Strength in Numbers...

In a weak moment…I made a pact. I set myself up! I have committed myself to working my physical body till it hurts!

That's right, in February of this very year I foolishly shared my goals for 2012 with a few friends. One of them was to begin exercising! You see, I have basically become a pencil pusher. I have organised my business so I only need to basically do desk work. Nice eh? Well, apparently not. My mind in all its wisdom tells me that for some strange reason like “health” I must do this, but my body is weak and is rather reluctant.

This morning, Saturday morning by the way, I groggily got up out of my bed, walked through the quiet sleeping house, got into my van and went to "my gym" to do some exercising!

Experience has already told me that the difficult part is the head games. Once you get past the “It’s too early”, “I’m to tired,” or “What a bonehead you are getting up so early on a Saturday morning…” and you manage to get outside, the fresh air begins to enliven, and it doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

I begin by warming up on the treadmill and I begin to count. Well, I let the machine do the counting. I move on to the next, adjust the weight to the right number, (as low as possible) and begin the repetitive movements, counting every time.

It’s always a concern, will I be able to do the strength movements as many times as I did last time? When the burn begins, again the mind games begin, “Do I really want to go as high as last time? If I do the same reps. Would be considered success, right? ”  “30, 31, …32……..33……………………….34”  

“You know I do have to be able to lift my arms today if  I’m going to drive my car….OK that’s good, one over the other day…next!”

I am discovering that as in many things, even in the gym, there is strength (and pain!) in numbers.

“But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
Nehemiah 6:9