Chaotic yet consistent
We all know the saying, “Everyone starts somewhere,” and when it comes to how I got into the gym, that is definitely how my story goes. How I have felt about exercise and health has been a long journey for me with lots of ups and downs. It seems like a million years have passed from where I started to where I am now, but in reality, it has only been a short four years. Let me give you a nice run down.
Through middle school and freshman year of high school, I despised exercise. My mom and sister were really into working out and even built a fitness room in our garage, but I could never quite get myself to make use of it. I felt out of place with my family, because I seemed to be the only one who didn’t enjoy working out. I played volleyball and ran track, but nothing outside of it. Then, sophomore year of high school hit, and in the winter I played club volleyball, which only had practices twice a week and tournaments on the weekends, so I found myself with some free time on my hands and I decided to give it a try. Having zero knowledge at all of exercise, I made up my own workouts that were just a mix of random cardio and ab workouts, but eventually I started to enjoy it. At this point, I was too scared to work out in front of anyone and would only do it in the privacy of my home gym.
This continued into junior year, but I gained some confidence and started going to our school gym to lift weights with my friends. It was terrifying, to say the least, but I learned some proper techniques for lifting and new things to try. But then Covid hit my junior year, and I was isolated back to my home gym. I decided to start taking fitness seriously since I was stuck in my house. I watched personal trainer videos online and also started prioritizing healthy eating. I finally started to see some real progress and gained lots of confidence.
I carried this newfound knowledge into my freshman year here at UW-Madison. First semester was when I started to see a little decline in my fitness. I wasn’t eating correctly and I was finding it hard to get to the gym. I felt too snuggled into my routine and was getting bored. I had lost my passion and felt like I was plateauing. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I found my spark again. Instead of just strictly six times a week by myself, I started to mix it up and make it fun again. I joined an intramural volleyball team, started taking cycling classes with my friends, and got into running. It was exactly what I needed to love the gym again.
In the end, the gym has always been a safe space for me. I can always rely on it to get out of my head for a bit and just enjoy movement. No matter the ups and downs that I experienced, I have finally found how the gym can be comfortable but also spontaneous.