Gym Bunny

I'm not a full-fledged gym bunny. I do not have those ripped abs and well-defined muscles. My body does not resemble that of Arnold's or of Sylvester's. My body contains a lot of fats, cholesterol, salts, water and calories.

I must admit, my body looks better now than a few years back. It was only this year that I decided to go back to the gym. I just needed to shed off my insecurities, my self-pity, my distaste for my physical appearance.

I grew tired of being told that I gained weight. People could be cruel sometimes. In meet-ups and gatherings, people would normally say either "hoy, tumaba ka (hey, you've grown fat)" or "payat ka ngayon, may sakit ka ba? (you lost weight, are you sick?)."

I had been told often that I've grown bigger through the years. I couldn't help it. The nature of my work provides such opportunity for "growth" and it's difficult to control. There's just so many lunch meetings and business functions to attend to. Most of the people I meet like to eat buffet. I meet a lot of believers of Epicureanism.

I got an on-off relationship with work-outs. I started going to the gym when I was in my early 20s. Then I quit for a while and started playing badminton. When I got hired in my current job, the physical activities got scrapped. I got too busy with work. Plans to work out got shelved.

The wake-up call arrived when I couldn't take my mom's constant teasing anymore. She often joked about me having several lines on my bloated tummy. She would point to my chin and laugh at how it got pregnant and gave birth to another chin. At dinner time, she'd control my intake of rice and laughed at how I would react whenever she takes the rice platter away and out of my reach. She thought that it's funny. I thought it was hurtful.

I do not want to be laughed at for being obese. All because I don't look okay when I'm bloated. I don't want to be fat because I could not handle criticism very well. I fear that people would mock me for my physical appearance.

Gym and work out is my refuge. I got back to working out last February. I got the hang of it.

Now I spent most of my free time at the gym. I never missed out a week going to that gym inside the mall. I'd do cardio exercises and free weights alternately. I get too serious with my work-out. I would hit the gym for at least 2 hours, half of the time I devote to cardio exercise. Muscle pain is not new to me. I befriended it.

Motivation is fueled by my desire to look better. My objective is for a well-toned body. My goal is also to be fit, physically. Good Health is but an automatic reward. I have to endure rigid exercises and work-outs to achieve the body that I want.

The perks of working out in a fitness club? Hmmm. Well, eye candies abound. Gym bunnies are everywhere. Men checking out men. Locker room stories. Tales in the sauna. Shower scenes. Crazy thoughts and suppressed hard-ons. That's just enough motivation to become a gym bunny.