I blog, Therefore I am TSO.

I love my gym.  It has good equipment, lots of space, and the nicest people I’ve ever had the priviledge to meet.  I spend so much time at my gym that I’ve come to look at a lot of people there as my close friends.

 Andy, for instance.

Andy is a trainer, and is also training for a natural bodybuilding competition in Tucson.  As far as I know, Andy isn’t looking to get his pro card, but he works toward this competition with total determination and a serious drive that both surprises and alarms me.  He’s a hard gainer - eats 5,000 calories to cut and has been struggling for 2 years to add more muscle.  Andy just competed in a local show and has been beating himself up over his placing since it ended.

 I have not seen the pictures from his show.  Instead, I listened to him talk about what he thought his short comings were - and about how he feels he let himself down.  My heart ached when he talked.  Even at the gym now when I see him working so hard to fix whatever problems he feels he has, my heart aches for him.  He has more heart, disciline, and determination than  I’ve ever seen.  What he does not see is that he has done his best and continues to do his best even when he is not competing.  Andy is like me.  Harder on himself than anyone else will ever be.

 He is 3 weeks out from his next show.  I plan on attending with front row seats and will yell as loud as I possibly can.  I will hug him afterwards with everything I’ve got (as he hugged me when I got home from San Diego).  Hopefully, he will be happy and love himself for who he is - not for what he thinks he should be.