A little background

I don’t go to the gym.

I did once, back in high school, I think (it’s been so many years that I can’t even remember).

My mindset back then was simple:

• I was excited at the prospect of getting fit and building some muscle.
• I had a gym really close by to where I lived (just a 15 minute walk away), and it was cheap too (thank goodness for city-run gyms).
• I had a friend who would go to that gym every so often, and he was someone who lived close but not nearly as close as I did, so when I heard he was going, I simply had to go too.
• And it was summer, so with school out of the picture, I had all the time in the world to go to the gym.

I was ready to get fit. I was ready to build some muscle. I was ready to be a gym bro.

Then I started going. It was exciting for some time. I’d never used any of the gym machines before (treadmills looked terrifying), and it was cool to try them out (leg curl machine what?). I even saw some noticeable gains (sliightly bigger arms and calves, always nice to see).

Then I stopped and never went back.

What happened?

At the start of the pandemic simply leaving home was a hassle, and going to the gym was out of the question. I didn’t have any home workout equipment, so I couldn’t do anything at home either. I tried to do some pushups and situps, but it wasn’t the same (I’ve always struggled with those, mainly from a lack of motivation and also just a lack of general fitness to even be able to do such exercises… yeah, I’m that guy). I didn’t have the motivation to do it. I didn’t have the energy to do it. I just wanted to get through the day (and I did… entirely on the computer).

Then, when things started opening up again, I had a lot of other things on my plate. I was heading to the University of Toronto for the first time, and boy was the workload a handful. When I wasn’t busy with studying and working on assignments I would spend time working as a research assistant at the Digital Mobilities Lab ↗ (where I worked on data analysis and dashboard of COVID statistics in Toronto… the pandemic really took up a huge amount of our headspace back then).

So I really didn’t have a lot of time to go to the gym. I also didn’t have a lot of motivation to go. It was just easier to stay home and do nothing.

Now university is almost over (thank goodness), I’ve been through a few internships (currently finishing up one at CPP Investments ↗) so worrying about them is no longer hovering around the top of my mind, and I’m starting to think about what I want to do next.

I still don’t have a lot of time on my hands now (adulting does that to you), but I want to make the most of it. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about time management from these part 4 years of university, it’s that there will never be enough time for you to do everything you want, so you have to make time to do things you want to do.

I want to be more active. I want to be more fit. I want to be a gym bro again.

Taking the first step (again)

I’ve been looking to today for a while now. I wanted to go to the gym again, but it was still cold as heck (it literally snowed in early April this year), and I didn’t want to deal with the whole changing-between-my-work-and-workout-clothing and the like while I still had to wear a sweater with my jacket. I wanted to wait until it was warm enough to go out in a t-shirt and some trousers (and not freeze my butt off… maybe add a light jacket to make wind less of an annoyancew).

And so I just did exactly that. I waited until the end of the workday at 5pm today, and then I went out to the gym. I had a light jacket on, and I was wearing a t-shirt and some trousers. I was ready to go.

It was better than I expected. I was a little nervous at first, and there was definitely a moment of uncertainty before I left where I didn’t want to even bother going out today (I can be lazy like that… but also because I was expecting a large crowd. Spoiler alert: there wasn’t any). But I was determined to start going to the gym again, and I’d already paid for my membership for the next 3 months, so I had to go. I had to make the most of it.

I walked to the gym, got my little card to scan in, and then I was in. And it was almost completely empty.

I didn’t really have a plan going in, so I got on the treadmill, and I started walking. I didn’t want to do anything too crazy on my first day back (I didn’t want to overdo it; also I went close to all out on my first day many years back and I was insanely sore the day after, so I definitely tried to make sure that didn’t happen again), so I just walked for 5 minutes. Started off slow, getting used to pace. And then I just ramped it up to a nice jog. I felt slightly uneasy at first, but then I got into the groove of things (and then started getting a little out of breath too). The thing about running is that it really does clear your mind. Heck, I had some workout mix playing in the background on Spotify, and even that was mostly tuned out.

I alternating between walking and jogging for about 15 minutes, then decided to move on to working out my arms. Ended up on the lat pull down machine (something I used before), and did a couple sets. I was mainly just focusing on my form, and tried to stick to a light weight (but I also wanted to stretch myself juuust a little bit). I did a few sets of 10-15 reps, and then moved on to the leg curl machine, did more of the same there. After that, I could definitely feel my arms and legs getting a little sore, but I was still feeling good, so I finished off with another set of light jogging on the treadmill. I thought about doing some more, but I didn’t want to overdo it. I wanted to make sure I was still able to walk tomorrow (and the day after that).

The endorphin rush is truly incredible. I was a little sweaty (not too much though), and I felt good all the walking home and for quite a bit of time afterwards. I was feeling accomplished (day one done!). And that felt good.

Tracking workouts using the Hevy app

Part of the reason why I wanted to go to the gym again was because I also wanted to track my workouts using this swanky new app I found: Hevy. The thing that really attracted me to it was their public REST API, which means that I can integrate my workouts and progress on sadman.ca. I love tracking what I do (including what I read ↗ and what I watch ↗), so this was a match made in heaven.

If I had some more time on my hands, I would’ve built something to embed my first workout below. But I took a look at the API docs and Hevy deserves a post of its own (and I don’t have the time to do that right now).

So I’ll just leave you here with a screenshot of my first workout.

A message to everybody who wants to go to the gym

The old Nike adage continues to ring true.

You know it’s worth it. You know you want to do it. You know you want to be fit. You know you want to be active. You know you want to be a gym bro (or gym gal). So just do it. Plan out a start date on your calendar. Prepare ahead of time (get your gym clothes, water bottle, and headphones and all ready to go). And then just go.

Everybody’s glancing at everybody else at the gym, but nobody’s really paying attention to you. Because everybody’s there for themselves. And once you start getting into doing your routine, you forget about everything else. It’s nice.

What’s next?

I gotta get my dad to start going too. He used to go to the gym a lot, but he stopped going the same time I did when COVID hit. I think he wants to get back into it too, so maybe I’ll take him with me next time. I also want to encourage him to try new workouts and stay consistent.

So I have my next workout bookmarked for tomorrow. I want to take some time to recover too (I may have overdone it a little bit today), but I want to keep the momentum going. Because I don’t just want to go to the gym, I want to be someone who goes to the gym. I want it to be a part of my life, just like how reading is.

And the only way to do that is to keep going. Here’s to hoping I can keep it up!