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	<title>WIRL Project &#187; YMCA</title>
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	<description>What It&#039;s Really Like.</description>
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		<title>What Working Out Means to Me</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-working-out-means-to-me/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/what-working-out-means-to-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health/Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Athletic Conditioning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Group Class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Group Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gym]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toned]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WIRL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WIRL workout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Y]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YMCA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=6303</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Until recently, I vowed that I would have an exclusive relationship with the workout system T25 for the rest of my life. Although I still have very strong feelings for the very effective 10 week DVD workout program, our relationship is starting to get a little &#8220;complicated&#8221; since my family and I made the decision to join the YMCA. I&#8217;ll be honest, in the beginning, I joined the Y because it offered 2 hours of childcare per day included in the price of the membership (don&#8217;t judge). I thought would use that two hours of childcare for my son to meet and play with some new friends while allowing me workout a couple days each week AND on the days I chose not to workout, I could use that &#8220;kid-free&#8221; time to sit in the lounge and get some WIRL Project work done. I know, I know, probably not the BEST reason to &#8220;join&#8221; the gym in the first place, but for some reason I felt in my gut that it was the right decision. Plus, my husband wanted to have a place to play some basketball and shoot around before and after his workouts. It seemed like a win-win. So, it came to our first day at the Y and I was nervous. I was nervous to drop my son off at the childcare (which he now LOVES) and I was nervous about taking a &#8220;group exercise&#8221; class. I hadn&#8217;t done any working out in a group setting since my college volleyball days&#8230;it had been a while and I wasn&#8217;t sure how I&#8217;d measure up. I dropped my son off and that went well, then I walked into the &#8220;Athletic Conditioning&#8221; class and saw that a lot of people already knew each other. I felt like the &#8220;new kid&#8221; at school because I didn&#8217;t know anyone! Anyway, the workout began and it was hard as hell. OMG, honestly it was kicking my ass. Then, to my left, these group of women, who I&#8217;d saw when I initially walked in, started cheering me on. They&#8217;d say, You got this, girl! or Keep going! Don&#8217;t give up! You&#8217;re doing great! and these few, out-of-breath words meant a lot to me. As I said before, I&#8217;d done &#8220;at-home&#8221; workouts by myself for years and I LOVED them! But, at this class at the Y, I had a bunch of people cheering me on and encouraging me to be better; it was awesome! This sort of thing does not happen when you&#8217;re in your living room doing the DVD all by yourself. Then, to my left, these group of women, who I&#8217;d saw when I initially walked in, started cheering me on. They&#8217;d say, You got this, girl! or Keep going! Don&#8217;t give up! You&#8217;re doing great! and these few, out-of-breath words meant a lot to me. At that moment, I was hooked. I knew it was the right decision to join the Y (see I told you), but it wasn&#8217;t until that little &#8220;boost&#8221; did I fully understand how this gym membership could fill a void in my life. Now, I go to class and socialize and workout with my gym buddies and I love it! I realized this was a big missing piece for me, especially after becoming a stay-at-home mom, and I also realized that it didn&#8217;t hurt to be around a bunch of motivated, awesome people on a regular basis! So, for me, working out has always been about being strong, healthy, fit, and toned. I usually did it because I wanted to look good or to feel better about myself, and don&#8217;t get me wrong, those are still several of the reasons I do workout, but now, I really enjoy that little bit of competitiveness that I feel in the group class setting, even though there is never a &#8220;winner&#8221; or &#8220;loser&#8221;, the extra people around me keep me accountable, motivated, and offer words of encouragement when I really need them. I also like the fact that I can pay it forward and do that for someone else as well. So, for me, the REAL reason I workout now is because I want to feel strong, in a physical way, but also in the fact that I want to be a part of something fun and social, that pushes me to be better than I currently am. There are not many places you can go in this day and age where people purposefully build you up and don&#8217;t try to bring you down; for me the gym is a positive place. I want to feel strong internally and translate that into confidence because the results I seek now are different than just the &#8220;body&#8221; I used to be aiming for (if that makes sense). My results aren&#8217;t really measured by numbers on the scale as much anymore (although those numbers still matter a lot to me), but more by the strength I feel when I pick up and play with my son or the feeling I get when I&#8217;m around such awesome like-minded people who are all trying to better themselves too; that&#8217;s the REAL reason I workout these days, and I LOVE it!]]></description>
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