Lifting Heavy Things
Fitness and nutrition are literally my life. Fifteen years ago, I was introduced to the gym. I started lifting weights and I have been hooked ever since. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing at first, which, of course, none of us do initially. I worked with a personal trainer for a few months until I got the hang of it. The more I learned, the stronger my passion became.
I had just started college and I was excited to know that I could take fitness or nutrition classes as my electives. That is the direction I chose for all of my electives throughout my college career. From the moment I stepped inside of a gym for the first time, I immediately fell in love with it. It became part of me. For the past fifteen years, I have worked out 5–6 days a week routinely, rarely missing a day. Even if I can’t make it to the gym, I always find a way to work out at home.
We all work out for different reasons. Some people want to lose weight. Some people want to tone and shape up, whereas others do it simply to stay healthy. Honestly, I have never hated my body. I was fine with the way it looked before I ever learned a single thing about fitness or nutrition. Of course, once I started learning, I realized how important it was to stay healthy and maintain an active lifestyle. But there was something else I learned rather quickly: what my body is capable of, and this is what keeps my gym addiction strong.
Before lifting weights, I had never lifted anything heavy, nor had it ever crossed my mind to do so. But I realized that I could lift heavy things and I realized how amazing the transformation to my body was over a period of time when I did. My body looked good before, but I realized how much better it could be and how much I had improved just by lifting heavy things. Everyone can always improve, regardless your fitness level, even the experts. There is always room for improvement.
Once I discovered that lifting heavy things made me better, my love for fitness grew so much more. You see, one of the most important things I have learned about exercising is that a muscle has to tear and break in order to build. It can only become stronger, bigger and better than it was before by enduring this process. That is why you feel pain after a workout — because of the torn muscle. After it tears, it begins healing. Each time this process occurs, the muscle gets just a little bit better and a little bit stronger.
Yes, I absolutely love being healthy. I love exercising and lifting weights, but my love for fitness goes so much deeper than that. Throughout the course of our lives, we are faced with numerous obstacles. We are forced to lift heavy things in life. We will constantly encounter burdens and bad experiences that are very heavy. Often, we think we can’t or won’t survive. We feel as if that load is too heavy for us to lift. With each obstacle we face in life, we get stronger. We become better than we ever thought we were before. We have to break before we can build and grow, much like how are muscles develop. Think back to when life started to become difficult and when you first encountered obstacles. It was hard and you didn’t think you were going to make it, but look at you now. You are stronger and better because of lifting those burdens. You couldn’t handle what you are dealing with in life now had it not been for the previous obstacles.
After seeing my body transform from lifting heavy things, it was in that moment that I realized I how much I have transformed as a person after lifting heavy burdens and obstacles. Lifting weights has become such a large part of my life. I enjoy doing it and it is also a stress reliever. If I am stressed out or I have had a bad day, then I lift heavy weights to show my mind that I am always capable of lifting heavy things.
Make lifting heavy a habit, both in the gym and in life and be prepared to watch yourself grow.
