Thave always wanted to be an athlete since I was a child but due to my health at the time, I was not able to get involved with anything that had to do with sports or physical activities at school. I remember when I was unable to go to school for about a week and a half because I couldn’t walk more than five steps without being out of breathe and having to use an inhaler so there was no way I could even think about playing sports. As time went by, my health has gotten better without any help.
I would somehow still carry that same inhaler with me everywhere I go even though I never had a use for it. I was not even sure if it still worked, I just wanted to have it with me just in case something does happen. I met my boyfriend in college and he was very much of an athlete. He was very into sports and also played a few throughout his school years as well. Exercise was his other passion. He loved being in the gym just as much as he loves sports and he was the person who led me into where I am today with health and fitness. I am not saying that I think my body is perfect by any means.
But the fact that I can run longer than a minute without being out of breathe and the way that exercise makes me feel mentally and physically stronger has made me realize that the amount of time and work that I put into my health and seeing the results were all worth it. I now have more confidence about myself than I ever did before even though there are still a plenty of room for an improvement. I used to think being skinny was a gift, because I could eat whatever I wanted and my body would remain the same without having to exercise.
Well, I was wrong and the reason why was because ever since I started to eat healthier and actually exercise to burn some of my daily calories off, I have noticed how much healthier my skin looked and felt. I must admit that I am addicted to seeing my progress day by day even if it was just a little bit of progress, a progress is a progress. I now have more confidence about myself than I ever did before while there are still a lot more room for me to make an improvement. I am always ready to learn new techniques and switching up my workout routines because it is very important that we all do.
The human muscles gets adapted to the same work out routine being performed every week, so it doesn’t really change because the muscles are so used to the repetition. It is also important to let our muscles rest for a few days before starting to train it again. The most important thing about exercising and building muscles is food. I make sure I consume the right amount of protein daily so it absorbs into my tissues to grow and repairs it at the same time. T have been dealing with asthma for about half of my life.
I did not get to do what I wanted to because of it and it was definitely the reason why I never pursued with sports or attempted to exercise. I wanted to run for miles like the runners in a marathon without shortening my breathe, but it just seemed impossible as I was already struggling to run for just one minute at a slow pace. People around me such as friends, teachers, family, always seemed to think that I have the best skinny body in the entire world that they wished to have. I think to myself that I look like a stick walking around, I was never happy with my body.
Growing up, I knew that to have a skinny body you must exercise but I had no idea what exercise was. My definition of the word exercise was anything that relates to sports like running, playing basketball, soccer, volleyball but | never knew which muscles groups were each exercises targets on. There are a few groups of exercises based on an overall effect on a human body from what I have learned and for my very first work out, I wanted to specifically work on my legs and gluteus, so that’s what my trainer sets my workout to be for.
I have to say that each and everyone of the work outs he puts me through were very tough, due to it being my first time, I remember I could not even do one squat with a five pound kettle bell in my hands. The trainer told me, one of the most effective way to perform is to hold the weight with both hands and hanging it in between my legs as I am lowering my body while keeping my back straight and use my heels to push myself back up.
I was not able to follow through because the weight felt too heavy for my body and I probably had two slices of pizza prior to that work out but I couldn’t remember exactly. I just remember thinking that I could get away with eating unhealthy and it would not affect my work out or my health. So I tried doing it again, but without the weight this time. I did end up doing better and I felt my legs burning every time I squat down and making it through my sets.
That day, I walked out of the gym with both of my legs feeling wobbly and I was thinking in my head that I could not wait to go back to train again because I felt like I was actually doing something to better myself and it definitely boost my confidence from zero to seven. About a year later, I have learned a lot of new different exercises. I’ve learned that exercise focuses on strength, balance, flexibility and an endurance or as known as cardio. The most challenging one for me out of all four was Endurance because of the fact that I had asthma.
Any activities that required my heart rate to increase rapidly for an extended period of time were my biggest down fall because all of the other groups did not require my heart to work as much while it still does, at steady pace. I never thought | could get passed the stage of being out of breath while performing each one of the exercises so I have never stopped trying to improve myself. The day I was able to run for five minutes straight was certainly the day to remember, I put on my favorite music and just started singing along in my head and the next thing I knew, I was still running at five minutes.
I have been using that very same technique from that day on and it has helped me reached my goal of running a mile without stopping. I now make sure that I include cardio in my work out plans at least three times per week post my workout. According to Macmillandictionary. com the word exercise means physical activity done in order to stay healthy and make your body stronger; however my experience have shown me that exercise means more than just that.
To me, it means dedication and commitment, the amount of time and hard work I have put in to become a better version of myself. Exercise has given me strength, discipline and confidence. I used to eat anything! wanted and not paying it much of an attention or knowing what it does to my body. I never once think about exercising but ever since I was introduced to eating healthier and learning how to exercise, I would never look back and regret following through with this lifestyle.