TWO FRIENDS TURNED FITNESS FRIENDS

After a long hiatus from the world of fitness, Gen and I were feeling stagnant in our relationship with our bodies and health.

The pandemic, work and a myriad of other excuses had stopped us from moving forward. Alone, neither of us was motivated enough to make a change or try something new. But together we felt encouraged, at least to try. We told ourselves that if we didn’t enjoy it, we’d bail after the trial.

We’ve all been there. Another long day at work. You’re tired, grumpy and you don’t want to work out. You don’t want to schlep to the gym and drag your weary arse up the Wyndham Street hill (once an Everest, but strangely more manageable now … are you getting fitter?)

An incoming WhatsApp message, and it’s like she’s reading your mind.

‘I wanna bail on tonight’.

It’s tempting. It’s like she’s giving you permission.

We’ll just go tomorrow, you think.

Tomorrow is easy. Tomorrow is not today.

Tomorrow is a promise to yourself (that you won’t keep).

But then you remember how you feel when you go to the gym together, as a team. Sweat drips into your eyes and your lungs burn and your leg muscles scream – but then you catch your friend’s eye or tell another woman that yes, she CAN do this.

And when you share a high-five at the end of the session it somehow becomes worth it. We showed up today, and we won. We supported other women and we championed ourselves.

We’ve taken it even further: we extend our workout by walking home, our legs sore but our hearts full.  We send each other fitness jokes and swap fitness memes on Instagram. We compare protein powders. How did this happen? you wonder, as you log on to iHerb.

I guess we’re just ‘fitness people’ now – but maybe we were ‘fitness people’ all along; we just needed each other there to realize it.

-Genevieve and Stephanie