Tag: Gym

I believe that some things come to us either through fate or choice. I didn’t choose to go to the gym but rather I believe it was meant for me. A little over two years ago, one of my former friends suggested that I needed to exercise seeing as how all my money was going towards food, gas, and yeah more food. He suggested that I get signed up at a nearby 24 hour fitness which was fine and dandy since I couldn’t see myself exercising any other way. I weighed about 253 at the time and I saw that I wasn’t applying myself in terms of staying fit. I was stressed about many things at the time whether it was school, life, girls, and also a few dramatic things that were happening in my family at the time. But, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to possibly rid myself of that stress as exercising is supposed to relieve that stress. The first time I went for the introduction I saw that the gym was packed and I thought there was no way I would be able to stay on schedule to go 3-5 times a week. Much of that had to do with self doubt and the fact that I was letting others make my decisions for me in terms of going. For example, if my friend was busy or I was just saying to myself that “oh that’s too far” then I wouldn’t go. Most of the time, applying yourself has to do with putting yourself first and not really caring what others think. I remember back when I would only go if my friend went that I would just sit at home and complain that it isn’t as fun if he doesn’t go. But, the problem was that he lived much farther than I did so I would be forced (or I would force myself) to drive all the way where he lived just to go to the gym when there was one 3 minutes away from where I lived. Anyway, the schedule I set for myself was strange as it would it be some weekends I would go and others I wouldn’t. Other days I would just be afraid that I wasn’t losing weight so why even make an effort? I was also discouraged that nobody was really supporting me as I have the kind of personality that needs reassurance that I am doing the right thing. But, in the process of all this I noticed that the hardest thing is actually getting to your destination. If I was complaining about my weight why not just try it for a few weeks where I set a schedule for myself and see how it goes? I said that the easiest thing to do was probably to do 40 minutes of cardio and around 20 minutes of weights which has worked out great. I noticed that with this routine that I have stayed fit and I have more desire to keep returning. I also do not feel as tired as I did before as this is one of the many things I hear from week to week. I understand that I may not be in some ripped shape that most people at the gym are but I give an effort to stay in decent shape. There have also been moments where I can think more clearly at the gym because you are alone where no one is bothering to do something or you have no one to distract you from what you’re doing. I noticed that going in the day is much more packed and having that element makes it harder to get all you routines in. However, concentrating on getting your tasks done is much more improved than it is at night time. You have a time limit in the day which makes it much better to have time management skills. At night, it impossible to have time management due to the many times that I have left work and said to myself, “man I have all the time in the world” so I can say till 2 or even sometimes 3 in the morning. One of the more interesting things about the gym is also the people that you may meet at the gym or even things you may talk about with people there. I have had a few conversations with a few people that never really mattered or even some that have surprised me. I remember seeing an old boss of mine there and that shocked me just because he was a nice guy at work but here it just seemed out of the ordinary. It was as if I was back in high school where you would see your teachers outside of school and you tried to hide. It was the basic conversation of “oh how you doing” and the usual response of “good” which is something that is pretty common when you see people at the gym. I remember having conversations with my friend that signed me up for the gym originally about life, girls, and all the little details that were going in our lives. At that moment I felt like I was apart of something special with a great human being. But, we’re all human and we do have our moments that make us think “remember when this happened…”. Having those conversations with that guy made me realize I needed to be slowly ushered into the gym which is a whole different beast. I wasn’t so sure of myself then because of the scary weight machines or the big husky treadmills that lie there. I needed to feel comfort with how I was approaching the gym and he gave me that extra spring in my step which I thanked him for after. I am now down to 228 which is 25 pounds lighter than what I weighed 2-3 years ago. The one thing I have learned from that time at the gym is having patience will get me places because the harder I work at it, the happier I will be. I need to keep working hard to get to that destination because the journey is the funnest. Either way, I will continue to try and losing weight but only I can stop myself from doing any harm towards the progress I have made. Good times lay ahead I hope!