Welcome to the Gym
There is this one lady at my gym that has been going close to a year now.
I see her sweat.
I see her lift.
I’ve seen her cooler packed with healthy choices.
She is faithful to come. Week in and week out she comes.
But she has yet to lose a pound. In fact, she has gained. I would guess about twenty pounds in the last year. So, she needs to lose about eighty pounds now.
I had been wanting to approach her, because my heart cries out to help those who need to lose. But I have learned to wait for them to come to me.
And she finally did. One day in the dressing room as I was changing she said, “I can’t wait to be skinny like you.”
(And don’t we just love being called that?! I liked her right off, y’all! I liked her right off!!!)
So, I started building a relationship with her. Waiting for the day she would ask for my help. But you know? She never did.
So, I finally broke down one day. She was so helpless looking. Face red, heart pounding. Still carrying a book with pictures of exercise after nine months of going to the gym. And y’all, if you can make a baby in nine months, you can certainly learn enough to wean yourself from a book!
So I ask her about her plan. She tells me a little bit about what she is doing. And I say, “You know, if you ever want some help, I can tell you what I did.”
And I’m not a personal trainer. I was not offering her anything other than to show her what worked for me.
But her response said it all, “That’s OK. I’ve got this book.”
So another three months has passed with nary a change in site. And she still carries that book.
But what I take with me is this. The forty-five minutes I see her at the gym are only a small piece of her day. And it doesn’t really matter how hard you work in your time at the gym if you don’t live it the rest of your day.
I’m going to the gym today. I will spend the same amount of time there as my friend.
But I will also live it the rest of the day…and that is what makes the difference.
I live the gym life all day long. That makes my forty-five minutes in the gym count.
It’s a lifestyle people, it’s a lifestyle. Welcome to the gym.
