It's finally winter here - snow is on the ground, Christmas decorations are up, and the South Bend permacloud has set in. That means two things: moving my workouts to Rolfs and making Gingerbread Biscotti.
Yesterday I went to the gym on campus since I had gone for a pretty long run Thursday and wasn't really feeling another cold run, but I hadn't been there to lift weights very recently since I had allotted the majority of my workout time to training for my race. I walked in, took off my coat and sweats, put on my headphones, and walked over to the lat pulldown bar to start my first circuit. During my first set, I realized that I was the only girl on that side of the gym - all of the other girls were across the gym using the cardio machines. Once I had that in my head, it felt like all of the guys lifting weights were looking at me as though I had eight heads or was some rare species encroaching on their territory. Clearly, the unspoken consensus in Rolfs is that girls do cardio and boys lift weights, and cross-training doesn't exist. This may be a reflection on the gender dynamics at Notre Dame or maybe I'm just misinterpreting innocent glances at my obnoxiously bright tie-dyed shirt, but after a brief poll of my roommates, it seems that I'm not the only one who has noticed this at Rolfs. The far side of the gym is totally intimidating because the gym-rat guys are always hanging around, looking at their biceps in the mirror more than they are actually exercising, and the gym-rat girls get miffed when some dude in on her favorite treadmill.
The point of posting this observation is not to whine or preach, but simply to say that girls shouldn't be intimidated by the weight room and guys could benefit from swapping a lifting day for a good treadmill sesh. I'm mean, I'm by no means Jillian Michaels, but this summer, her book Making the Cut taught me how to lift weights so that my cross-training was more effective - strength training actually improved my running - stronger legs and core made me faster with much more endurance. It's also true that no matter how much weight you're lifting, the only way to burn fat is to pump up your heart rate, so incorporating cardio into your workout will give you more definition and tone.
I feel like this is all interconnected with the ultimate goal of a healthy lifestyle. A balanced workout is part of a balanced lifestyle. Yes I prefer running to lifting, but I also prefer my Cinnamon Harvest Kashi to scrambled eggs for breakfast. A wise person said that variety is the spice of life, and I'm a total believer in that sentiment. Shake things up, try something new. You might find something that you really love, or it will just make the usual that much better once you go back to it.
Coming up: Vanishing Gingerbread Biscotti. It's that good.
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