Fitness and Determination

Something I love in life is working out, and being fit. There are a lot of reasons that people give for wanting to work out, but I simply love doing it. I love lifting weights and watching my body change as my muscles become more visible.

When I first decided to work out, I had decided to do it because I intended to join the police academy. So I joined a gym. I had never been to a gym in my life like this. I had been embarrassed to go into this gym. I had looked at it several times and wanted to go in because I had always loved working out. But I had had four children, and I was not young and fit anymore. I was an old 43 year old mother. But they had a special going and I finally went in. It was not at all what I expected. The woman who managed it greeted me with a smile and she was just glad I was there. She did not look at me like I was fat, but like I was someone she wanted to be there. I was ready to join because I felt welcome there. I asked her for a guide to get me started working out, and that was readily available, and it was so helpful since I had never worked out in a gym. I had signed myself and my daughter up to go.

I did not know that I was so badly out of shape until I started lifting weights on those weight machines and tried to walk on that treadmill. I had known I was out of shape but I had done a home workout routine for about six months, but I had not done it in a very long time. I could hardly believe I could do no more than ten pounds on the weight machines, and that ab machine! Wow! I could only do five reps with only ten pounds on it. I knew exactly which muscle it worked that evening...and I loved it! I was more than ready to go back the next day. And I did that ab machine again.

When I really realized how out of shape I was, was when I got on the treadmill, and could not even stay on it for five minutes, and the elliptical, I could not even stay on it two minutes. That was kinda embarrassing, but I knew I was going to have to work my way up, no matter what others were doing. They had been working out a lot longer than I had, and I had to do what was right for me.

Today, more than a year later, I am lifting 75 pounds on that ab machine, and doing three sets of 10 to 20 reps. There is also the torso rotation, which I lift 120 pounds, on three sets of 15 reps. I was determined that I would build muscle like I had always wanted. I still have some fat to burn off, but I am on my way, and I can definitely see muscle now. And I walk for an hour on the treadmill, using the "hill" setting on level 15. I can even stay on the elliptical for an hour. It was not easy, and it did not happen fast, but I am in better shape than I have ever been in my life. Since I did not join the police academy, my goal was just for myself, and for my children...to be healthy for them. And comments from people who notice that I have lost so much weight are not bad either. :)

So, if you are out of shape, and think you are too fat to go to a gym, get up and go anyway! Fat people are the ones who belong in a gym! We want to lose weight and feel better about ourselves, and going to a gym is one of the best ways to do that.