Endorphin Gratification

I've been working out more lately after being really undisciplined and lazy as heck there for a while. I had a great workout yesterday and I was thinking about why it always feels so good to work out and so great AFTER working out, but it's also so easy to talk yourself out of doing it at all.

To get back into exercise after I've been avoiding it, I play a game with myself that I can do it as badly as I want. I work out to videotapes, so I make a deal with myself that I can skip sections of the tape, I can do half as many push-ups as the mean teacher lady makes everyone else do, I can do whatever, as long as I put the tape in and start.

Of course, the game works because when I start, it feels good to work out and I pretty much know that even if I do only 1/2 the tape, I'm already better off than not exercising at all. Most of the time, I find I just do the whole tape. But I really don't get down on myself if I do next to nothing. It's about getting back into it. You know you'll do better the next time.

I'm not one for delayed gratification in most aspects of my life, so I was wondering why I'm so hooked on exercise. I really am willing to get down on the floor and do those push-ups, those hellish abdominal crunches, those often painful glute, thigh and leg exercises. I can really do an excellent lunge and my squatting with weights -- well, I'm not a bad squatter. You really do delay gratification with exercise. You work out day after day and only see the results long after. So, it must be the endorphins that keep me going during the tough parts.

The other boneheaded thing about working out that I always forget is how good it is for my mind, almost better than for my body. It's a great time to think. My body's in motion and moving in every direction and my mind is slowing down into a very quiet peaceful place. It's all drugs -- endorphins washing through me -- and they really do make you feel high.