I love my gym

I've been telling people I really like my gym since the day I started there.  I don't get all cultist about it and try to get everyone I know to join my gym, but I do think it's an excellent place to get a solid workout.  Today it sunk in: I LOVE my gym.

There have been several reasons why I've liked it: challenging yet supportive trainers, friendly members who genuinely encourage me and care about my success, it's fun, and I'm getting results.

Today was a "friends for free" workout day, a day for members to bring friends and do a fun (but exhausting) workout together. A perfect opportunity for people to see what we do when we workout. Our gym offers free intro workouts for friends anyway, but this was a fun event where people could all participate together.  All of the trainers were there too. It involved teaming up groups of two doing a certain workout for best time.

I didn't bring a friend, but I was still lumped into the group because my trainer wanted me to get an extra workout today. I was partnered up with a guy whose girlfriend is a member, but couldn't participate due to a recent surgery on her collar bone. And this guy was much fitter than me.  The pressure was on to push through this workout!

Right off the bat, the guy outperformed me. Seemed like he was doing the entire workout alongside me without breaking a sweat. My chest was heaving for air and my legs felt as heavy as tree trunks. And other teams were doing better than us as well.

But here's why I love my gym: I could hear every single trainer cheering me with encouragement. "Keep moving," "Great job, Darrin," "You've got this, push through it!" "This is too easy for you!" It felt like every trainer's focus was on me during the workout.  I know that's not the case; of course the trainers are motivating everyone involved. But I felt like I was important. I heard other members cheering me on too that weren't participating in the workout. 

The amount of support people give at my gym is amazing. Even when I feel like I haven't done well, I continue to receive encouragement and reinforcement of my overall improvement. It makes me feel on top of the world when I break personal records. I feel worth something and I’m getting stronger. That's why I love my gym.