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Last Thursday and Friday night I decided to do something crazy. Well, crazy for me. I went to the gym. Am I being a bit dramatic? Yes, I am making a big deal out of something so many people do without batting an eye. But for me, this is a huge deal.

The gyms at Penn State were having a Free Friday promotion. The gym would be free starting Thursday at 4:30 until Friday night so that people without a membership could get a trail of what the gym is like. When my roommate told me about it I was very skeptical. I did not want to leave my beautiful bed and be the new kid on the block at them gym. The gym is a very intimidating place to me. There are so many people and everyone seems to know what they're doing and seems to be doing a really great job at it. I thought that everyone who goes to the gym must be doing crazy exercises and doing things I, a mere mortal, could never do. I told my roommate about my worries and she told me that wasn't the case. Yes, there will be people sprinting on the treadmill but there will also be people speed walking and taking it at their own pace. There will be people lifting hundreds of pounds but there will also be people lifting 25 pounds. She told me I had to go at my own pace and feel comfortable, or else I'd have a miserable time. So I got out of bed and went to the gym.

There were a lot of people. I was definitely feeling out of my comfort zone. It was a good thing my roommate was with me or else I would have ran away. We started on the treadmill first and we both started at our own pace. I was jogging in the beginning and it wasn't bad, but I knew I could do more. I decided to run faster and go at the pace my roommate was going but within two minutes I was dying. I lowered the pace just a little and felt a lot more confident. She was right. When I found my own pace I would feel comfortable. I ran for a while but I couldn't do it for 20 minutes. I slowed down into a brisk walk and took the last 5 minutes on the treadmill to cool down and rest. I felt no guilt in slowing down. My roommate was still running at full speed but I knew I needed to rest. It was my first time at the in a long time and I had no real expectations for myself, so I thought I was doing pretty great. After the treadmill, we went to do some ab exercises on the matts at the gym. That was odd. There were a bunch of strangers around me also lying down doing ab exercises. I would have preferred some privacy but, oh well. The exercises weren't too bad but I did love being able to just lie down on the ground after each one. Finally, we decided to end out time at the gym on some strange leg muscle machine. So you sit down on the machine and sort of wrap your legs around some cushion, open and close them, and that's exercise. There were weights on the machine so it was a little hard to do, but I enjoyed it. I could sit down and talk to my friends and do them very easily. I am at a beginners level and not using very much weight, but I am sure this exercise must get pretty hard with a lot of weight. After that we left the gym and I walked out feeling like a new person. I felt pretty great. I felt accomplished and proud of myself.I had faced my fear and was excited to go back the next day.

After my great experiences at the gym I am thinking about getting a membership, but first I want to go again on a Free Friday so that I am sure. I would not want to spend $100 on the gym and then end up not going. I think I will. I had never wanted to go to the gym but after my experience, I wouldn't mind going once or twice a week. I got out of my comfort zone and surprised myself. Going to the gym made me feel accomplished and proud in a way Netflix just can't, well except when I binge watch for an extreme amount of time.

Special shoutout to my roommate, Rachel, thank you for being my life coach and trainer. I would be lost in the land of Netflix and junk food without you.