I used to play recreational sports for local parks and while in High School. You know, sports like Volleyball, Soccer, Baseball, and Football. I was not really good at any of them, but it was a better option than having to take certain classes.  And the park recreational sports kept me off the streets and from being bored at home. You know, all the positive reasons that parents place their kids in sports at the local park. 

 During High School, I would find some of my practice sessions to be held in the weight rooms, located just outside of the boys’ locker room between the Auditorium and the pools. Now, these were not like the weight rooms that you would find in Tulsa Gyms, or in Broken Arrow Gyms. These weight rooms were free weight and benches. We had no Broken Arrow Personal Trainer. Normally our out of shape sports coach would happen to be the one that educated us on how we should use the equipment. Like I said he was no Broken Arrow Personal Trainer. The coach, who also happened to be the boys’ physical education teacher, instead of him using the equipment himself to show us, teenagers, how to use equipment that also had labels stating that we could be badly injured if not used as the label stated was a proper way of using them. He would just have us watch these safety videos.  Once again, as I have mentioned, not a Broken Arrow Trainer or what you would find being taught or done at a professional facility like at a Broken Arrow Gym or Tulsa Gyms. I would like to make a comment here about how my High School years were not in the low digital age. I was attending High School during the early 2000s. Cell phones, laptops, iPods, and DVDs were a thing that existed and was used pretty well by just about anyone. So tell me, please if you can manage a way to explain, why would we be watching a VHS copy of the safety, the dangers, and how to properly use gym equipment from the year 1970? Have I mentioned yet how this process was unlike Broken Arrow Gyms?

So as you can guess I do not have much knowledge of technique in the world of fitness. Like many who first came to Tulsa Gyms or Broken Arrow Gyms, I had no idea what I was doing. I would stand for longer than I needed next to a weight machine and just read the labels to get some kind of an idea as to what I was supposed to do with it. Gosh, don’t even get me started with weights. I had no idea what I was looking at. There are so many different kinds of dumbbells and now these Kettlebells. The first time I tried to do a bicep curl at a Broken Arrow Gym I had no idea what I was doing. I assumed I had to go a bit heavy.  I was not aware I was not doing complete full curls. The pain I was feeling was not from muscle growth. Any of the  Broken Arrow Trainers could tell you that bad form will cause Injuries and not gain any health benefits.  

As I got older and saw myself looking to get back into the gym, I found myself unsure of what I needed in a gym. I looked at several of the facilities offered by Broken Arrow Gyms. Some had more cardio-based machines than weight machines. Other locations had more Free weights than Cardio machines or even weight machines. Some locations had classes, or trainers, and/or a pool. I was not looking for a pool. I had no interest in swimming in a public pool. What did I want was to be able to know what in the wide world of sports I was doing when I was at the gym. We have all seen in movies and shows what are basic things to do with dumbbells. But tell me if you knew right off the back what you could do in a Broken Arrow Gym when it came to Kettlebells or Slam balls, or HIIT. There were so many types of equipment updates and modernizations that I was never sure if I was even sitting at one properly. I was sure I was going to end up on a YouTube channel for people who do not know how to use equipment in a Broken Arrow Gym.

But there was something that I experienced and loved at The Hub Gym in Broken Arrow. I was one time using the Lat Pulldown. And I was pretty confident I knew that I was doing. I mean I read everything on the “How to use” sticker that was stuck onto the machine. I even tried to make sure I looked like the image when it was in the start and end positions. But apparently I looked like I was not really sure what I was doing. So a staff member of this Broken Arrow Gym walked by me and asked if he could as me a question. I, of course, stopped my process of acting like I knew what I was doing and told him that he may inquire something from me. He asked me if I was feeling the lateral muscles in my back do the full extension of a stretch when I returned the bar of the equipment to it’s resting position. And if I happen to also feel my lateral back muscles contract while I was pulling down the bar to lift the weight plates. I did not know what muscles were even to be found in my back replied by telling him I was not sure I understood the question. He proceeded with asking permission to use the machine to show me what he meant. I then saw him adjust the seating with an explanation of why it was important to sit and place your knees a certain way. Which immediately lead him to demonstrate the starting movement and the end movement. There was not just a mechanics issue with how I was trying to use it, but also pausing and effects that I was not allowing my body to process.