College Relationships

Roxanne's First Gym Workout

One afternoon, I had a meeting with the people in charge of the college gyms in their office. As usual with most of my meetings, it was long but productive. They told me what was working for One afternoon, I had a meeting with the people in charge of the college gyms in their head office. As usual with most of my meetings, it was long but productive. They told me what was working for them and what they needed to improve and then it was my job to see what I could do in my power and control about it. As I headed back to my office, I noticed Roxanne was standing outside the gym and she was crying.

"Are you okay, Roxanne?" I asked.

Roxanne turned to look at me. "Oh, hi, Max."

I took her and got her to sit on the wooden bench closest to the gym.

"What's up, Roxanne?" I asked.

She told me that she and her friends had her cheer try-outs yesterday. It was harder than she thought it was going to be, but that wasn't what was upsetting her. No one told her that she was bad or too old for cheerleading, but she felt herself that she just wasn't good enough for it. She always wanted to be a cheerleader ever since she was very young and she still had the passion for it, but because she couldn't even try-out at her previous schools because of her dad's way overprotective nature, she was thinking and feeling that she couldn't do it and if she continued trying, she would be an embarrassment to herself, the cheer team and the whole college. And the head cheer coach told her and the other cheerleaders they had to do as many exercises as they could, both aerobics and weights, in their spare time to build their endurance and the coach recommended using the gym as an example. Roxanne had never been to a gym before and she didn't know how to do a workout. The only exercises she ever did was when she had to do it at her previous schools and no more than that. So I could understand why she was feeling very nervous about it. In fact, she was so nervous that she thought that she couldn't do it and she should live a cheerleader-free life, but she doesn't want to give up on that dream, so she didn't know what to do and that was upsetting her the most.

"I can help, Roxanne," I said. "I can give you a tour of the gym and show you how to use the machines and do workouts, if you want."

Roxanne stopped crying. "I'd like that very much, Max, but aren't you too busy this afternoon? If you have so much to do, I don't want to put you behind schedule and be the one responsible of getting you fired."

"You won't, I promise," I said. "I've already done the most important work today and I have paperwork that doesn't need to be done today. So, come on, let's get ready for your very first workout."

Fifteen minutes later, I was out of my smart clothes and I was wearing my red sleeveless shirt, dark blue shorts, white socks and a black trainers. Then I met Roxanne in the gym and she was wearing her pink sports bra, purple shorts, white socks and white trainers.

We started off with stretches. I taught Roxanne how to do squats, high knees, leg swings, walking lunges and plank walkouts among them. She could feel her body already and we only did the stretches.

Then I showed her how to use some of the aerobic machines. She first tried the machine bike for fifteen minutes. She was very tired and sweating, but she enjoyed it and she did very well. Then she tried one of the rowing machines for ten minutes. Again, like the machine bike, she was tired afterwards, but she did very well. I told her she was doing her exercises very well when she was out of very tired and out of breath after she did them.

There were more aerobic machines to try, but I decided that Roxanne needed a break from them and that she needed to give some of the weight machines a try. Of course, every time she tried a weight machine for the first time, I made sure she was on the very first weight at first to test the machine out and then increased the weights until she found out the weight that would give her enough challenge.

The first weight machine Roxanne tried was the chest machine, which she liked doing. Then she tried the bicep curl bench, which she liked. Then she tried the shoulder press machine, which she found hard but she still persisted. Then she tried the lat pull down machine, which, like the shoulder press, she found tough but she persisted. Then she tried all the weight machines until there was none left to try. Some she found more tougher than others, but again she persisted.

Then it was time for Roxanne to try the rest of the aerobic machines. She tried the cross trainer for fifteen minutes and she did very well. Then she tried the treadmill for fifteen minutes and she did very well.

Then I taught Roxanne how to use the dumbbells and the kettlebells and the exercises she could use them with. And then finally, now that I taught her everything to use in the gym, I taught her how to do sit-ups and push-ups and the cool-down stretches.

"So, did you enjoy your very first gym workout, Roxanne?" I asked after we met outside the gym after we showered and changed back into our normal clothes.

"Well, it was hard work," she replied, "but I enjoyed it, Max. And I'm so glad you were my gym instructor."

And doing this with Roxanne reminded me of how I used to be a gym instructor while I was still a college student.

"Well, there are plenty of excellent gym instructors to help you in case you need help," I said. "And if you enjoyed the exercise so much, there are many gym classes such as the spinning class, the yoga class and the Pilates class among them if you want to try them and if you have the time."

"Hmm," Roxanne said. "Those classes sound very interesting."

"So, anyway, you did very well and I'm very proud of you, Roxanne," I said. "Keep this up and you should be a great member for the cheerleading team."

"Thanks, Max," Roxanne said. "I'll see you later." Then she headed for her dorm room.

"See you later, Roxanne," I said. Then I headed back to my office to lock it up for the night.

Some days later, I arrived back at the gyms to give them the new equipment the gym staff members told me they needed and they were very impressed with them. Once everything was done, I was heading back to my office for another meeting and I noticed someone and something happening in the gym – it was Roxanne and she was doing a workout in the gym. She remembered everything I taught her and she was doing her workout very well and enjoying it as well. And she was doing it with her dorm roommates and they were talking and joking while they were doing it like all good friends do. Seeing how much progress she made and continuing to make more progress since I met her on our Mouseton vacation in the summer made me feel very happy and proud of her. I would have loved to go in and say hello to her and her friends, but I remembered I had a meeting in my office that was very important and I couldn't be late, so I had to leave the gym and get there as soon as possible.