Lightweight

I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself an athletic person. I started soccer when I was in kindergarten and played all the way until my junior year in high school. That seems like a really long time (and it is) but it was never a huge passion of mine. I played on recreational teams for a while and when I finally switched over to travel, my teams weren’t anything special. Once I started high school I even quit travel altogether and didn’t bother to try out for varsity. I ended up quitting before my senior season because my school team was so horribly bad that it wasn’t worth my time anyway. I loved soccer and it was part of my personality for a while, but I still hated going to practice. The only other sports I played were softball and cross country/track…let me tell you about my time as a runner oh boy.

My mom was a runner in college so she had really high hopes that both my sisters and I would follow in her footsteps and be runners too. I think her dreams were very quickly shattered once it was my turn to join cross country. I HATED it. I legitimately cried to her every meet about how I didn’t want to run, yet I still joined track in the spring like she wanted anyway. Same story there, except this time my sister was on the track team too, so I would run faster just to catch up with her so I could complain about how I hated it.

Anyway, this is all a very long way to say: I don’t go to the gym. I go in and out of phases of working out because I know exercise is necessary to stay healthy, I’m just lazy most of the time. To try to fix that laziness cycle, I took a weight training class this semester so I could learn all the weight machines in the gym and so I would have something to force me to go to the gym twice a week. Unfortunately, the class only lasts half the semester because it’s only worth 1 credit, so that plan of being forced to go to the gym has come to an end. I figured I should try to put my new knowledge to use and actually go to the gym for once outside of class.

Every week my professor sent us an email with workout plans for the week. I took one of the plans to follow for this week, except I made some modifications. I took out the leg curl, reverse crunch, and overhead tricep extension because we didn’t use those too much in class and I didn’t want to risk doing it wrong or looking stupid. There is one smaller gym that I went to a bit at the beginning of the semester because there were barely ever any people in it, and I get really self-conscious working out around other people. Which is a main reason why I’ve avoided the main gym for so long. But that gym had way more resources and easier to use equipment so it makes more sense to go there.

I went to the gym around 5 pm because I was running around doing other stuff all day. I was planning on stretching in my room so it would be one less thing I had to do in public, but I never had the time. There was barely anyone on campus during my walk so I was hoping there would barely be anyone in the gym too because most people usually go in the morning. It wasn’t too packed, but surprisingly there were still a good amount of people there. I put my sweatshirt and keys in a cubby and head into the gym area.

I started with a 10 minute walk on the treadmill because that’s what we used to do in the beginning of class. I usually like stretching better than dynamic warm-ups, but the stretching corner was packed so I did a big loop past it to the treadmills. While on the treadmill, I was listening to music and looking around. I was trying to plan out where I was gonna go first and what would be open to use so I don’t have to wander around like a lost child.

I ended up at the lateral pulldown first. I actually like this machine because I feel like I know what I’m doing. Also, it’s not a weird feeling movement or too hard to adjust like some of the other machines/exercises are. I have never weight trained before in my life so I have very shrimpy arms, so I was using (and struggling) with low weights. I started at 25 pounds for this one but eventually moved up to 40. For all the exercises I did 3 sets of 10 reps. In between each set, I wasn’t sure how long to wait and I didn’t want people to think I was hogging the machine and not using it, so I probably didn’t rest for as long as I should for most of the sets. The lat pulldown was a good start though and I went through it pretty fast. Right next to it was the leg press machine so I hopped right over to that. I like the leg press too. Leg exercises always feel better than arms because my legs are obviously stronger. When it comes to leg exercises I’m never sure exactly what weight to use, so I just test different ones as I go. The leg press is also fun because it’s like a little ride when the chair goes up every time. This one went by pretty fast too and the next open machine was the chest press. This one is pretty simple to use and adjust too so I like it. Afterwards all the machines I wanted to use were pretty much taken. The stretching/abs area, however, was pretty empty so I went and hid over there.

I took a pair of dumbbells with me to the corner and laid down on a mat. The only dumbbells left were 5 pounds, which were pretty light but I thought they might work. They did not. I felt like my arms were flying around with them so I gave up on those until 10 pound weights were available. Instead, I did the crunches (it says sit ups in the email but I can’t do those) that were on the plan. I felt really weird taking pictures and videos in the gym, so the empty corner was a good opportunity to get some. It’s not uncommon to see TikToks and other videos of people at the gym, but it’s usually not at a school gym. Also, in my past 3 years here, I’ve noticed that Monmouth students are really judgmental, so I didn’t want another thing to call attention to myself, along with the scrawny arms and confusion of not knowing what I’m doing.

After I was done, there still weren’t many dumbbells available, so I went to the opposite corner with some leg machines. The only one I ended up doing was the leg extensions since I decided against doing the leg curl. I never realized how hard the leg extensions are too. I started with a weight that was a little too high but my legs were SHAKING. That’s not a movement I practice on the daily so adding weight to it was tough. Thankfully I was in the corner otherwise I would’ve felt very uncomfortable struggling so obviously.

Finally, after the leg extensions, there were 10 pound dumbbells and a weight bench available so I quickly took it over. There, I did overhead press and bicep curls. I actually hate using dumbbells because I feel like I have less control. Especially for the overhead press. My arms sway too much and I can’t do one smooth moment. Yet, I did it anyway and hoped that I wasn’t doing it wrong. The bicep curls were pretty difficult too, especially by the third set, but I powered through and did them all, even being out in the open and obviously struggling.

Finally, I went to the row machine. I’m glad they have a machine because I hate doing row with dumbbells. Even during my class, I would always ask the professor if I was doing it right and my form was correct. I think it usually was but it still felt wrong. After that, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands (because they feel so dirty after using those machines) and quickly left. I was so eager to get out that I forgot to stretch, but I was able to do it in my room when I got back like I originally wanted to.

Honestly, this has to have been the most uncomfortable thing I have done so far. Usually I leave the things I do feeling better about it and having a new appreciation for it, but I pretty much left here feeling the same as I did going in. The gym is a natural part of most peoples’ lives, but the combination of confusion, inexperience, and self-consciousness makes it quite an uncomfortable experience. I think consistency and experience is the only way to make this more comfortable for myself. I definitely want to try to go more for multiple reasons. (1) it’s free while I’m in school so I’m trying my best to take advantage of all my student benefits while I’m still here this last year, (2) I really need to start a consistent workout schedule just to have a healthy lifestyle, and (3) I didn’t take weight training for nothing. So eventually I will force myself to go back again.

But boy I’m gonna be sore tomorrow…