I would like to talk to you about body images. We all have this wonderful image set in your minds of how we want to look and how we see ourselves being.
A few years back, in 1998, I ran across a magazine that talked about the “Body For Life Challenge.” I knew right then I was going to do it and I did. I started out a size twelve and ended a size six. I thought I did very well and felt great. But, things didn’t stop there for me; they were just getting started.
I went on to become a personal trainer. One day, a trainer at the gym I worked at came up to me and said, “Would you like to start working out with my partner and I?” I knew this was a chance of a lifetime so I jumped on. I said, “Yes!” This trainer (we will call him Lee) was into bodybuilding. He trained women to compete.
I was so excited about this opportunity but I had no idea what I was into. I thought I worked out before; I was wrong. The first day with the guys I went home and crawled back into bed begging for just five minutes of rest. It happened more then once over the years. I would get up at 5:30 a.m. six days a week and start my cardio before they arrived. I only worked out four days with them but six days with myself. Some nights if I wasn’t working a job (I had two jobs), I would be back in the gym doing more cardio.
We worked out hard and focused. I had guys come up to me and ask me how could I do all of this. I was leg pressing 1000 pounds at ten reps at two sets, bench pressing over 225 pounds at four reps at two sets, arm curling forty-five pounds at ten reps at three sets, doing squats at 225 pounds or more at ten reps, and it went on. One day we did squats for one hour, ten sets of one hundred reps at ninety pounds. It was all mental. The mind wanted to stop but the body could do anything.
The best thing about this was “I loved every minute of it.” I couldn’t get enough. The more I did the more I wanted. I went at this pace for over three years every week. I didn’t let anything come between me and my workouts. I was doing this for me. I thought!
I was eating six small meals a day. I did have a cheat day and I used it like nothing else. I was faithful to myself about eating on my “on” days. But, no matter how much I worked out or ate healthy every time I looked in the mirror all I could see was fat around my belly. My belly was my weak area. Having a flat stomach and abs was my dream.
