Diving into a good book while working out deters clocking the time.
We all know fitness centers around the world will be engulfed with people who pledged to get in shape for the new year in Q1. Yes, I will be amongst my people (in spirit) working out in my living room. During the COVID pandemic, I invested in exercise equipment like free weights, a balance ball, strength bands, etc. so I need to get some more wear and tear out of them; I also have skates and a bike. I’ve already started mapping out some 2024 nutrition and fitness goals in my journal.
All of that sounds good but I will admit that I do not like working out. I use similar excuses I’ve read in articles like “I don’t like sweating” or “it makes me sleepy afterwards” or “it’s boring” or “I don’t want to work out by myself.” Once I acknowledged that about myself, I’ve had to utilize other methods to “trick” myself into thinking I’m not working out. I enjoy classes such as kickboxing, roller skating, pole-dancing or line-dancing to burn calories. I realized those activities worked when I stopped clocking the time and actually enjoying myself even in the midst of pain and sweat.
I still engage in traditional workouts like walking, aerobics, or strength-training, but I’ve needed some motivation other than music to get me through so I started listening to certain podcasts. Because I am such a R&B music lover, especially throughout the 90s and early 00s, I love the R&B Money Podcast hosted by Tank and J Valentine. I get to hear the behind-the-scene stories about some of my favorite R&B artists or songs. I’m enthralled in those conversations and lose track of time while I’m working out which is a win for me. Honestly, I’m shocked that I can listen to a podcast for an hour plus, sometimes, because I like to read words.
Which leads me to planning my next “trick” of incorporating listening to audiobooks during my workout. I believe this would help with my consistency problem because if I want to know what happens next, I have to workout again tomorrow and the next day and so on. I have premium Spotify so I get 15 hours of free audiobook listening time per month. This is two-fold because, additionally, I get to hear some good books that my busy schedule prevents me from reading. Since I love the storytelling aspect of books, listening to audiobooks should be the motivating factor in craving to know what happens next. At least that’s what I pray it will do.
Here is my audiobook listening list (in no particular order, although, I’ve decided to support one of my two Memphis sisters first – Leslie or Tara):
| BOOK TITLE | AUTHOR | YEAR | AUDIO LENGTH (hour:minute) |
| Leslie Fucking Jones | Leslie Jones | 2023 | 16:32 |
| Worthy | Jada Pinkett Smith | 2023 | 14:57 |
| The Other Black Girl: A Novel | Zakiya Dalila Harris | 2021 | 13:33 |
| The Secret | Lee Child | 2023 | 9:14 |
| Thicker Than Water | Kerry Washington | 2023 | 8:59 |
| Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter | Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson | 2020 | 8:16 |
| Take My Hand | Dolen Perkins-Valdez | 2022 | 10:57 |
| Tampa | Alissa Nutting | 2013 | 8:21 |
| The Secret Lives of Church Ladies | Deesha Philyaw | 2020 | 4:06 |
| Memphis: A Novel | Tara Stringfellow | 2022 | 9:23 |
