This morning I went to the gym. The gym is collection of second-hand treadmills, weight machines, exercise bicycles, and free weights dotting the gym floor like land mines in an old war zone. The building is a covered, open-wall warehouse type structure with 6 fut-sol pitches (courts? fields? what ARE they called if they are inside and on a concrete floor?!)as the main function of the facility. The weights are almost an afterthought.
Today there were five of us "exercising". One man was strolling on the treadmill in his bare feet and blue jeans at a snail's pace of 2 km/hr or about just over a mile in 60 minutes. Apparently he couldn't read the sign on the door in both English and Chinese reminding exercisers to "wear shoes." Three younger men had, what appeared to be opposite fitness goals from "treadmill man" as they were intense body builders, trying to bulk up and use all the free weights in the gym...at the same time. They appeared to have drunk their early morning protein drinks because they had the energy to grunt and lift, lift and grunt, bang, bounce, drop the weights and scare the birds away.
I, the lone female, on the other hand was trying to run at faster pace than usual. Truth be told, I decided to have a short distance goal with a fast time goal, because I just wanted to exit the sweat, smell and grunts ASAP. I'd just gotten into my groove...tuned out "grunting man" and ignored all the bacterial implications of "treadmill man"... when the song on the loudspeaker grabbed my attention.
In all honesty it wasn't the pace of the beat or intensity of the bass that distracted from my minimal goal.Quite the opposite. In fact, before I could even "name that tune", I could hear the handsome male vocalist's voice, picture his wholesome Christian good looks on the CD cover, and remember at least three of my 8th grade classes marching reverently down the aisle at church with parents and grandparents grabbing tissues to wipe away tears of pride and joy at the occasion of their graduation. I had just started humming the refrain of this very popular song when my attention was again taken by "grunting man". Maybe I really didn't want to exercise and was making mental excuses but I stopped humming just in time to see him lifting the Olympic bar plus 6 plates (3 on each side) and 2 collars (the clips to hold the weights on) (wow..I just did the math and he lifted 325 lbs! No wonder he was grunting!).
It was like the barbell was singing to him...
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.
After this morning's workout, this song takes on a whole new meaning. But, I'm still not sure I'll add it to my "Intense Exercise Tunes" playlist.
Today there were five of us "exercising". One man was strolling on the treadmill in his bare feet and blue jeans at a snail's pace of 2 km/hr or about just over a mile in 60 minutes. Apparently he couldn't read the sign on the door in both English and Chinese reminding exercisers to "wear shoes." Three younger men had, what appeared to be opposite fitness goals from "treadmill man" as they were intense body builders, trying to bulk up and use all the free weights in the gym...at the same time. They appeared to have drunk their early morning protein drinks because they had the energy to grunt and lift, lift and grunt, bang, bounce, drop the weights and scare the birds away.
I, the lone female, on the other hand was trying to run at faster pace than usual. Truth be told, I decided to have a short distance goal with a fast time goal, because I just wanted to exit the sweat, smell and grunts ASAP. I'd just gotten into my groove...tuned out "grunting man" and ignored all the bacterial implications of "treadmill man"... when the song on the loudspeaker grabbed my attention.
In all honesty it wasn't the pace of the beat or intensity of the bass that distracted from my minimal goal.Quite the opposite. In fact, before I could even "name that tune", I could hear the handsome male vocalist's voice, picture his wholesome Christian good looks on the CD cover, and remember at least three of my 8th grade classes marching reverently down the aisle at church with parents and grandparents grabbing tissues to wipe away tears of pride and joy at the occasion of their graduation. I had just started humming the refrain of this very popular song when my attention was again taken by "grunting man". Maybe I really didn't want to exercise and was making mental excuses but I stopped humming just in time to see him lifting the Olympic bar plus 6 plates (3 on each side) and 2 collars (the clips to hold the weights on) (wow..I just did the math and he lifted 325 lbs! No wonder he was grunting!).
It was like the barbell was singing to him...
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.
After this morning's workout, this song takes on a whole new meaning. But, I'm still not sure I'll add it to my "Intense Exercise Tunes" playlist.
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