I work out first thing in the morning. Always. But last Saturday I had a noon appointment near my gym. It seemed silly to go to the gym, come home and then drag back out to the same neighborhood I’d been in five hours earlier. So I decided to make a mid morning trip to the gym, then go to my appointment. It wasn’t what I expected.
The cardio and weight rooms were way more crowded than I’d anticipated. And loud. So very, very loud. Loud as in, I had to crank up my iPod to an unhealthy level in order to drown out all the ambient noise.
By the time I finished 30 minutes of cardio, I just wanted to get out of there. But I’d planned on also lifting weights. Several weeks ago I made a promise to myself that I would lift weights twice a week. I even wrote a blog post about my commitment and ended it with those two little words, “no excuses.”
I’d only lifted once that week. I found myself beginning to rationalize. “Why don’t you lift three times next week and then you’ll have an average of two sessions per week for this week and next.” But I didn’t commit to myself I would lift an average of two times per weeks.
I committed to Two. Times. Per. Week.
Period.
And so I weaved in and out of the crowded, oh so crowded weight room and completed my workout.
No one at the gym or in cyberspace would have known if I’d chosen to skip the session. And really, if anyone had known, they wouldn’t have cared. But there’s one person who would have known and would have cared.
Me.
My past is littered with broken self promises. I no longer want to the the person who does that to myself. Keeping self promises equals self trust. And that is very, very important to me.
482gr8 
Well my doctor will not allow me to doing any weight lifting until the end of February. I hope to do some cross training without using the hands.
Get a set of resistant bands for the days you cannot get to the gym. They work just as good or better than free weights.
Great idea about the resistance bands. Now, you be a good patient and do as your doctor orders, F2TG!