I love the feeling I get after a good workout, but sometimes I lose the motivation to get to the gym. I’ll admit it, when it’s freezing outside, curling up on the couch sounds so much better!

Spring and summer are just around the corner though, and I wanted to get out of my winter slump. A few weeks ago, I started rewarding myself for exercising. Whenever I have a day where I’m just not feeling up for it, I’ll give myself a bitty incentive.

Most of the rewards I give myself are small things. I’m a crazy busy girl with school, work and my internship here at GL, so I’m always behind on my fave TV shows.

One day, I told myself that if I went to the gym, I would give myself an hour break from HW to catch up on some shows that I had saved on my Tivo (hello, Vampire Diaries!). Another day, my reward was to let myself have a handful of M&M’s—a girl needs a chocolate fix every so often.

The last thing I want to do is go work out on Fridays...I just want to relax. But I never want to end the week on a bad note. So, if I’ve exercised hard for the past few days, I’ll do one more workout. I might splurge a little and tell myself that if I make it to the gym, I’ll let myself go buy a super-cute (and cheap!) pair of flip-flops for spring. That’s reason enough to spend an extra 5 minutes on the treadmill!

So if you’re dragging a little and can’t get off the couch, make a reward list for yourself. It may take some moanin’ and groanin’ to get myself out of the house, but after a solid sweat sesh, I always feel so great about myself!

By: Allee Swick

 

I love to swim, but usually only do it for fun when the weather is warm. It’s no secret that swimming happens to be an amazing workout, but I never thought of it like that until a few months ago when I decided to take a swimming class.

My school offered a class at the indoor pool on campus, but if your school doesn’t, you can easily take one at a local community center.

Even though I’ve splashing around all my life, the instructor taught us that there are specific ways to kick, breath and stroke that can make you the best swimmer possible. We learned basic strokes, as well as how to dive and turn around in the water, and before long we were all swimming like fish. Now when I hit the pool, I can actually swim laps. 

Let me tell you though, there is a reason Michael Phelps has such a chiseled bod! Swimming works your arms, legs, back and gets your blood pumping in a major way, plus it’s a lot of fun! Even just a few laps and you can really feel the burn.

Obviously swimming in the warmer months is always an option, but an indoor pool is an awesome alternative to a stuffy gym when it’s frigid outside. Even if you don’t like swimming laps, any sort of fun in the water is good exercise, so grab some goggles and a towel and give it a try!

By: Gabrielle Martin