There is not many things more humbling than going to the gym at the start of your journey and being humbled by how much weight you can actually lift. Well that happened to me today. 5:30am I roll into my 24 Hour Fitness. I got my music playing in my ear, I’ve gone over the day’s workout routine that my Muscle Booster app gave to me. I glance around the room and see all the other people on their journey. So many of them in much, much better shape than me. And that’s fine. No problem. It’s a journey I am just starting. I got this. Let’s rock!
Then I get to the part of the workout where I am supposed to do Dumbbell Reverse Wrist Curls. Basically I sit on a bench, elbows on my knees, palms facing to the floor, and I am going to curl some weights with just my wrists. I got this.
The workout suggests I use 25 pound weights. So I try 25 pound weights. Nope. Too heavy. I drop down to 22.5 pounds. Nope. 20 pounds. Nope. 17 pounds? Yeah, nope.
10 pounds. That’s what I had to drop down to in order for me to complete one rep of the three rep workout. That’s all my wrists could lift. But I am a big strong man! I can’t lift more than 10 pounds??
Apparently not.
So there I was, lifting my teeny tiny 10 pound weights while some guy 10 feet away curls 50 pounds with each swollen, massive arm like he is lifting up a pencil.
Now don’t get me wrong, this moment did not crush me or make me quit or anything negative. Yes, it made me snicker a little to myself but one of the reasons I am in the gym right now is because I accepted that I have a long way to go and dug myself a deep hole to climb out of. I not only accept that, I use it as motivation. The muscular men and women around me in the gym don’t intimidate me or bother me. If anything, they motivate me. I see all the people who have been putting in the time and their results speak for themselves.
I crushed the three reps with my 10 pound weight and moved onto the next set. And the next. I ate my momentary slice of humble pie and moved on.
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