My Family
I train for my family. As a husband and father, I am a protector. I will do anything in my power to prevent anyone from harming my wife or kids. Strength and size helps me to fulfill my role. My wife and kids know that I am strong. They feel safe when they are with me.
The other night I was reading a nighttime story to my two year old daughter. My daughter is my girl. She's my princess. When I started reading her the story, she wrapped her cute little arms around my arm and laid her head on my shoulder. My heart melted. As silly as it may sound, it meant something to me that I have a strong arm my girl (or any of my kids for that matter) can grab a hold of. With my strong arms I can shelter, protect, and support my wife and kids.
Also, my wife and kids have come to love fitness. Just last night, while I was training some guys, my five year old son came out to the gym and started "working out". My kids love to hang out with me when I train. They follow my example. Instead of sitting around playing X-Box, they are doing push-ups.
Service
I train to give service. I truly believe that one of the greatest things we can do is to give service. There have been several times when people have called me over to lift the "heavy" object, such as a tree stump, rock, flag pool, etc. Because of my level of fitness, I can do more work and work for longer periods of time. In short, I can help more people.
Myself
I train for myself. Let's be honest, who doesn't like to look good. Who doesn't like to feel strong. Training is good for my self-esteem. Growing up I really did not have a good self-esteem. I lacked confidence. In High School, I weighed 160 lbs (I'm 6'3") and had a mullet (yes, a mullet). Besides cutting my mullet off (thanks honey) lifting weights has been great for my confidence. In many ways, it has given me what I lacked growing up. I like how I look in the mirror. And I like that I still catch my wife's eye.
Training also relieves my stress. I have a stressful day job. I'm a lawyer. A lawyer's life is filled with contention and deadlines. This stress can get to you. Add on top of that the stress that comes from being a husband and father. Training is a way that I can relieve life's stresses. I feel great after a training session. I feel like I can conquer the world.
I hope I don't sound conceited or superficial. Instead, I hope you can relate to some of the things I've said. Training is part of me. It's become part of my family. I'm sure, many of you feel the same way.
