On the whole, the GB staff members are very committed to health and fitness. Marc is a swimmer and a rising track star; Jason, our Director of Production, lifts weights, developer Josh plays tennis and we all try and eat well and exercise as much as we can.
As for me? Well, I’m a fitness freak. I compete in triathlon (including this event with GB’s good pal Elizabeth!), I swim (see Lucky’s Lake Swim), I lift weights and I run.
Normally, I do all of my workouts before or after work (and on the weekends). It’s fantastic stress relief, and I really like using it as a transition between personal and professional (or professional and personal) time.
However, the last two weeks have presented a bit of a challenge. My husband is traveling for work, and that leaves me in charge of the house. And because we have two big dogs with small bladders, I’m on a very restrictive away-from-home schedule. I come to work, come straight home, and hope and pray that they have been able to hold on for 9 hours or so.
Did you see what that does not leave room for? Working out!
Last week, I tried to do a few fitness DVDs at home, but couldn’t make it through any of them. A combination of stir-crazy dogs and my lack of motivation led to a total fitness fail.
So this week, I’ve decided to redefine my lunch break, and hit the gym for a half hour instead! Today, it worked perfectly. I brought a change of clothes, headed to the gym (less than 10 minutes away), hit the weights, did some treadmill work, and headed back to the office. All in under an hour. I even snuck in my actual lunch within the 60 minutes!
The best part of doing this was getting the blessing of my boss, the talented and fabulous Marc Middleton. Marc is so committed to health in his own life, and he knows that healthy employees are happier, work harder, are more efficient, and (certainly in my case) are less overwhelmed with fitting everything in.
I know a lot of people who work for companies that monitor every second of their employees’ time — making it difficult to take time off for doctor’s appointments, workouts and more. I feel bad for them, because the truth is, when you work out, you’re doing more than building muscles.
If you’re looking to get inspired to start working out in your own life, I put together a few of my favorite stories from the Growing Bolder library. I promise — if you watch even one of these, you’ll be motivated to get moving!
