I?ve had an interesting relationship with exercise for most of my life. Before I got my period and started to feel somewhat comfortable in my skin, I was the chubby kid in class. Bullying was never something I had to worry about, but I still felt uncomfortable changing my clothes before gym class and having to endure ?harmless? jabs from my sisters. It hurt my feelings, but I wanted to do something about it instead of complaining.
So as soon as my mom bought a treadmill for the house, I took advantage. Dieting alone wouldn?t cut it, and to be quite honest, I wasn?t ready to part ways with my daily bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Running became my saving grace in middle school. Like clockwork, I woke up every day and clock in 20 minutes on the NordicTrack. I didn?t necessarily enjoy it, but I knew it would help me lose weight. Eventually, I did drop a few pounds and thin out, thanks to puberty, genetics, and my commitment to burning calories. It became less about looking a certain way and more about the confidence it instilled in me.

MORE: Is Our Beloved Hot Yoga Really an Effective Workout"
And by this time, I had grown to love the adrenaline rush that running gave me, too. It became less about looking a certain way and more about the confidence it instilled in me. However, I did grow bored with it by my freshmen year of college. I wanted to keep going, but knew that I would have to mix in other forms of exercise to keep myself motivated. Since then, I?ve tried just about ...