I have a love/hate relationship with the gym in our town – luckily, it’s about 80% love and 20% hate. I love that it’s cheap (woot!) and I love that it has tons of cardio equipment! I have never, ever had to wait for a treadmill, which is always a good thing, to me at least. I don’t love that at certain time’s it’s filled with 16 to 20 year old guys who are just there to show off or whatever. Like the guy who was on some machine I will never use in my life and kept slamming the weights down, causing the whole building to shake! (yeah, Mister, I’m talking about YOU!) I mean….really? But overall it’s a great, no frills place to get a workout in. I don’t get to go as often as I’d like, needless to say. During the month of July I could go in the mornings while my son was at summer enrichment and meet up with a friend or two (that’s the other blessing/curse of this gym – it’s still relatively new, it’s cheap and it’s in the center of town – so there are lots of people you know at times. So, sometimes it’s hard to accomplish all that you want to because there are people stopping by to chat…) Anyway, I digress….(which I do a lot…) My friends and I would hit the treadmills and chat and next thing you knew, an hour would be gone. But, after 4 weeks, summer enrichment is over and my son is home all day and not old enough to be left alone yet. My husband leaves for work at 6 am, and I’m just not that committed that I could get up at 5 am when I don’t have to. So, right now I manage to get there 2 to 3 times a week and the other days I walk outside either in the mornings or in the evenings – and I always aim to get 10,000 steps on my pedometer. Once my son goes back to school and I go back to work, I’ll figure out a new plan that will involve more gym time. But for right now, this is working. (there’s also swimming, playing with my son and some Wii Fit in there – as long as I move, every day!!)
Anyway, today is a quiet, lazy Sunday at our house, so I went to the gym. I do love Sunday afternoons there, as it’s pretty empty. I had been on the treadmill for about 20 minutes or so when I noticed a girl and two guys come in. I don’t usually try to watch others, and I am definitely not trying to be judgmental, but even with my iPod I get bored on the treadmill and I can’t help but people watch a little…. Now, all three of them were young and very large (which is another good thing about this gym – lots of different shapes and sizes, so you don’t feel out of place or uncomfortable). I noticed they had gone on the elliptical machines and after 5 minutes, the girl got off and went to the juice bar. They sell fruit smoothie type drinks I believe (I’ve never tried them) and they had jars of different powders so I’m assuming they were some kind of protein or health drinks. She proceeded to order one and sit down and drink it. I realize I don’t know her at all and I have no business judging her – but, it made me sad. You are in a gym – why are you sitting there drinking a smoothie rather than working out? I don’t know her story – maybe she’s never worked out and is taking it slow? Maybe she is recovering from something and can’t work out much? I don’t know and it’s not my business. After 15 minutes, the guys got off, she finished they all walked downstairs, which is where the serious weight lifting room is, as well as the ladies gym….oh…and the exit. I don’t want to assume that they left, but that’s what it seemed like. And it made me sad. When you are in a place where the stars and moons have aligned and you “get it”, you want everyone else to “get it” too. You want them to know that they CAN do it, they WILL do it and it’s really not so hard – it’s even fun to a certain point. And seeing results? Awesome – words can’t describe it. But those rewards come with the sweat that was pouring down me at the gym (yeah, I sweat a lot…it’s gross). It doesn’t come with 5 minutes on the elliptical and a fruit smoothie. If it did, everyone would be fit.
So, she made me sad. And reminded me that it takes hard work to get where you want to go. I hope that I see her at the gym again. I hope that she looks like a rock star. I just hope that she “gets it”.
To quote Jillian Michaels "Count your calories, work out when you can, and try to be good to yourself. All the rest is bulls**t."
And that ladies and gents, is exactly the plan! :)
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