“It’s crunch time! Massachusetts girls only have three months until pageant weekend, so you should be in the gym about six days a week.”
Six days? It was Sunday afternoon and I hadn’t gone to the gym yet; looks like I was going everyday for the rest of the week.
On Sunday, September 29, I attended the Clemente Organization’s Pageant Prep Day for official contestants of the 2020 Miss Maine and Miss Massachusetts USA and Teen USA pageants. This being my first time competing in the system, I wanted to learn more about the pageant and the sponsors I may utilize to prepare for it, so I attended. The three-hours-long session included helpful presentations from the sponsors of both pageants, including a walking workshop with Allissa Latham (Miss MA USA 2018), hair and makeup lessons from Salvatore Malafronte, Artistic Director of Salon Mario Russo, and makeup artist Rita Sorrentino, and interview tips from Kaet and Julia of KP Consulting.
We were in the middle of a Q&A with Janelle Monteiro, CEO of Body Ambition Fitness. When asked how many days a week Massachusetts contestants should be in the gym, she responded with six: three cardio sessions and three strength training sessions, 30 minutes a session.
I’ve never been a gym person. I did synchronized ice skating until I turned 13 and I did ultimate frisbee for maybe three weeks before I realized I couldn’t miss Physics Night every week if I wanted to… you know, concentrate in physics.
Like most colleges, Harvard’s athletic facilities offer free group fitness classes every day of the week taught by trained instructors. In the week before the workshop, I went to two fitness classes with a roommate: Barre and Zumba. Each of them were about an hour long and I genuinely enjoyed both. I realized I don’t mind going to the gym; I just don’t know what to do once I’m there. Going to classes solved this problem!
After the workshop, I did what anyone else would do: I put fitness classes into my GCal (aka Google Calendar) for every day that week, except for Saturday as I had a conference to attend in Harrisburg, PA (stay tuned for a post about this).
My schedule went like this:
- Monday: Barre (Strength), Women and Weights (Strength)
- Tuesday: Barre (Strength)
- Wednesday: Shockwave HIIT (Strength and Cardio)
- Thursday: Zumba (Cardio)
- Friday: Mat Pilates (Strength)
For those of you who don’t already know, here’s what these classes actually are:
- Barre: a combination of ballet, pilates, and strength training that focuses on endurance (lighter weights, more repetitions)
- Women and Weights: weight-lifting, but with women and femmes only 🙂
- Shockwave HIIT: strength exercises with large amounts of rowing in between
- Zumba: exercise-dancing to fast-paced music (lots of fun, would definitely recommend)
- Mat Pilates: honestly, it’s kind of like an ab class, but extremely slow so momentum doesn’t help you
I started to feel really sore on Tuesday mid-day after Women and Weights and my second day of Barre, but it was good. I actually enjoyed the pain; it reminded me of the greater goal I was working towards. Besides, waking up at 6:30am every morning forced me to go to sleep at a reasonable hour (sometime between 10:30pm and 11pm). I was feeling more refreshed and productive by the day.
Now that I figured out the gym part, I’m left with nutrition. During the summer I tracked my calories with MyFitnessPal, which proved to be a pretty effective way of weight management, but it was difficult to keep that up in college; I don’t cook for myself and there are unlimited amounts of food available in Annenberg (for non-Harvardians, that’s the first-year dining hall that somewhat resembles something from Harry Potter). On the bright side, snacking is difficult to do (I don’t keep snacks in my dorm) and healthy options are just as easy to reach for as the not-so-healthy ones.
For breakfast, I have oatmeal, melon, and some kind of meat (sausage, usually). For lunch and dinner, I fill half of my plate with some kind of steamed or roasted vegetables, a quarter with protein, and the last quarter with salad. After my extremely difficult (and self-doubt-inducing) physics midterm, I treated myself to a brownie and chocolate ice cream. Life is all about balance.
Regardless, it’s still challenging to say “no” when the dining staff present you with a sundae station complete with hot fudge, cookies and cream ice cream, fudge brownies, and sprinkles. Instead of asking myself “Can I have this?” I ask, “Would this bring me closer to my goal?”
Would ice cream and brownies every day bring me closer to my goal of winning Miss Massachusetts Teen USA? Probably not. That question has a more clear and definitive answer than “Can I eat ice cream and brownies every day?” which I could creatively respond with “well… if the calories fit, sure!” Changing the question you ask yourself puts your goal at the forefront of your mind, and this has expanded even past food-related challenges.
When deciding whether to play the Sims 4 or finish my math pset (pronounced “p-set,” pset is short for problem set, a worksheet of problems that are assigned on a daily or weekly basis; very common in STEM and language classes) a little early, I ask “Will playing the Sims make me a better physicist?” Definitely not. Besides, I can always play after finishing my work.
Fitness is hard, but it can be fun too. I’m excited to see where this journey goes (and what happens when it gets too freezing to function up in Cambridge).
Speak to you soon,
Jordan
PS, I skipped two gym sessions this week because I was studying for my math and physics midterms (Harvard degree > MA Teen USA). Priorities.
Other possible titles include: “I Don’t Know What Muscle This is, But it Hurts”