Lately during my workouts I've either wanted to cry or have cried. Luckily I sweat so much that no one can tell the difference. Upon further observation, the tears aren't flowing because things are too hard. That's a given in any form of physical fitness. If it isn't challenging you, it isn't changing you. What's causing me to cry is hard for me to define in a few words.
There's a saying by Oscar Wilde: Life imitates art. I'm a firm believer that this is true even in the fitness world. Several days ago, the patrons of our box gym was introduced to a workout called 30 Something. In this workout, we had to do four rounds of 400 meter run, 30 wallballs and 30 pull ups. On the bottom of the workout in italicized print it said rx+ 5 rounds. If you aren't familiar with CrossFit lingo this means that a person who wants to go above the prescribed weight or exercise amount has to do whatever it says after the rx+. I figured that for this workout, that wasn't me. I was already using a lighter ball and I still can't do a pull up without stepping on a box and jumping up. No rx+ for me... or so I thought.
During the fourth round of 30 Something, I was running and praying to survive when I felt like I needed to do the fifth round. That was crazy and definitely unnecessary, yet the same feeling crept up during the wallballs and the pull ups. After the fourth round, someone asked if I was done and I looked at the coach who wasn't looking at me. I was hoping he would give me some encouragement to go the extra round. Nothing! I said, "I'm going for the fifth round." and headed out the gym for the last jog. That's when the tears came.
What God was showing me throughout that whole fifth round was that in my life, very much like in this workout, I am going to have to give it more than what is prescribed even if there was no motivation from anyone else. It doesn't matter if I can do things perfectly. It isn't important if it seemed like the extra mile I give doesn't seem like it matters because it does.
Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
God usually speaks to me through exercise. It sounds crazy but it's true and even though He gave me a choice to go the extra mile in life, I chose to motivate and tell myself to go for another round.
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