Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Friends and family don't necessarily have to be the people that cause better character to be produced in me. I found one of those people at the gym this weekend. We were doing dead lifts (weight is lifted from the floor to hip level) that were supposed to be one and a half times my body weight. Last time I was weighed, I weighed 139 pounds. If I did the math, I should of been dead lifting 208 pounds yet the heaviest I lifted was 165 pounds for 3 repetitions. That wasn't even a possibility I put on the table especially since were were doing three exercises back to back which would add up to 55 dead lifts. I didn't want to die so I settled for 125 pounds.
The workout started and I got my first 10 reps in, feeling good. The guy next to me, who was lifting over 300 pounds, tells me, "You did that too fast. You better add more weight." He was joking but I took that seriously. I added another 20 pounds and did the workout with 145 pounds finishing at 22 minutes and 34 seconds. My workout buddy never finished but I got to encourage him to try the same weights next time and see how far he goes.
Iron sharpening iron is about friendship and accountability. It's so much easier to take constructive criticism from someone you know. I've seen this guy in the gym many times and though it was our first official conversation, we knew we had each other's back. A website called TechTarget defined accountability as an individual who will be evaluated on their performance. Exercise is supposed to be challenging. Muscles don't grow in comfort and this guy knew this so he was willing to assess my performance and call me out on it. It also showed me that there are so many things in life I need to work on like mind set and helping my friends outside the gym be accountable for their life choices. We need each other to become better individuals.
Thank you gym guy for pushing me!
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