The Juice Box

We open on a humid jungle of cables and steal. Discs of iron scatter the floor and walls of mirrors cage us into this habitat of sweat, heat, and muscles. You look up to see a pair of massive 6 foot 2 biceps walks past you and suddenly you realize how in over your head you are. You look to the right and see a line of people waiting to pull their body weight in metal while others swing kettle bells around like they’re going to hurl them through a window. Matching Lululemon sets in every color and gym shark compression shirts are the dress code and it seems like you’ve missed the memo. Your’e trying to be cool. Wearing your indie band shirt and pigtails with pride as you head to one of the machines that looks more like it’s for a pap smear than for exercising. This is what the gym feels like to me sometimes. A boy jungle of testosterone and protein powder that doesn’t even have the strength to make room for those who are trying to figure out their fitness journey. It can be intimidating but I have been frequenting the gym every 4-5 days for the last month here is what I have noticed.

Turns out I really like going to the gym. When no one else is there, I can be as slow as I need to be when doing strength training and can walk down the treadmill runway as I lip-synch to the music blasting in my headphones. An empty gym give or take one or two people is an elite space to work out in.

Friends are the best motivators. I started going to the gym in the middle of January on my own and since then I have recruited friends who go often to teach me some of the basics of the machines and weights and that has began to snowball as my roommates and other friends are beginning to go in groups or even go on their own when it’s not a regular part of their routines.

Results mean less to me than just getting active. While I would love to immediately melt fat and get super shredded in month (who wouldn’t) I understand that changes don’t happen overnight. My motivations for working out have come certainly from a place of health and weight loss but also from the need to just want to move my body.

When I was in high school and earlier, I participated in many organized sports like soccer, high school and recreational swimming and water polo. The summers were the most active thanks to the community pool in my neighborhood where every waking moment of everyday was spent each summer. I was a really strong athlete. I had held records at my YMCA swim team, was one of the only girls who played for my co-ed water polo team, and strived in my swim teams. After going to college I lost the organized sports that had built in communities and work outs that were automatically a part of your routine. When taking care of my body became a chore rather than a group activity I lost all motivation to try to exercise. I was never taught how to do it on my own and it felt lame if I told people “I used to be an athlete” but it was an integral part of my life for a long time. Going to the gym and being active again has sparked a new motivation for fitness that stems from self improvement rather than recreation which I think I like better. Come graduation in may and people will be confusing me for Ronnie Coleman.