One thing I really like about my gym is that there's normal people. Ok, for the most part it's normal people. I see the little grandmas, the middle aged folks, pretty much all shapes and sizes at all ability levels. Today I even saw an old man with a walker, and a lady in a wheelchair. Honestly, that's what made me pick my gym - I was not about to join somewhere that has a bunch 'roid monkeys grunting and heaving all over. I also didn't want to go to someplace where the women are running around with spandex camel toes and a full face of make-up. I'm there to sweat. A lot. Without feeling like I'm being stared at or made fun of for all my heaving red-faced efforts.
Now all that being said, there's always the odd ducks that just don't quite fit. During my second workout with Sean "the Hottie" Trainer, Hitler Moustache Man made an appearance. Picture an older white guy, say, late 50's/early 60's, with big bushy Einstein hair and a full on Hitler moustache. Seriously. Did he not get the memo that Hitler ruined that look for all time? It was surreal. How can I focus on chest presses when a freakin nazi 'stache is staring at me in all it's hairy horror!
Today's gym person of the day was Anorexic Annie. Now, I'm that LAST person who has any business making any kind of judgments about a person's physical appearance. But this poor girl was completely emaciated. I don't mean in the healthy but lean way, like a ballet dancer. I mean in the starving Somali kind of way. She was attempting various strange exercises on the floor, including doing a handstand while watching herself in the mirror and waving her legs around. And yes, her shirt had flopped down so her belly was exposed. I wanted to feed the poor girl. Spending time at the gym, you see all body types, including the unhealthy ones, and her face just said she was tired, stressed and dealing with a lot of anxiety issues.
But it gave me pause to think and reflect for a moment on the impossible body standards our society puts on people, women in particular. It's both a blessing and a curse to live in a country where we have so much, and yet are so dysfunctional with food. We have such riches, with other parts of the world are starving, yet women here are starving themselves, vomiting and dying to get the emaciate waif look. Ironically, studies have shown that men prefer women with a little meat to them...not the super thin look-like-a-prepubescent-boy look.
I know I'll never be one of the super skinny girls, but I feel really good in knowing that I'm on my way to a smaller Grace, however she may end up looking. My struggle right now is to keep in mind that the fat didn't come on overnight, and it's not gonna go away overnight. I also have to remind myself that it doesn't matter that I can't go as fast or as hard as other people, but that I'm challenging myself and breaking barriers every time I go to the gym, which is more important. It's no longer in the world of "I'm gonna". I'm now in the world of "I am". And you know what? It feels damned good!
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