Exercise and thinking out loud

[opusculus]

Okay so, I have completely failed on my New Years Resolution regarding exercise! I am largely whatever on that because honestly I don't really do New Years Resolutions, but it did get me at least think about why I'm apparently so determined to avoid my gym.

So basically, what I realized is that, as much as I enjoy the workouts at my gym and how theoretically they actually are completely scalable from person to person - in practice, the gym has a very strong culture of encouraging everyone to do a little more than they think they could. ...In strict moderation, this could be a good thing! But in practice, I think this results in people who are at the bottom of the fitness scale being pushed too hard and too fast to quite take it up without damage.

I've quit going two or three times aready, but the time most illustrative of my problem was when I quit because I was sore 24/7 and being pushed to do one more pushup on the wall when I could no longer do pushups even of my upper torso in order to complete the set was the final straw. I do best with an expected structure and people around me expecting me to do it, and I'm willing to push myself to within a certain degree. I enjoy pushing myself and people encouraging me to push myself can be fine! But the fastest way to make me go no and also fuck you is to push me slightly too hard on anything, and I think that's what my gym was doing without me realizing it because apparently in my mind that's what exercise is about. Which, you know. No and also fuck that shit.

So. Part of me really wants to go back even despite that! I really love the theoretical scaledness and pushing myself within my limits and the focus on strength and the fact that it's never the same twice. Buuuut realistically I don't think dealing with people trying to push me past my limits, even with the best of intentions, is a remotely good idea. I don't need to start going fuck you no in regards to exercise again. I kind of want to write them an email explaining what my problem is and why, because I think overall it's a tiny gym owned by pretty nice people and if they listen I think it could help other people, but on a personal level I think I'll go in tomorrow and cancel my subscription.

Bah. Now I don't know what I'm going to do about exercise.

Comments

[inthetatras]

That would do it. It's like the exact opposite for me. See, I grew up in southwest Minneapolis, on creekfront property, within walking distance of both a park and several lakes, all of which have both walking paths and bike paths all around them. it would be strange to grow up in a neighborhood like that and not do a lot of biking and walking. The more suburban areas of Minneapolis are great for walking, and about the only bad place for riding bikes is downtown where bikes have to use a special bike lane in the street because the sidewalks are off-limits. I'm much less familiar with St. Paul, but while downtown St. Paul is also not particularly conducive to bike riding, it's not bad for walking. This probably due largely to the large public transit system the Twin Cities have. A couple hundred bus routes and plenty of sidewalk plus expensive parking ramps in downtown = more people walking, biking, and busing. I've seen areas in various suburbs that lack in sidewalk, though, and those would . . . probably suck for walking/biking depending on how much traffic they get.

[opusculus]

That sounds really nice, actually. I've always wistfully contemplated moving someplace that actually let you walk around, because it just sounds so much nicer than having to drive everywhere all the time. SoCal in general basically grew big at exactly the same time that cars were seen as the way of the future with no downsides whatsoever, so everything about its infrastructure assumes that everyone drives everywhere, and culturally we're kind of ridiculous about never walking anywhere.

[inthetatras]

It is pretty nice. It probably would drive me nuts to live somewhere where you simply can't get around very much without a car. I . . . yeah, I had a driver's permit for a year back in the 90s, and haven't bothered to get a license since then. There's no way I could have afforded to have my own car at any point; I would have most likely borrowed my parents' cars, under their approval. As for SoCal, I had honestly expected there to be at least some walkability simply because that was my impression of the place, but that impression is sorely warped based on a couple trips to Los Angelos back when I was in the single digits of age. (I have family out there, cousins iirc.) It's no wonder I am baffled.

[opusculus]

My understanding is that you can do fine in at least some areas of LA proper? Although I've heard there's a bias towards making public transport for the tourists, rather than the people living there because obviously everyone living there has a car or should just get one already.

It's just that in general LA has been spreading out rather than building up - I think the metropolitan area around LA probably around 60 miles wide at its widest point, and about 80 miles north to south. (This impression is made by googling google maps directions and may not be valid.) We have a huge population, but for a gigantic metropolitan area we're just not that densely populated.

[inthetatras]

That is one ridiculously large metropolitan area. I hear 'metropolitan area' and envision, at most, a region that is 25mi by 25mi maximum. Then again, I hear a city/suburb's population of exceeding 200,000 and think "HUGE." xD;

[opusculus]

Yeah, it's kinda ridiculous when you think about it! I do like cities, though.

[inthetatras]

Do you know much about Sacramento, or is that part of NorCal outside your general knowledge?

[opusculus]

Pretty much nothing. Why?

[inthetatras]

I'm planning to go there sometime this year, and all this talk about accessibility in California made me think, "Oh crap, I had better find out what the transportation out there is like long before I actually go."

[opusculus]

Have fun! Yeah, probably a good idea to check. NorCal's generally infinitely better about public transport than SoCal, but I don't know about Sacramento in particular.

[inthetatras]

Thanks, I plan to! Here's to hoping Google supplies me with some decent, informative links. Barring that, I can pester my brother about it some.