As an active teenager leading a busy life between friends, family, school, and social activities; I look forward to going to the CVU workout gym after school as much as possible. Yes, finding contentment at a busy gym with loud music, noise of metal hitting metal, weights falling to the ground, and weights getting racked sounds unlikely, but I do. The best part about the CVU gym is that it’s a great mental break from school and it’s a stress reliever.
The first thing you notice as you approach the gym is that you can see into the gym from the outside as it is lined with big windows all the way around. As you walk through the door, you smell that potent gym odor. I can only describe it as a mix between metal, sweat, and rubber. The distinct smell is soon replaced by the orchestra of clanging of metal, thuds of weights being dropped and the grunting of teenagers pumping iron. As you look down you will notice the bright vivid red floor that is a rubber like substance. On the left are the yellow cubbies for your bags. When the gym is crowded there won’t be any place for more bags, people then resort to the floor space below the cubbies. Plenty of times you’ll trip trying to get your bags as you attempt to be cautious of other people’s belongings.
The camaraderie in the gym provides an atmosphere of belonging. The gym transforms into a social club, where friends hangout and encourage each other to get stronger or just release the stress of the day. The gym provides a safe, drug-free, alcohol free zone where friends can push themselves physically and just hang out together. The bonds you form with the friends you work out are truly something. You receive compliments from each other, push each other, and joke around. Everyone is respected in the gym no one is mistreated. The fitness teachers are there to support you. They are there to maintain a safe place, give advice, and make sure injuries are minimal. Their supervision does not seem intrusive at all; in fact they offer good advice in a very supportive manner.
I find contentment in the gym the only thinking required is how much weight, how many reps, and how far can I push myself today. Personal goals are set, as an individual challenges themselves to push beyond their limits. The benefits of physical activity can be measured in physical health, but the mental benefits can only be measured by how I feel when I am there in the gym. A calm and content feeling comes over me knowing I’m doing something for myself. Sometimes friendships are formed in the gym as strangers assist each other or “spotting” one another. It starts as a mutual respect, helping a “buddy” out, as they test their mettle. The gym builds confidence and through this confidence contentment for oneself forms as the gym provides a place to cast off the weights of school by piling on the weights on a bench press bar.
It is a good feeling going somewhere in the school that homework doesn’t exist, textbooks are not required and there are no tests. The workout helps you feel a sense of accomplishment. When the day has been stressful or life seems out of your control, there is a sense of being in control to push yourself in the gym. It is physical, primitive and satisfying. The weights don’t talk down to you; they challenge you to see what you are made of. There is no pass or fail, no A or F, and everyone leaves feeling a sense of accomplishment. The only grade a C for contentment, as I leave the gym ready to face another day in the life of a teenager in high school.
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