"Don't hurt yourself showing off"

We went to the gym today, and my back has been hurting a little, although today it felt much better. When we got there, there were five new people. It's nice to have more people coming to the gym. There were two guys from my wife's high school who were pretty buff, and a third, smaller guy, she didn't know. As the trainer broke us up into groups, he grouped the four guys together. My wife just looked at me and said, "Don't hurt yourself showing off."

Now I first lifted weights about 20 years ago. I know my limits. I have always been pretty strong, but realize I'm getting older, especially with my recent back incident. I didn't know these guys from Adam, and their opinion of me just isn't that important. I set out just to get my workout in.

Today was a heavy arm, and core day. We started out doing some dumbbell lifts. I started with my usual weight, and the new guys all started much higher. I finished pretty quickly, and they all had to drop down to smaller dumbbells to finish.

We then moved into some tire lunges. Only one of the tractor tires was out. I got started. When I was done with my first set, one of the other guys came over and started. When I started my last set, the other two came over. At this point, my wife looked over and saw me doing lunges at the same tempo as the other guys. We were all trying to look funny, four big guys going up and down in unison around one tire. My wife pulled the trainer over, and told him to watch out for me so I didn't hurt myself.

Well, we went through the workout, and I actually finished more exercises than any of the other guys, and felt pretty good about myself. I was not injured, nor did I show off.

As my trainer said afterward, "Be glad you have someone who looks out for you, and cares whether or not you get hurt." And I am glad. Love you honey, even if you worry a bit too much!