What was your turning point?
Filed in: The Gym, Fitness Facts - February 15th, 2006 |
Most people who enroll themselves in a gym or get started in a fitness routine would have a reason or ’story’ behind their action. This is what I call a Turning Point.
Maybe at some point in life, you’ve told yourself:
- I can’t take being teased for being fat anymore; or
- I’m fed up of not being able to fit into these gorgeous dresses;
- If he can lose all that weight, why can’t I?
You get what I’m trying to say. As for me, my turning point was about 6 - 7 years ago when I first stepped into a gym (there were no fancy upmarket gyms then) and when the instructor actually lifted up my t-shirt in front of big, sweaty, muscular men and pointed out at my belly and love handles and asked me what that was (it did look awful though ). How embarrassing. But the thing is, he was right, and nobody ever told it to me the way he did - right to my face.
Oddly enough, that was exactly what I needed. I would never be where I am today if it wasnt for my instructor embarrassing me in such a manner. Of course, your Personal Trainer at the ‘upmarket’ gym is NEVER EVER going to do that or he’ll lose the chance to get you to sign up for PT sessions.
We all have our turning points. Now what’s yours?
Let’s make this a little more fun. Send them to over to methoxyfactor[at]gmail.com (3 to 5 sentences long). Deadline is tomorrow (Thursday, 16th Feb 2006 - 5PM ).
The ONE most inspiring submission will be published on my site and also receive a voucher which gives you 10 days of unlimited classes at Yoga Zone worth RM188, compliments of dailymuscle.com. (I’ll send it to you via post).
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February 15th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
I was going to try out for your contest la but I realised that it’s YOGA. Man, for me stretching during PT was bad enough. No way I can handle yoga la….
but I will share my turning point. It was when I had put on so much weight that I couldn’t fit most of my clothes and I looked horrible in all of them. Then my best friend turned up looking like a twig due to extreme dieting and looked bad as well.
It was then I realised that while I wanted to drop the weight, I didn’t want to end up like her … so that was when I decided that maybe I should look into this health and fitness crap that’s been going around. Cheers!
Someone once said “It just really depends on how much you want it”. :D
February 16th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
i’m bad in writing, i think i just put it here lah
1. everytime ada reunion, i hate to hear my frens called me “kanak2 ribena” (but that was 4-5years ago)
2. i’m a hyperactive person, but i took certain things that i like most eg hiking, swimming, taekwondo (dah lama stop, almost 5 years i think)
3. self-confidence!!!
sekian, terima kasih, huhuhu ;-)
February 16th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
thanks everyone! I’ll post the results up tomorrow. :)
January 24th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
[…] About 2 months ago, I had the chance to undergo a FitnessAge test. The results were nowhere close to my expectations – I had a fitness age that was far older than my chronological age. It was a slow, depressing drive back home that night. But more importantly… it was another turning point for me. What am I talking about? Read on… […]
January 27th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Weight gain did not push me to join the gym. My turning point came when I can no longer live with the guilt of snapping at people and regretting it afterwards. I had sleeping problems for about 10years that made getting up from bed and going to work a constant struggle. Then when I was teaching a class of new recruits, they came to know of my problem and persuaded me to join the gym. I thought I had nothing else to lose and did. Joining the gym is one of the best investments I’ve made for my health. I still hv the sleeping problem but it does not affect me much because of exercise and cutting down sugar. And my mood swings are gone too :)
January 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Yin Teing: Yours is an inspiring story. Now if only we can convince the rest of the world to give healthy eating & exercise a try… :)
January 29th, 2008 at 11:35 am
you know what DM, alot of people started working out to lose weight, or gain weight for whatever reason..
i for one, started because i had to vent out excess energy on something. That time, i had just gotten out of a bad relationship so there’s alot of anger, frustrations and all that excess baggage that comes with it.
i’ve always been able to lean on playing basketball whenever i’m in a bad mood or having a funk way in the past… but this time, it can no longer help. I was afraid that i’d be just too aggressive with the guys that i ball with… so i had to channel all the energy elsewhere.
thats when i start to pick up the weights. i get the satisfaction and relief after a good day’s worth of training. And the only thing got in between me and my moodiness is the iron and dumbells.. so nobody got hurt.
what was an outlet of anger now became a passion, became an integral part of my life.. so now i’m in the iron game just for the fun of it. Breaking a sweat and enjoying my alone time.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:49 am
trey: Everyone has their own turning point, and yeah… its not always weight loss or weight gain. I like yours the best. Man.. you sound like you could have been a Spartan if you were born in a different lifetime.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
yea a tiny little one. haha
February 17th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Everyone is different and all have their own turning points. It often takes something in a persons social life or health to achieve this. Being successful in a gym also requires very strong motivation and commitment, which is why you don’t often see everyone walking around buff.