365 Days of Exercise

The other day I was in an office building finishing up a job networking some computers to a server when I had an epiphany: I hate being in an office.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like doing manual labor either. I enjoy air conditioning and a little peace and quiet. I enjoy my file folders color coded and in alphabetical order. I even enjoy all the computers. These things don’t make me hate offices. There was this one lady who made me realize how much I hate being in the office.

We all know this person. She’s the one who comes in a minute before she’s supposed to be there, wheezing and wreaking of stale coffee and smoke. Every time she takes a step it sounds like someone is unwrapping a Christmas present. She says things like, “Wow, that traffic today…” or “Can you believe what Obama is trying to do with health care?”. When someone brings in doughnuts, she cuts one in half, but goes back five times for more. Her cell phone has a medley of ringtones such as Mama Mia or I’m Every Woman or Come to My Window. When it rings, she just stares at it so the whole office can enjoy her self-proclaimed clever ringtones. She speaks loudly of her vacation to Italy with her husband where she lost him at the Vatican. She talks about the new low carb diet she’s on because she wants to lose 10 pounds because then she’ll be in shape. She spends her day eating sugar free candy and drinking diet soda. Every time she gets up from her desk or has to get paper for the printer, she starts gasping for air. She has no excuse yet has every excuse in the world for being unhappy.

I could hate her, but I don’t. I hate whatever it was that made her that way. I want to help her. I want to show her how to get out of her seat without having to grab on to her desk. I want to show her how changing her diet just a little bit at a time would give her more energy and make her feel better. I want to give her the confidence to start something new and take responsibility for herself. I want her to want to be better.

That’s why the gym is my happy place. We all want to be better, accept our weaknesses and attack them. There is no small talk about synergy or new initiatives or sales incentives. We don’t have to wear wool pants, dress socks and those shitty work shoes. That hour we are in the gym is our time to let loose and just be ourselves. There is no fear of being fired or meeting a TPS report deadline. We encourage one another to lift more weight and have better form. We applaud hard work, not because we have to, because we want to.

WOD – 9.29.09

Clean & Jerk 5×1, 1×15-20

3 Rounds:
400M Run
50 Squats