SEVEN Fitness Challenge

I was active as a kid. I regularly played hockey, baseball, and soccer, both with friends and in organized leagues. I was rarely the “best” athlete out there, nor would I consider myself “fit”, but I was active and expending loads of energy.

This changed when I entered high school, where I was only active in gym class or on a winter activity day.

When I was about 19, I wanted to move from a sedentary lifestyle to a more active one (and to gain muscle, as scrawny young men are prone to desire), so I joined a gym.

I had never lifted weights before, so going into my first session, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I asked the gym employee to show me some moves. I learned about the basics in lifting weights, such as the main movements, sets and repetitions. I read up on it more when I wasn’t working out, learning about other moves, diet, and the science behind all of it.

I worked out consistently for about 1.5 years, putting on the muscle and strength. And people noticed, which felt awesome.

Then, for financial and work-related reasons, I stopped going. Attempts to go back were thwarted by these reasons and others, including a couple of injuries (lower back sprain, minor rotator-cuff sprain).

I lost the muscle and gained unwanted weight. For the past three years, intense activity has been sporadic at best. In the fall of 2007, I played in a ball hockey league for two months, and in the summer of 2008, I went treeplanting (where I happily lost 25 pounds).

However, I always told myself I would go back and commit to it. And that’s the thing about staying fit: one must be committed. In that year-and-a-half of working out, I went at least three times a week and strove to outdo myself the following week. I overhauled my diet, budget and daily routine so I can go to the gym. And if I missed a session for whatever reason, I felt terrible.

Upon hearing of the SEVEN Fitness Challenge, I knew I should take part. I completed my fitness assessment this afternoon, so I’m now an official participant.

It’s somewhat unfortunate that it takes the Challenge to get me back into it, because staying fit is something everybody should be striving for; but it’s good in that it has made look back on my past experiences and remember how great it felt when I lifted more than I did the previous week, or when someone would say “Hey, someone’s been going to the gym!”

So hopefully this challenge segues into a lifestyle, because it’s great for the body and mind.