29th Session
For a newbie in the gym, one would see him walking around spotting advanced students doing their bench presses. On some rare moments, one would see him exchanging videos with his students using his obsolete but still useful phone. His height is in question, but his bulkiness is something to be taken seriously. He is bitchy at times butto those who he sees as devoted to their objectives, one would find his heart eager to teach more to such students.
He is our gym instructor and because of him, he made me believe that my dreams are actually possible to achieve... in a very short span of time.
To newbies, he is often serious and aloof. He even finds enjoyment seeing his new students suffer in pain, as he gives harder exercises to those whose aim is to gain weight. He is the reason why I got this unbelievable endurance in the Elliptical trainer. On my second training session he told me to do a brisk walk for 30 minutes, only to find out that I have to walk again for 30 minutes as a finale before my session ends.
Now, I can easily do a 30 minute jogging without even stopping on a relatively high resistance level.
He was the only trainer who told me that cramps are normal during initial sit-ups. You won't believe how terrible it was for me doing those abs exercises before. Now, I could even do a 50 rep sit-ups on very high inclinations.
When I did the bench presses this afternoon, I was so surprised to find out that I could already carry 20 kilos of plates without even stopping at middle of a 20 repetition exercise. Barely a month ago, it was those same kilos that injured me for two days. Before he encouraged me to carry lighter weights, despite some jeers I heard from the pros who were working out during my session.
Who would believe that soon, those weights I could never carry before will eventually become effortless for me.
Two months after, whenever I looked into the mirror and see the results of my work out, I could not help but remember him. Somehow, he motivated me to reach the things I never imagined I could achive. From my humble beginnings as a weakling, I can now feel the strength coming from my own arms and legs. The power I desired before is now, literally in my hands.
But on my next gym session, what remains are the memories I had with him.
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When I was doing my inclined presses, he approached me to inform that today would be his last day.
It turned out that a better gym in Libis offered him a far higher compensation. Taking the opportunity with a practical mind, he grabbed it in an instant... perhaps resulting to my own gym with out an instructor for weeks to come.
He said that what he gets from my gym was way below the minimum. When he told me the exact figures, I could not believe that there are still establishments who pays their professionals with such kind of amount.
I understood his plight immediately. From his stories I overheard before while he was talking to some of the older students, I've learned that he has a family already. Besides, the travel costs alone is not enough to make him survive for two weeks.
Oh well, blame the economy for such hardships.
I have always known that he treats me with the same respect he gives to those who are more advanced than me. For even from the very start, his words became my guide in doing my program. I guess he saw my dedication and eagerness to achieve want I wanted, the mere fact that he was the first one to notice my improvements is perhaps one of the reasons why I lasted this long.
But now that he is about to leave, I am wondering whether I would survive the changes.
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Knowing what lies ahead, I asked for his number.
In my mind, thoughts were building up whether I would follow him or not in his new gym. Obviously, the new one is fairly expensive. It costs thrice for a membership there compared to my present gym.
That means, if I act based on my subjective side, I would be a lot poorer in the months to come. Besides, looking at both directions, the only thing I could see is uncertainty - uncertainty that I would survive the culture in his new gym; uncertainty whether I would get to bond with the new intructor that would replace him.
My only hope is that the instructor who would replace him is the one who is assigned for the morning students. After all, the students during morning are boring and we already have this bond after I went to the gym during the times he was on duty.
Or if it is not possible, I hope that they would get one who is at least physically inspiring for me.
Still I have these thoughts about following my old trainer. Now that I am on the brink of burning out after several events successfully broke not only my diet but my routine as well, I believe that I needed his support and encouragement now more than before. But in doing so, my reserves would be stretched to its limits...
Looking at every angle, eventually I would burn out still like a star in its last remaining days.
All I ever have now is an immortalized entry about the brief time our lives had crossed together... to inspire me to become what I really wanted to become.
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