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A Gym Rat (For All The Wrong Reasons)
May 19th, 2010 | 
Author: By Alexis @ Depressions & Confessions
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I love the gym. Not because of the treadmills, ellipticals, the pool or sauna, 
or because I can Zumba my love handles into oblivion. I like the weights just fine, although I could do without the widenecks standing next to the weight racks—the weird faces they make while lifting give me the distinct impression they are about to be visited by some very painful hemorrhoids. No, I love the gym because my kids aren’t there. At the gym, I get to pretend I’m not a mother for at least an hour every day except Sunday.
Stay-at-home-motherhood is quite the experience. I get to be with my children from the moment they wake up till the moment they go to sleep, and get to enjoy every milestone, rejoice in every new skill learned. I’m thankful to have the opportunity, which is so graciously provided by my husband. But any SAHM knows that cabin fever and occasional screaming for no reason is an occupational hazard of staying home with young children. A place to escape, even if it’s for just an hour every day, is essential to the survival of mothers everywhere.
After I had my first son—he’s three now—I developed a nasty case of postpartum depression, and I was having an exceedingly difficult time losing weight. I cried to my mom one day that I was getting desperate, and she offered to buy me a three-year gym membership. When I found out that the membership was accompanied by up to an hour and a half of daycare per day, I accepted with barely restrained glee.
The daycare at my gym is huge (I live in a state where no one blinks at a family of six kids under 10 years old), and my kids love it there. There are trains, dinosaurs, a slide, a play kitchen, and lots of other children to play with. And mommy gets an hour to play, too.
As I check in at the membership desk, I feel the anticipation building. Not sure if it’s the scent of sweat in the air or the sight of orange-skinned college students with fake boobs barely constrained by too-small sports bras, but something about walking in that building makes me happy. It’s a Pavlovian response I don’t pretend to understand—why would I get excited about the prospect of groin pulls, frizzy hair, and coveting the fact that every other person in the gym can run farther and faster than me, including the eighty year-old guy in short-shorts and a sweatband, but I do.
Oh yeah, I remember: My kids are being entertained by other people.
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Welcome to Our Mommyhood, Alexis! You are totally convincing me to join a gym. Childcare! I had no idea.
isnt that the BEST feeling ever!? that is how i feel about school. yea-i go in and help in the classes but i drop them off as early as possible so i can get every free second of time i can!
i’m not a SAHM, but amen to that!
THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!!! I dropped my kids off this morning (one crying, one smiling) and left it all behind as I settled in for an hour of rigorous yoga…seriously, she killed me! I enjoyed every painful and challenging moment of it and barely thought of the Crazies!!!
I am slowly but surely working up my nerve to try Zumba…I hear it’s amazing!
If I had that opportunity here where I live, I would work out every.single.day. And I am not even a SAHM!
Great post….I have been exercising a few days a week, just for 15 minutes and it makes me feel better
We all need time for ourselves.
You should do advertisements for 24 hour fitness and other gyms! I’m totally sold on the idea now!!!
I lalalalove gym time away from the kiddies. I’m pretty sure they appreciated it too though to be honest. I was happier, they were happier, my body looked {slightly} better, it filled up the day, too bad I moved so far from a close gym with daycare. I fondly remember us “stretching” in the women’s area to take up all our daycare time LOL!
Those are SO the occupational hazards of we SAHM’s.
I’m jealous that you can actually leave both your boys at the kid’s club. I won’t even think about putting Matai in one of those because he’s such a bully! You give sucha perfect vision of what it’s like to walk in a gym in Utah! hahah. Fake tans and fake boobs- geez I thought that was only down here in orange county! LOL.