The 1 Fitness Mantra to Remember When You Really Want to Skip Class

Image Source: Nonymous Productions

When the day of the Movemeant Foundation's Dare to Bare event rolled around, I was not even the tiniest bit excited to work out. Maybe it was the corn dogs, french fries, and beer I'd downed at a festival a day earlier (is it obvious I'm not a fitness editor yet?), but the SoulCycle class I'd eagerly signed up for days earlier now seemed like a death sentence. To make matters worse, I hadn't signed myself up for just a regular SoulCycle class. No, I had signed myself up for a shirtless ride promoting body positivity in one of the busiest parks in New York City. Awesome.

I won't lie to you, I considered just skipping the whole thing altogether. I let myself imagine a glorious day spent melting into my couch, wearing a shirt in the privacy of my own home. Besides, a lackluster workout when I felt like crap would be a total waste of my time, right? But when I felt the guilt of skipping a workout (a charity workout, even worse) creep in, I quickly threw on the event's Sweaty Betty sports bra and promised myself that I'd only clock in the minimum amount of effort necessary to avoid public humiliation.

Image Source: Jorge Quinteros

Strapped into my bike, armed only with a sports bra and my really bad attitude, I settled in for a mediocre ride. Only, that's not at all the kind of ride I ended up having. Two songs in, I found myself humming along to the blaring music and smiling to myself as my more cheerful classmates shouted words of encouragement into the crowd. A few tracks later, my body was tuning into the improved mood of my brain and I was really cruising. Sure, I was skipping all of those double tap backs and taking more breaks than usual, but who cares? Without even giving it a thought, the catchy tunes and positive attitudes of my classmates had melted away my reluctance to give the workout a fair shot.

Image Source: Jorge Quinteros

My Dare to Bare experience gave me a new fitness mantra to live by: just show up to class. No. Matter. What. Even if I'm confident I'll hate every second of it. Even if I feel awful after eating my way through an entire festival's worth of fried food the day before. I accept that the classes where I have to physically drag myself to the studio may not be the ones where I set personal records and completely kick ass. But I won't accept pressing the cancel button and simply throwing away an opportunity to surprise myself with what my body can do if I just get myself in the room.