I have mentioned going to the gym in several places over the last few months to a great number of people. Even the guy at EB Games wondered where half of me went when I dropped in to trade some games to get NHL 11 a couple months ago.
I enjoy the gym, I've spent a lot of time there obviously and what it's done is allow me to do so many things I enjoy at a much higher level. I was telling Jodi - my amazing trainer - this morning that what has been accomplished at the gym is showing it self all over my life lately especially since hockey has started up for me. For the first time in the 5 years I have been playing hockey on the weekends I played 2 games back to back on the same night on Oct 30th (meaning I played 6 games total during reading week). I had no back pain, no muscle pain, I was able to skate as hard in the final minute of the second game as I did in the first minute of of the first game. Not having to worry about where my next breath is going to come from I can make smarter and better plays everything has improved so much all from time spent at the gym.
Of course this time spent at the gym has helped me out in other areas, like karate, like over all well-being like getting me on the right track to eating good healthy food (no point in working out if your going to eat a bag of chips after right?) It's helped me learn a lot about myself and introduced me to a bunch of great people like Jodi and the people who work at the desk. Basically the gym has done what any good friend does and improved my life in a number of areas.
Thanks Gym, see ya tomorrow!
Your posts about progress are making me ask myself some hard questions. So I'm going to throw them at you to see what your insight would be...Progress takes effort. Absolutely. So if a person is willing to put in the effort, and tries to never slack off, why is it that progress becomes so terrifying and then becomes the reason for stopping. In other words, it's not the effort that's daunting, but the change that progress brings. Discuss.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to be ready to accept that progress. Which is something I must keep in mind for myself when trying to help others for sure. An example would be when I was laid off, I had all the time in the world to join the gym and get in shape and forge my own progression, but it was not until I was ready to accept the lesson that I actually went and did those things.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's because I was not aware that things had to change, but I was not ready to take that external influence and make things happen for myself.
So let me try to understand you, you're saying until you're ready to accept and want to have success in the gym and life you need to be willing to go through a little pain and hard work to get to where you want to go? If you accept these changes and are willing to face your demons you'll be successful? For the longest time I would blame others
ReplyDeletefor my short comings instead of who the blame really belongs to which is myself. I really do admire what you have accomplished and I know we don't see eye to eye but I really hope that I can achieve the success that you have had over the last few months. You are a very inspirational person to be around.
I don't know if it's about facing demons so to speak as much as it is about acknowledging where things must change and then putting one's will toward it to make lasting change.
ReplyDeleteIn 2005 (I think - I was still at the front desk at CIP anyways) I was not that pleased with how my fitness was and so I went on a diet and came down to about 200 pounds (from 225) great stuff to be sure, but it did nothing to improve my actual fitness, and it obviously was not a permanent change, it was a band-aid measure that once the goal was achieved I reverted back to my old ways because I hadn't made any sort of effort to change the actual way I went about things. In that way the lesson was external - not internal.
Like the example that Sensei uses about eating vegetables, when you are a kid you do it because your told, and make a big fuss and go 'there I ate them, gimmie dessert!' - It's not until later that one learns the value of eating the vegetables that you enjoy them for what they are with no additional reward needed at the end.
In the beginning month or so even this effort was because I was encouraged from the outside to do it, it was not until I really started seeing results that I really began to enjoy the act of going to the gym itself for what it was, that's when the real change took place. I was no longer at the gym to achieve a specific goal, but because I enjoyed what I was doing there, and what it was doing for me in return.