Of Weight Training and Fitness Nuts

Any gym addict will tell you, fitness nuts are an aspirational group. The group changes-people move in, people move out-and yet there remains a die hard constant core of them that stay, no matter what. Even this week, in the face of Hurricane Sandy, there were those that cursed the locked boarded doors of the place they call home, the gym.

They are the few that not only welcome and embrace change, but seek it out. They are the ones that strive to excel at being different, at being unique, of standing out. Fitness Nuts are a dynamic lot with an individual initiative that spills over into all other facets of their life. They are oriented to risk-taking and accept the hit-or-miss nature of being their own best science experiment. They are innovative and creative, with a critical eye on results and refuse to accept the notion of failure. They live and love self-improvement.

There is a openness within the walls of the fitness world that one will not find almost anywhere else. No one cares what your background is or where you have been, there is a great culture of “if you can believe it, you can achieve it”. There is almost a celebration of hard knocks here, no whining allowed. Its about action, the action to change your lot in life. They realize that to get to your goal you must plan, do, act, always examining and manipulating for better results.

None of them were born this way, but it is a way that has creeped into them. It is now a part of who they are, fully integrated into how they live. In the beginning they were like all others, shy newbies at the gym in big ol’ baggy sweats and T-shirts, clutching their gym pass as if it were a passport to get out. They wander around the equipment, befuddled, trying to be inconspicuous and look cool at the same time. They grab a dumbbell as though it were a garden rake, fully not knowing a set from a rep. Yes we all start out that way.

And then arrives a shift, a change. We move different, we feel different, our clothes fit better, and the virus takes hold. We begin to welcome change rather than fear it. The law of cause and effect becomes visible. Suddenly we realize that we are not stuck in the body we carry, we gain confidence that the inner battle and fall out from where we have been does not need to stay. Yes, we gain the confidence to work though our baggage as if we were walking through a garden gate. Our aspirations waiting on the other side that we did not see before. As our bodies gain strength so do we. Then appears our dreams once lost, our hope in what can and will be, and our faith that there is something far greater than being stuck with living in who we are not.