I finally got up the nerve to take out a club membership this past Spring. So after over six years of absence I can now say I’ve been back in the gym religiously – three times per week on average since the beginning of June.
Getting Back to the Gym
There were a few things that motivated me – not the least among them a rather tactless physician who exclaimed my “BMI” put me in the “morbidly obese” category – a category that measures height to weight with no regard for anything else.
I always wondered how many other morbidly obese folks can say they are able to press their body weight. I also suppose much of the NFL probably fall into this category. Its a bullshit statistic – can you imagine if I went to butcher shop (yes I’m old enough to remember butcher shops) and came home with a big bag exclaiming, “HONEY! I bought ten pounds for $5!” – wouldn’t she ask “Ten pounds of WHAT… bones? suet? ham hocks? pig’s ears? steak? stew beef?” BMI is a bit like that ten pounds of “stuff”.
Not Charley btw...resemblance though?
I’ve always been muscular – but I have to admit I’ve just gotten fat. There, I admit it. But morbidly fat? I think not.
So anyway… I like lifting weights. I started doing it in my twenties and found out my body adapts really well to it. Its one of the few athletic activities I’d ever say I was good at. People who know me well think its funny. Most of them aren’t athletic, and they know I’m not either – I fit the stereotype of a 98 pound nerd, but in the body of a large man who lifts weights. I don’t talk about things like my bench press or my rotator cuff… or grams of protein per pound of body weight… or the benefits of squats vs leg presses with most of the people around me… Its a solitary pursuit…
Read more of Charley’s story…coming soon!
By: Charley Socci
