my inspiring members

bunnysone

I know how much I have got from MFP friends who have inspired me, so I thought I would share some stories with the "real life" members of the gym I manage as an inspiration to others.

Matthew wandered into my gym last week and sat down in my office. Normally I would intercept potential members as they come through the door, give them a tour of the gym and ask them about their expectations and goals in determining whether they are the right fit for our facility. Matthew didn't give me the chance to do this! I was so busy he basically waited until I was free and then came in and said he wanted to join.

I asked if he had been in a gym before, he replied no. I asked what he wanted from the gym and he replied "to change my life"'.

Matthew is overweight. He is 22. He has had the lightbulb flash on and realises that if he changes his life NOW he will have a long, fulfilling life, and has realised that he could easily put his head into the sand and continue the way he was and either
a) wake up when he was 50 and realise how much of his life he had wasted
or worse, b) risk early death from obesity or related illness.

I showed Matthew around the gym, and told him how to work various equipment to get him started, and then put Matthew with a personal trainer. One of the qualification questions with the trainer is "what are your goals"? Matthew replied "to be happy". Says it all really.

The first training session he had he was absolutely exhausted, even though it was a very basic session. But he crawled onto the cross trainer at the end and managed to do another 10 minutes there. I went over to see how he was and he could barely talk he was so puffed, and I told him how fantastic it was to see him working so hard!

He now trainers with one of our PTs twice a week. He is in the gym at least another 2 times per week. I can see the potential in him for him to be a machine when he loses the weight, someone with that mindset who is that strong doesn't come along that often.

Matthew is an inspiration to me. If he can do it - and he will - then ANYBODY can. I'm really hoping I can get Matthew competing in events that he will gain massive achievement from, and use him as a role model for others in the future.

addman72

The biggest stumbling block is the mind , once we overcome that the body will follow.

Its great this young man has decided to change his life now , theres only one way it can be too late , but to realise now before he gets older it will be alot easier.

Bunny give this young man a pat on the back from me. Good luck to him

Inspiring.

lindzmt22

That's a great story! Thank you for that

chrissi_k

Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
It helps me a lot to read stories like that. It shows me that when others can do it I somehow must be able to do it too, even when I am the slowest runner, turn red like a tomatoe and sweat my a* off, some day I can say *I did it too* and can hopefully help others.

soccermum75

Great story! Thanks for the inspiration!:drinker:

StaceyL76

I LOVE THIS.