No barriers

Some of us are fitness maximalists.  We want All The Toys.  We have special shorts for biking, special shoes for running, special music for weight lifting, special color-coded charts for everything we do, optimally electrolyte-balanced drinks, and superfood endowed snacks.  Then there are those of us who just show up and do whatever.

I am not here to criticize either approach.  After all, my home gym is also my workplace and so has pretty much one of everything and sometimes two and yet I use the same pair of cross-training shoes for most of my cardio and I don’t own any padded shorts.

The key is:  what works.  I could not handle the deep boredom of most cardio without music, so I make sure I can listen while I sweat.  When I did long distance biking, I had my preferred energy packets and my favorite drinks, but I also knew I could get by on water and GORP if needed.  If those fancy weight training gloves get you to show up, use them.  If having to track down all your gear gets in the way, skip it.

Either way, it makes sense to make working out as simple as possible for ourselves.  When we have a place for our stuff and can grab it and go, we are more likely to do the workout.  Let’s not add any more barriers.