I received this email today from my friend Kris. She lives in Northern Virginia but hails from South Jersey. And as you can read, she has maintained her Jersey attitude toward training and life.
by Kris Lesino
6am on a Friday Morning. Coffee and Cardio. Same as every other day during the week. I find myself here on the treadmill running my life away while the idiots around me are walking at the same pace as a snail thinking that somehow it’s going to make their overweight bodies miraculously change into skinny supermodels. To others it’s a social hour and fashion show. Men pumping iron in cliques. Grunting and groaning during reps and socializing in between about “hot chicks” and other non-sense bullshit. Women showing up with a full face of make up, hair perfectly placed wearing as little as possible. Trying to look as beautiful as possible while they lift their 10lb weights and glide on the elliptical for 20 minutes of pointless exercise. Apparently, they didn’t receive the memo. The gym is meant for working your ass off, self reflection, discipline, progress and goals.
I complete my 5.2 mile run in under 50 minutes this morning and I feel like I could rule the world. Strong, accomplished and determined. I follow this with an ab workout and then head to the shower. Off to work for 8 hours and then back to the gym it is. Today is deadlift day. Some would say it’s crazy or unorthodox to visit the gym twice in one day. But to me it’s routine. A way of life. Necessary. To pick up heavy weight and put them back down repeatedly sounds excessively tiring and pointless to many. Not me. I have not only been witness to the results it brings physically but also the strength it brings to every aspect of my life. Mind, body and soul are strengthened with each rep, and each work out,while my body physically feeds off of the strenuous activity that it is performing.
I get to work and microwave my first meal for the day. Chicken and Broccoli. The breakfast of champions. I patiently wait for my meal to be heated and am greeted by a fellow co-worker. As I sit down and begin to enjoy my breakfast in the break room, I am faced with one of my biggest pet peeves. The questioning of my food. “What is that?” says my fellow co-worker, whose presence I am not welcoming. “It’s my breakfast”, I reply in an annoyed tone.
This unnamed co-worker proceeded to criticize my eating habits and asks what seems like 20 questions in reference to my meal that I am trying to enjoy. Too late. Ruined.
I respond by informing that I eat what I eat because I want to. I like how I feel and care how I look. Maybe you should stop worrying about what I eat so much and take a look in the mirror at yourself. Chicken and broccoli 3 times a day would do your body some good. It must make other people that lack motivation and discipline feel good to criticize others . Don’t try and make me feel like an outcast because I take pride in my body. So go on and eat your cheese Danish and cream infused coffee and enjoy those 500 extra calories for me. And the next time you make mention to my meals, don’t be surprised when I tell you to go F**k yourself.
