Blink Fitness

Being a skinny chubby kid was not the best feeling for me or any kid as a young kid.

Being told about my weight and eating whatever put a toll on me. its quarantine 2020 a new

virus covid 19 spreading all over the world and everyone’s stuck in their homes. Although I had

other plans, besides my online 7th grade zoom gym class that I thought I could smell through the

screen I would do pushups to better my shape while I could smell my sweat falling off my head,

I could only do 5. Going into the 9th grade as a scrawny kid was not easy either but i was with

other scrawny kids that sounded just like me.

But something changed, I would watch gym videos and be in my school’s weight room

trying to figure out how to work the machines. Then one day I walked into the Highschool

bathroom, and I met this junior Ervin, a gym enthusiast and his close friend a boxer that learned

from his famous boxing uncle. Although two years older than me these men had hair like

werewolf’s and looked like they can rip someone’s head off. Ervin had little to no body fat ripped

with mucle , it was inspiring for a kid like me. I wasn’t new to being inspired to something like

this seeing people run marathons online. But something was different. He asked me where do i

go to the gym as ervin flex in the mirror looking at the progress and boxer and it was my turn

with my not bad physice and a skinny kid. As corny as that sounds it inspired me to want to go to

the gym, I told Ervin I wanted to go to the gym for a while, but I’ve been working out at home.Blink Fitness

Ervin started telling me about the gym he goes to Blink Fitness.

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I was counions at it first but when he told me where it was closer to my house than the

school, we were attending it made me more curious. I’m curious on how hard I can push myself

to and wanting to do that seeing what I could become. Ervin said he’ll go with me since it’s my

first time and it’s not like I would know what im doing in there. It’s a few days later and it’s my

16th birthday asking my mom if I can go thinking im to young, but I tell her how thats not true

and she let me. I had seen there was a free trial pass on the website to go to blink, so I claimed it.

A few days after my birthday I stepped foot into the blink fitness it was empty, only a few people

in the gym. I had no idea what I was doing, I was hitting random machines for different muscles.

It was obvious that i had no idea what I was doing, and I could feel it, watching the other people,

adults and teens in there, looked like they had an objective. I was in there alone with no one to

know what to do, the next day I went to school and Ervin let me know he was going after school,

and I was going with him ready to learn.

We were in the gym, and we already knew we clicked like we knew each other for a long

time. He was from Montenegro, and I was from the top of Albania our home counties where very

close, and then from there we had the same mindset and ideas. We were going to our first bicep

curls machine, and he was teaching me what’s the right form and how to get the most out of the

machine and how to control the weight. He told me while working out he was just like a scrawny

kid in the 9th grade trying to figure out how to work out the gym just like me and how he used to

watch YouTube videos to learn how to. At that moment I knew I looked at everyone in that gym

sweating and seeing how they also started from scratch.

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Me and Ervin having conversations while working out moving onto bicep curls on the

bench and then moving onto the functional trainer machine, all while working out having great

conversations and how to use the machines for each muscle that day. As we continued to work

out for the last weeks of school, I learned a lot and still was continuing to learn it was time to go

alone. Now being alone is very different, focused while trying to still be comfortable in that

environment trying to feel belonging. As I was trying to go to the gym every day, I felt great and

knew a good amount little did I know it was only the beginning of what I would soon love.

I started to look into what the body needs for protein to build muscle and carbs for energy

and muscle growth, then found more influencers that were also in the gym. While in the gym I

started to lose interest and not seeing progress and not eating well really got to me and this

wouldn’t be the first time going through this struggle. I would look in the mirror and want more

but after not going to the gym I realized it got worse, so it was time to go back with more

dedication. I always didn’t like Blink in the hours where everyone sweaty touching soulders

asking how many sets we got so I decided to go to a building gym my dad works for. The gym

was small as a corner store and was in the basement and would be empty like no one knew it was

there and actually smelled and looked clean. The gym was a new playground for me to learn

more, and no one would be there to bother me, it’s just me and my own mind and the machines

and free weights in front of me it was great. Going to this new gym had me feeling like it was my

new home, a new Hobbie and something I enjoy going to every day after school, being right next

to my house made it even better.

It’s been 4 years since I first started my journey at blink fitness struggling to curl 20

pounds and now being able to curl 50 just like when I was that insecure boy in high school. I was

not the strong man people look at me today; I was just like everyone else staring trying to learnBlink Fitness

how to get better. Just like everything else in life everyone is is their own position in life trying

to get better. Two days ago, while writing this I ran 5 miles nonstop and my goal is to run a

marathon because I can for that little boy that wanted more and nights he wanted more. And now

still thinking about who I was and becoming anything is achievable all you have to do is put your

mind into it and that doesn’t only apply to me and my journey into the gym but everything else in

life, just like me writing this essay to finish my journey in my career.