Gym Rat to Barbell Brat

Imagine drinking gas station coffee your entire life and thinking it has an outstanding taste before switching to Starbucks. Then, after being hooked on getting your caffeine fix from the prestigious green mermaid instead for a year, you decide to take a sip from your local gas pump vendor again. Suddenly, the drink you used to wake up for tastes like the liquid pumping into your tank.

I felt this way revisiting the commercial gym I grew up lifting in after a year in a private gym dedicated to powerlifting.
I went from a gym rat to a barbell brat.

The transformation did not happen overnight, though. After completing numerous blocks in an extra-large garage plastered in Rogue and metal plates, I acquired a taste for specific equipment.

Weeding out most machines is not an activity I enjoy. Contrarily, it hurts me to walk into a commercial gym to see a plethora of equipment I do not want to use.

My parents' voices scream, "If there is food in front of you, eat it." Shouldn't it be the same with gym equipment? "If there is equipment in front of you, use it."

How do I bench confidently with only two options to rack the bar that feels slathered in baby oil? I want the knurling to cut into my skin. These delicate hands have calluses on them for a reason.

While I might display an attitude toward metal with a professional prissiness, I am a beginner. I still need to add up my total. My coach repeats the basics. And even though I push iron among friends in the powerlifting community, I have yet to take the platform myself.

So I guess the best way to describe myself is a person who lifts weights consistently and likes bougie equipment. I have always been a sucker for Starbucks.

But it took me returning to a gym I used to lift to recognize the value of the equipment I leveled up. With that appreciation, I realize I am trapped – Starbucks is $5 more than gas station coffee.

However, the trapped feeling is far from how funhouse-styled mirrors that follow me in commercial gyms make me feel near psychosis.

It is a trapped yet empowering feeling because it makes me want to invest in this style of life training. I witnessed my mental and physical growth in a year at a gym with expensive equipment. Also, there is space to keep reinventing if I dedicate time to myself.

Even though I do not know most of the different shaped bars' names by heart, and I avoid the Kilo plates, I treat this sport like it is my mate. It is worth leaving the gas station and paying a little more for a fitness community eager to gas you up.