Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Pay your dues/Pay the price



Usually, I leave the blog posts to the training department because they do a great job and I feel I already give some insight and background about my life outside of the gym to my personal clients.


However, I want to share an experience with everyone that helped shape who I am and, without the repercussions from it, you probably wouldn't know me or be a member of this gym.


During my sophomore year of high school, one of my friends and I decided it would be a good idea to take turns "borrowing" our parents' cars. Alternating between his mom's car and my father's car, we would wake up early and drive around, returning in time to catch the bus for school. Of course, we rode the bus to school because neither of us had our driver's license :-)


For about three weeks everything was going great — until the thought of having both cars out at the same time popped into our small under-developed brains. And then testosterone kicked in. Instead of just cruising around, we wanted to race. Long story short, I crashed my father's car into a shed, bounced off of said shed, hit a tree and then an above-ground gas line! Good thing I wasn't a smoker.



The accident caused over $1,200 worth of gas to be released from the main line, not to mention damaging my father's car, destroying a shed, knocking down a tree and leaving skid marks on a concrete driveway that I had to scrub off.




I had to pay my dad to work and teach me how to build a shed. I also had to pay for materials, his time, a new tree, shovels (more on that later) as well as his increases in car insurance premiums and deductible. All of this led to my first job at the old Beef & Sirloin, an ice cream/grease pit across from the Buffalo Airport. I was not allowed to keep a single cent from my paycheck until my debt was paid off. Since I was only making $4.85 an hour, you can imagine how long this took.


The accident site was near Salvatore's Italian Gardens. One day while I was digging out the partially dead tree, I broke the shovel. When I asked my dad to drive me to Home Depot to buy a new shovel, he replied "not my problem," leaving me to walk the three miles up Transit Road.


I made it to Home Depot, paid for the shovel and made my way back to purgatory. Less than 15 minutes later, I broke the brand new shovel!


"Not my problem," was my dad's response again.


On my long walk back to Home Depot, I must have kicked every piece of stone and invented a few new swear words. This time, I bought a more expensive shovel and prayed it wouldn't break.


Eventually, I successfully dug out the old tree, payed for and planted a new one, scrubbed away the skid marks from the driveway and, with my father's help, built a new shed. I continued to work at the grease pit for over a year and gave EVERY SINGLE PAY CHECK to my dad — and still owed him money. LOL. I also picked up extra cash by going door-to-door in the neighborhood and offering to shovel snow or cut grass.


I kept paying for the increase to his auto premiums for another three years, until I had my own car (legally) and my own insurance. Finally, my debts/dues were paid off.


I am sharing this story because some people think life isn't fair, or that they can attain something great and worthwhile by not putting in the maximum effort. You need to realize the importance of "putting in the work" — regardless if that means two trips to Home Depot, a few more interval sessions, working for free or pushing yourself away from the dinner table earlier.


I have always said I can train a new client and without knowing any background on them, determine after one session whether or not they will be successful. Guess what? If you give up on yourself in a 30-minute training session, this is NOT the first time you quit.


Do the work and the results will come, whether it is inside or outside of the gym.


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