They broke the mold when they made my wife; she is the most infectiously positive person I have ever known. Yesterday, it didn’t matter; I was in a full-fledged depressive daze, starting the moment I woke up. You know the type of day I’m talking about? You’re aware of what’s bothering you but thinking about it is too painful, so you push it aside and stumble through the day like a zombie. A cloud of confusion has you saying things you don’t even mean to say. Your lips are moving and words are coming out, but your brain is not choosing the words. It’s a dissociative experience—as if you’re watching your body sulk through life while you sit perched atop a cloud observing.
Despite my wife’s best efforts, she could not cheer me up; I was the walking dead. We even visited with my parents and my sister. I was a lost cause, though. My body was there, but my mind was shot. The original plan was to relax in the sun until 3pm, at which time I was going to drop Gina off at home and my sister and I were going to Fit House to train. I perked up enough to wave goodbye to three o’clock as it came and went. I even mustered enough energy to curl my lip in a smirk of petulance at four o’clock as it faded into oblivion. When five o’clock manifested itself, I seriously contemplated skipping our training session for the day.
Something within me wouldn’t surrender, and before I knew it, I found myself at Fit House with a lot of company: my sister, a dour attitude, a sun hangover, and a lot of annoyance that was aimed with sniper precision at my wife (isn’t it funny that the people who care and try to help us the most become the target of our disdain during periods of stress? Love you, Gina!).
As I started our training warm up, my brain used the last of its energy to survey and process the entire situation into an intelligibly fluid string of well-thought English language that could very well form the future source of endless strife amongst philosophical scholars for centuries to come: “uh-oh.” Just the bar, sans the weight, was heavy during my warm up. This was going to be a long night.
Once I had the first couple of sets under my belt, I started to wake up. In between sets, my sister and I joked and just had fun with the situation. Before long, I was beating all my numbers from the previous week, and more importantly, we were all smiles. My sister and I make a good training partners: she is religious about following our exact rest periods, and she doesn’t take a second longer or a second shorter. Conversely, I move at the pace of snail shit. She keeps me moving at a brisker pace and I—well, I crack jokes!
As we neared the end of our session, momentum started to build. I was destroying my numbers from previous weeks. Between a glistening sweat, my heart thumping, my muscles pumping, and the banter with my sister, I was feeling great. At the end of our session, I was determined to use the 100# dumbbells for a high number of repetitions for every set across the board. With two sets down, two to go, and fatigue creeping in, fate intervened.
Tony and Diana stopped by Fit House to pick something up. Between stepping outside and talking to this delightful duo, I was afforded about a seven-minute breather! Woo hoo! Thank you, Tony and Diana! (It was also great seeing Tony and Diana—a brief moment of normalcy amidst a time of great chaos.) We went back inside and finished our session with gusto. I actually went up! I may have cheated by about five minutes, but the way I felt yesterday, I’ll take it!
My sister and I hung out in the parking lot for a bit, shooting the shit, Holden-Caulfield-style, and were then off on our separate ways. On my drive home, I started falling right back into my funk, but I had a flashback of my life that highlighted the importance of something for me: I have successfully navigated my way through many stressful times thanks to health and fitness. Training keeps you mentally strong. Although it may not solve the exact source of your stress, it will give you the strength and gumption to weather the storm and eventually come out stronger on the other side.
This entire situation is not ideal for anyone, but here we are. I implore you, stay on track with your health and fitness. It will give you tenacity and resolve to persist through the chaos and come out a champion. Whether you have gym equipment at home or are using just your bodyweight, whether you have a mindset of progress or maintenance, whatever it is, hang in there, stay on track, and stay strong.
Storms don’t last forever.
About the author
Chris Rombola
Chris is the owner of Fit House. He's run the training departments at several commercial gyms, and after years of seeing how awful those environments were for his clients, he opened his own studio. He is devoted to getting people strong, lean, and healthy.
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