At the end of the last semester of my freshmen year of college, I had gained the dreaded freshmen fifteen and then some. I was overeating, rarely ever working out, and starting to become a little over weight.
I had never really committed long term to any workout plan or routine before, outside of working out two to three random days a week for three weeks with my brother. I would always make a little progress, but as soon as those three weeks passed, I would always give up and go back to my couch potato ways. I would have happily continued on with my couch potato ways, but then I was inspired from an unlikely source: Anime.
A common trope in anime is the Training arc. I have never been more motivated to go workout then after watching some spunky shonen protagonist push past their limits through rigorous work out montages. These are the moments that made me want to work out.
More specifically, "My Hero Academia's" training arc. In the first three episodes, the main character, Izuku Midoriya, undergoes intense training in order inherit the powers of All might. While I personally can't relate to Midoriya's reasons for working out, I was inspired by his determination to better himself physically. It was because of these three episodes that I decided to start working out again.
While I was able to start going to the gym nearly every day, there were days where I really did not want to go to the gym. Thankfully, I have been graced with another anime that pushes me out the door so that I can continue to get healthier and stronger.
"Run with the Wind."
What is even better than a three-episode training arc? An entire show that's an extended training arc! "Run with the Wind" is about a group of 10 college students, most of which have been tricked into joining the track team. All, except two of them, have no experience being on a track team and for some of them, it is their first time working out on a regular basis.
All of them are starting from different points and it reminds me of where I used to be, where I am now, and where I want to go in terms of my health. So, anytime I don't feel like working out, I remind myself that if they can do it, I can too!
