John Smith
Mrs. Hall
English 1113
1 February 2013
The Gym
Bang is the only sound I hear while I’m at the gym. The weight room is my home and working out is more to me than just a hobby. I feel as though it is more like an addiction. The gym has been my home for almost a year now, and I know it will be for a long time to come.
Growing up, I was never the “healthy” person. I was kind of chubby and didn’t even know what exercise really was. I had an outline for working out because I played football from 7th grade all the way to my sophomore year. I always hated it then I wasn’t disciplined, and frankly I was just lazy.
I first started going because I wasn’t satisfied with myself. I felt like I never strived to get any better than I already was. I just got tired of looking in the mirror and not liking what I saw.So to fix it I got a gym membership. Starting around April of last year is when I started seriously working out. I started going a couple of days a week and it grew to me going six days a week sometimes twice a week.
When I first started, I wasn’t serious about it at all. I was really weak and kind of embarrassed about how everyone else was stronger than me. I made the mistake of working out with people who are bigger than me starting off before I realized it’s only natural that people weighing more than me are supposed to lift more than me. I really started to enjoy going when I discovered the pump of my blood going through the body part you’re working out. This is how you know you’ve done your best at the workout. After I discovered this addictive feeling it was all uphill. I started going more and getting stronger and stronger.
The first real progress I found was a little squiggle of a vein popping out of my upper bicep one day when I was doing curls. When I saw that I fell in love with curls. I made the mistake of doing biceps every day over the summer. Which my biceps got stronger it came with a price. During the summer, I tore cartilage in my left wrist. This gave a new meaning to the phrase “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” for me.
I realized everyone gets hurt and I could deal with it one or two ways. I could stop where I was and stop working out or I could go harder and improve where I was weak. I like to think I chose the second option. I spend countless hours in the gym improving myself. You might think that I’m just insecure. But I’ve come to realize I’m not working out to impress anyone anymore. I’m doing it for my love of the gym. I am an iron addict.