Coppell Observer: The truth behind exercising
With the increasing new trend of weight-lifting high schoolers, Sidekick staff writer Anika Arutla tells how one can tackle the more intimidating aspects of the gym. Arutla explains how one’s social media presence of their active lifestyle may be even more important than the exercising itself.
May 16, 2018
Coppell Observer is a humorous weekly column about life as a teenager. Please be warned that any and all sass is due to the writers’ similar situation as teenagers (even though we feel so much older). You, the reader, should not take any of these words seriously. Seriously. If this article makes you laugh, leave a comment.
The media has made it very clear that being fit is one of the main ways to live life or be accepted in today’s society. With this newfound craze, students are hitting the gym and lifting weights in an effort to fit the ideal image created by the media.
Right after school, or right before school, students flee to one of many gyms located in the Coppell area such as the Core. At the gym, they proceed to change into the expensive athletic clothes they bought at Nike or Adidas for $100. In fact, there is probably more time and money spent on shopping for the clothes than actually working out.
The feeling of satisfaction after changing into those Victoria Secret leggings and sports bra calls for selfies and mirror pictures to post all over their Snapchat. After spending 20 minutes taking pictures, it is clear that they are not in the shape they want to be and suddenly motivation strikes.
With this motivation, they kick open the locker room doors and march to the treadmills. Here, they get on the treadmill and walk on it for about 10 minutes as a warm up before they get ready to tackle the rest of the gym.
From the treadmills, the weight room seems like the right move because it is the choice often made in movies. However, without the proper warm up, the weight room can have detrimental effects.
The weight room is often filled with older men with bulging muscles and makes the entire situation seem intimidating. This is the point either motivation fuels a person or the point they return back to the treadmills to continue ‘warming up.’
More often than not, the route most often taken is back to the treadmill where they will continue walking and possibly taking the upgrade from walking to jogging. Others might just go outside to run and instead walk for a couple of minutes or just return home.
Usually after a hard day at the gym of breaking sweats, Gatorade and smoothie bowls serve as the perfect reward. Usually these treats swamp their Snapchat and Instagram stories because what is the point of working out if it is not all over social media?
The moment they feel somewhat satisfied, pain overwhelms their body and the question arises whether or not they should return to the gym ever again.
Follow Anika @anikaarutla
