Gravity

As I sat in the gym the other day, waiting for my gym partners, I couldn't help noticing how much things have changed.

I noticed the gym was cleaner and brighter than any I had lifted in over the last 20 years but the music was being blasted the same as ever, even though most couldn't hear it because they had on earphones. The gym was full of mostly young men with a few of us older guys scattered around the place. I think that's how it's always been. There were many new machines but the most popular were still the old favorites. The benches looked about the same, as did the weights and bars.

I started remembering when I was just getting started. I weighed all of 125 lbs. I was weak. I looked to the older guys for tips and pointers to help me on my way. I knew if I stuck with it I could get to their level. Ten years and a lot of work later I had put on 50 pounds. As I succeeded at setting goals and surpassing them, I fed off the accomplishments and that kept me coming back. After my first bench press competition I realized it wasn't where my journey had led me but rather it was the journey itself that I enjoyed.

I scanned the gym to see which guy might be making the same journey I enjoy so much. I never found him. What I found were a bunch of young guys who were ten years ahead of where they should be. Guys that had taken less than a year to put on 50 pounds of pure muscle. Obviously training techniques and diet information have improved since I started but that wouldn't be enough to speed up the process by ten years. Last time I checked gravity worked the same now as it did then. The body's ability to recover probably hasn't evolved much in 20 years either.

The sad part is I don't think they get the gravity of the situation. They know they're cheating but I'm not sure they understand what their cheating themselves out of. Things like the experience, the accomplishment, the journey. They've cheated themselves out of the whole damn point. I sat and watched as they made big lifts look easy and I knew they would never realize exactly what it should take to get to that level and the feeling you get when you finally do. Yeah, they still hoot and holler after each lift like it's them and not the steroids or human growth hormone but they know, and then again they don't know, and I doubt they ever will.

It made me wonder if they plan on approaching life the same way. It may be easy to defy gravity in the gym but they better have a better plan for more important challenges in life because life's gravity can knock you on your ass and it doesn't care how big you are. That's something that will never change.