A Good Start
I was up early this morning, as I usually am. Only today I decided to shake up my routine a bit and head to the gym at 6:30 instead of the less crowded time of 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. Now the “gym” in my little town in actually run by a physical therapist who serves as a personal trainer, Steve. It’s a great deal, but he cuts you no slack (in the nicest way possible!).
After 15 minutes on the elliptical, he tells me today is my “arms” day. Fifteen reps of five different exercises all while holding an 8-pound weight in each hand. (Don’t laugh, I’m new to the working out thing). By the end of the first round, I’m beat. Steve smiles (and not maniacally, but in a really friendly way, so it’s hard to say no) and tells me do another round. Well the first exercise of the round is to stand with legs apart, knees bent, arms straight down holding weights, and swing both arms out in front and all the way up. I thought I would die. Really. After about five, I took a short-ish break. I did five more. I paused. (That’s a way of saying took another break). I think I managed the last five, but it may have only been four. Or three. The rest of the round went a bit better (less pausing). Sweat was pouring down my face and back. I was sure I would pass out.
Almost Giving Up
I wanted that to be the end. My mind was racing with a thousand excuses as to why this exercise thing was not necessary. I mentally fought back that it was necessary, although maybe I’d done enough for today. Steve didn’t think so.
“Alright then, let’s do one more round.”
“Really? Because I think I may collapse.” And if it weren’t for the fact that Steve is possibly the nicest guy on the planet, I would have said that out loud. But I didn’t. I grabbed a sip of water and began round three.
“This first exercise is really killer, Steve.”
“It’s the one that shakes everything into really working.”
“Oh.” Guess that translated into I can’t skip it. This time I could only manage three before taking an extended pause. A pause that involved getting another sip of water and sitting down. But if Steve believed I could do it, then I guess I better give it a go. And I did. It wasn’t easy. And it involved a couple more short pauses, but those last 5 reps were awesome. I found some deep inner strength and gave it my all. I think they may have been the very best reps of the whole morning. I was unstoppable. And as I completed the other 4 exercises in the round, I reminded myself of that: unstoppable.
I left the gym this morning with more than a great rush from an hour of strenuous training (stop laughing), I left with the discovery of an inner force that was much stronger than I had ever given it credit. And that was worth all the pain.
