wait....weights?

So I was trying to remember when exactly it was that I first got a gym membership. I know it was the summer before 8th grade that I picked up a dumbbell with the intent of actually work out. I had decided I wanted to join the wrestling team in High School (still a bummer there were no ropes to run off of or turnbuckles to dive off of) and at this time I was still 70lbs and like 4'9". Yeah I was basically see through I was so small. I know 5th graders who are taller/weighed more than I did then. ANYWAY, this entry is not about that. In wrestling we had the weight room some mornings before school so I know I started to learn some stuff then, and I can't remember what year it was but we ended up getting a Bowflex for the house too. James would come over some evenings and we would work out in a room small enough that I could probably stand in the middle and touch all 4 walls now.

Then we move on to college where Western Michigan had one of the most amazing gyms I have even been to. And it was free. And I probably went like 3 times in 4 years. Because of stupid video games. Sometimes I wonder if I had gone more and gotten into fitness and nutrition way back then, how different would things be now. Changes major? Working in the exercise science field? Maybe just have at least a couple of muscles on my body during college? I think it would be not long after college though, that I got my first membership at Bally's which would later get converted to an LA Fitness. What I am not sure about though, is why. I barely went, never took it seriously, and certainly was not eating very well. But then we get to the last few months before I go into the Army. I actually had a trainer and he was kicking my ass and getting me pretty well prepared to go in. I would not necessarily say I was in good shape or taking it seriously, but it was the first time I found myself enjoying it.

I went to the gym some during the time leading up to deployment when I was in the Army, but I certainly never really took things seriously. It was not until we were in Afghanistan and I started working out a bit, and then eventually getting taken under Kerr's wing did I actually see some changes and realize how fun it was. Fast forward nearly 10 years (wow.....) and it can't help be one of those "If I knew then what I know now" situations. What bug me now though, is that through all the efforts I have made, and all the changes I have seen, I have never actually taken it as seriously as I thought I was. Thats a whole different matter though. And a topic for another day.