I’d rather do 100 burpees than vacuum my tiny living room

I hate doing housework. I dread it and dislike it the entire time I’m doing it. I’ve tried everything to make myself look forward to my time puttering around my home. I just can’t. Meh.

However, I do enjoy the result. Entering my kitchen and seeing clean counters and a shiny sink? Awesome. Settling into the couch in my dust-free living room to watch Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show? Good times. (btw, is he killing it or what?) Plus, it’s just plain embarrassing when someone drops by and I feel like my place is a pit. So, I keep up with it.

Some of us don’t have the housekeeping gene. Some of us feel exactly the same way about fitness. We just don’t like it. We try to work out, but it just never happens. We never get on fire for our workouts the way those overly pepped-up gym-crazed people on our Facebook timelines seem to, at least based on their posts.

And just as I feel like my housekeeping never quite measures up (don’t even get me started on my time as a housewife in Germany where, in my neighborhood at least, they even polished the rocks in their yard), I know that some people feel judged because they aren’t posting gym selfies or have never even voluntarily broken a sweat.

I do the least housekeeping I have to do to make myself happy at home. I keep it picked up, so that actual cleaning is easier (I remember one neat freak told me that it’s easier to clean a clean house, and at the time I thought she was certifiable but now I get it).

It’s the same thing with fitness. Maintain a baseline. Find something that’s tolerable and do the least you have to do in order to get the results you want. I actually don’t mind listening to some podcasts while I clean. On the workout front, maybe walking in the woods makes fitness less fitness-y.

Because the results of your workouts are far more than aesthetic: your body likes to move. It’s good for your heart, your lungs, your blood pressure and cholesterol. It helps to elevate your mood – even my most gym-hating clients tell me they feel better when they finish their workouts.

I know I am a happier me when I spend 15 to 20 minutes a day keeping my house clean than when I let chores pile up and end up in a crisis because someone is dropping by.

It’s the same thing with fitness. Preventing a crisis is far less work and stress than waiting until your doctor tells you that you need to work out.

I’m making an extra push on the housekeeping front this month in honor of spring (which, coincidentally, is an excellent time to get in shape for the fun stuff of summer). Want to join me?

Wendy Watkins

About Wendy Watkins

Wendy Watkins is a Bangor-based personal trainer, fitness coach, studio owner, and writer/editor. She is the author of The Complete Idiots Guide to Losing 20 Pounds in 2 Months. Visit her website at thrivebangor.com.