before we had a wedding date. Maybe because at my current job my co-workers have only seen me ‘engaged’ and don’t realize that I’ve always been rather regimented in my workouts and cared about my health.
Before I had a ring on my finger, even before I started dating Matt, I woke up early and got in a workout before work; sometimes would even hit up the gym or a group fitness class after work as well. I’ve run numerous 5k’s, some 10k’s and even completed a half marathon – which I trained and spent early morning hours (sometimes after late night drinking binges) training for; all of which were before that shiny little ring appeared.
A couple months ago, Rev Cycle studio asked clients to share a couple paragraphs around ‘Why I Rev’; I sat down and really thought about my current motivations and the why behind my workouts (you can read the full post HERE). In summary, it all came down to the power of positivity and how that positivity has helped to change my mindset around working out and has helped me achieve goals I’ve never been able to achieve before.
Let me explain,
Like I said, I’ve always been regimented in my workouts, but I never had the positive influences of instructors like those at Pure Barre, RevCycle Studio or SolidCore. I’ve gone to a personal trainer, overpaid at a boutique boot camp style gym and even tried some other fad type workouts – but I was never encouraged with positivity which I found had a big impact on my mental health as well as not hitting physical goals. Each and every instructor at the above-mentioned studios believe in you and it shows through their encouragement before, during and after each class.
So back to this post – am I sweating for the wedding? I guess, sort of? But I’m also sweating for much more…
I’m sweating to relieve stress,
I’m sweating to take my mind off of everything that’s going on around me,
I’m sweating to improve my health,
I’m sweating because I like the way it makes me feel mentally and the physical effects it has on my body,
I’m sweating because I CAN.
So if you ask me if I’m sweating for the wedding just know I might smile and not get too far into it with you. But in reality, I’m sweating for today and every day after our wedding day because I want to do everything in my power to live a long and healthy life with the person I am making a commitment to ON our wedding day, the person I love (looking at you MVT 😉 ).
Pictured above: Hitting 100 classes at Pure Barre Baltimore last year. Update: I just surpassed 250 last month!
Just a quick PS – if you are ‘sweating for the wedding’ good for you – if it’s the motivation you are using to get a 30-minute workout in then don’t let me make you feel like you shouldn’t be using your wedding day as motivation. I just want to make the point that just because everyone assumes you’re working out just for a wedding doesn’t mean you 1 – have to or 2 – simply are.
Photo by: Gio (@giovannimd / Giovanni Vargas).
XO,
M
Yeahhh girl!! Tell em!