Every other summer of my life has been planned out, chock-full of lots of activity to keep me busy, but this summer was different. Much to my parents chagrin, I was unemployed. However, I wasn’t too upset, because I had a very long freshman year and I didn’t think it’d be the worst thing in the world to have some decompression time to just hang out and do whatever my heart desired. For me, this was getting fit. Yeah, everyone says, “Okay, this is the summer I’m gonna do it. I’m going to workout everyday and eat healthier!” and most times it only last for a few weeks, but I was determined. I’m not confessing to being a victim of the full freshman 15, but I will say that I definitely did not lose any weight. So with my free summer ahead of me, I got myself a personal trainer at my local gym. I went nearly every single day for a month straight, and felt real good about myself. But when I first started out with my personal trainer, a whole lot of thoughts ran through my head, because when I went to the gym by myself I would usually stick to the machines, but he had a different plan for me. Here’s a little bit of what it was like to experience working with a personal trainer for my first time. It was nerve-wracking in the beginning, but I quickly got used to it and am glad I stuck with it.

1. I’m so out of shape, this is gonna be rough
2. How am I supposed to do an hour of this
3. Alright there he is
4. Look normal and hide your fear of what’s to come
5. What if he yells at me and I cry
6. What if he’s ruthless and doesn’t care if I can’t handle it
7. He needs to understand that I’ve always relied on sports for exercise, and not the gym
8. Ok, wait, he seems cool, maybe he’ll take it easy on me
9. We’re warming up and I’m already sweating. Good
10. He probably thinks I'm so pathetic
11. Great, I’m already tired and that was just the warm up
12. Maybe I should just cancel this whole thing, because I don't know if I can last
13. Alright, we’re doing real stuff now
14. Here we go...
15. Wait, I think I can do that. Seems easy enough
16. *Two minutes later* This is harder than I thought and my arms hurt
17. God he makes it look way too easy in his demonstration
18. How does he do that so effortlessly? It’s not fair
19. My arms are shaking a lot. How embarrassing
20. Just push through. Fake it until he says I can stop
21. Just keep pulling the weights down, even though you wanna stop
22. Ok, we’re doing more weights now
23. God, I don’t trust myself with weights
24. Wow, for such a small weight, this sure hurts
25. Tgod, we’re done with that set. My arms are nearly limp
26. Oh I see. We do a lot of different things in a little circuit
27. These circuits are hard though
28. Geez, I am sweating too much and it’s not ok
29. Alright, just a few more things to do and then we’re finally done
30. Wow, I’m just about at my breaking point
31. No. Not planks. I can’t
32. Please let me stop
33. Snap out of it, this is good for you. Keep pushing through
34. Wtf is a Jacob’s ladder?
35. God, that looks awful
36. Ok, here I go
37. This is very hard and I don’t like it
38. Actually, I got the hang of this. Alright alright
39. But my legs hurt
40. Actually, everything hurts right now
41. God we must’ve done like 20 different workouts today
42. Am I done yet?
43. This is the longest hour of my life
44. What?! I’m done. Oh thank goodness
45. I think I sweat enough to fill a kiddie pool
46. God, after this, I should reward myself with like a milkshake and fries
47. Wait, no, that doesn’t make much sense
48. Ugh, fine I guess I’ll eat healthier too
49. Salads for life
50. Sweet, now I get to lay down now and be stretched out
51. Well, considering how inflexible I am, this will hurt
52. Ok, at least it’s not awkward and we can talk. He’s chill enough for that
53. Wait, ouch, that is as far as my leg can stretch
54. This stretching is both painful and relaxing at the same time
55. Ok, this isn’t so bad
56. Hey, I survived the first day
57. Actually, I got this. I’m ready for next time already
58. This is gonna be fun

Now, at my (very sad) last session with my trainer, I made sure to thank him repeatedly for him putting up with me and my slow progress, because that must’ve taken a lot of patience (trust me). I am very fortunate to have worked out with him because he was able to guide me through what to do (without being one of those stereotypical scary trainers, i.e. the trainers for "The Biggest Loser"), and enlighten me on different aspects of the gym that are really great but that I had never used before, but will now. So a big shoutout to you, A.H. Thanks for being so great and getting me nice'n'fit this summer! Much appreciated and much needed.