Does this match? Do I care?

In all my years of life I have never really had the lust for fashion. Granted I strived to stay up with the latest trends. I shined in my stirrup pants in third grade, had the fanny pack with neon shorts while in Disney Land and rocked the overalls with only one strap buckled in high school. If none of you have ever worn those styles then you were not fashionable! Ha-ha

I must admit the only time in my life where I made a real effort to present myself in a fashionable way was when I was living at AOII. You start to feed off each other and I had 30+ girls to help me learn to curl my hair and walk in heals on ice. I just want to be clear that I did not wear heals every day. After changing my major, I decided that cowboy boots were a little more practical in the winter. When looking at pictures of me during my days in the sorority, I was looking good. I had the good outfits…what the heck happened?

Let’s get one thing clear. I’m not a slob and I don’t just throw clothes on in the morning. I do my hair and put makeup on but my work attire is very causal. There are days I wear hooded sweat shirts and I’m not ashamed that on days I workout at noon, I come back to the office sweaty. Behold the power of body spray and deodorant. This gets me to my main point and major issues I have with those trying to make a fashion statement.

DOES IT REALLY MATTER IF YOU MATCH WHEN YOU’RE AT THE GYM?

When I venture to the gym, I just make sure I have the following items:
Pants or shorts
Shirt
Sports bra
Socks (I’ve forgotten these before…nasty)
Heart rate monitor (this isn’t as essential but I like to have mine)
Gym shoes (I have my running shoes and my cross trainers)
Hair tie!!!

At night when I pack my gym bag I usually just grab the items above and don’t pay attention to what is going in there. During my workout I’m in the zone, doing my own thing, letting the sweat drip off my face, making the grunt sound when lifting my 20 pound weights, minding my own business. However, there are days my zone doesn’t shut off everything around me. For example when the little high school girls come bounding up the stairs in their shorty-shorts giggling looking around to find the little high school boys they are going to “workout with.” Other than the previous statement, this is what makes me laugh the most…it’s obvious they did their hair, put on fresh make up and strategically planned what they were going to wear. Now, if you are like me, you could give a rat’s ass what you look like at the gym because seriously, who am I trying to impress here? I have an amazing boyfriend and I have no intention of meeting a meat head while I’m dripping sweat. When I say I throw things in my bag it can be interesting when I get to the gym. My black pants with a teal stripe down the side and a hot pink tank-top goes great with my purple bra. A real fashion statement! Don’t worry it gets better…when I run I basically need a drop cloth to soak up the vast amount of liquid coming off my body. (NASTY IMAGE!) So I decided I could sport one of those sweat bands that girls wear. Usually they can tuck them under their pony tail and it looks cute. My issue is I have short hair so I can’t put it all up in a pony tail. It’s more like a half-pony keeping half my hair down so tucking the band under all my hair looks ridiculous. Now it’s time to improvise. If I can’t tuck the band in under my hair, then I’m going big because like I said, I’m not there to impress. I pop on that band around my head as Rambo would. As my dad said “You’re going to look like Lebron James!” Close except I’m not 12 feet tall and let me be honest, I’m white. Okay, let’s get a new mental picture of my gym outfit so far:
Black pants with teal stripe, pink tank, purple bra, white Rambo band

Got the picture? High class, right? I think so too! Now it’s time to top it all off, it’s the real kicker and the new addition….my Justin Bieber/Radioactive headphones. These babies are old school, around your head, puffy ear pieces and yep…HOT HOT PINK! Gosh I’m looking hot!

When I leave the locker room I love thinking how crazy I look and how people may mock me but again, I don’t care. I’m there to sweat and grunt, not to prance around with 2 pound weights in my hand looking for advice on how to accurately do a bicep curl.

To all girls who take time to get ready for the gym, I urge you to put down the bronzer and wear that faded t-shirt with neon shorts. Trust me, you’re workout will be much better!

Thanks and if any of you have questions about what a good outfit would look like don’t ask, just wear it!

**I need to add my one exception for looking nice at the gym. To all fitness instructors, I understand the importance of matching and looking good because you are representing the gym and your abilities to rock the house with your fitness styles. Matching is necessary in your case! **