It was so much fun returning to the gym today.
As bad as I am at weight lifting, I keep doing it because I love it. I'm also a little on the competitive side. Well, a lot on the competitive side, especially when I'm competing against myself. Prior to lifting, my physical condition was something akin to downtown Durham -- slowly spreading out while at the same time trying to revitalize its core. I had thus decided I would try strength training. I completely ran out of excuses not to join the Y.
The vast majority of people I've met at the gym have been very nice and encouraging, but there have been a couple of exceptions. One guy would laugh at me when I tried doing assisted pull ups or when I would grunt while doing a very "heavy" (for me) lift. Most of these jerks disappeared after a few months. The people I saw today all welcomed me back to the Y ("What happened to your eye?) and spoke as if they truly missed me. (I missed them to.) I was surprised that, having taken a number of days off, I felt pretty good. I am actually seeing improvement, which is pretty mind-blowing. I enjoy the quiet of an early morning workout after my Bible time. I love the feeling of having done something -- a feeling of accomplishment. It's the same pleasant sensation I get from cleaning my house or finishing a book. I love achieving goals, no matter how small. Researchers have studied this phenomenon and have classified people like me "bootstrappers." I assume that's a Latin word. I'll have to look it up sometime.
Truth is, to gym means that you want to get better at taking care of that old body of yours. Our legacy comes from the ancient Greeks. To paraphrase the oracle at Delphi: Know thy body. Without a doubt, Olympic athletes back then were exemplars of fitness. Their endurance was amazing. That meant adhering to a schedule that made for the best possible you. There is no place in your gym routine for pain or shortness of breath, no place for pushing to the limits. Just work at a comfortable level -- hard enough to make progress but not so hard that you burn out.
I'm so thankful to God that he allowed me to lift today. Exercising has become an accepted method of taking charge of one's life and becoming one's personal best. I know this to be true from experience. Like Thoreau, I am never less lonely than when I am alone working out. My hour and a half in the gym rejuvenates me. It's a time when I can crawl off the treadmill of life and take a step back. Like you and everyone else I know, I need to be challenged. I want to know if I'm a coward or not. I want to see how much effort I can put in and what I can endure. Lifting allows all that and more. And my only opponent is myself.
That's the reason I'm not just sitting around watching the grass grow. I feel like I've never achieved all that I could. There's a race to be run. If your view of life is less than that, you're finished.