Growing up in a small town in America, I participated in sports every season: fall, winter, and spring. However, when I moved to Seoul, South Korea, my freshman year I made the decision to take a break (at least from one sport). But, because I have seen my parents struggle with obesity throughout my life, I knew I would have to maintain some kind of activity. As I became more familiar with living in Korea, I began walking everywhere rather than taking a taxi and during my second year in Korea I picked up volleyball again.
Two years later, my family moved to Okinawa, Japan, and once again I got lazy. I drove instead of walked and because Okinawa is so hot and humid, it became more difficult to stay active. My muscle mass decreased and when basketball conditioning came around, I realized how out of shape I had allowed myself to get. For the first time in my life I feared that I was headed down the exact same path as my parents, one that would lead to inactivity. This was the motivation I needed to push myself. However, I pushed myself too hard and ended up tearing a ligament halfway through the basketball season.
Despite the setback, I promised myself that once I healed, I would start strength training and increasing my cardio endurance. At first I struggled with going to the gym on a regular basis and would often use homework or my injury as an excuse. Finally, motivated by my dad’s new determination to turn his life around and start exercising, I forced myself to exercise every day after school for at least 45 minutes. Gradually, it became easier for me to find motivation and as I watched my muscles develop again, I experienced a feeling of accomplishment. Summer came around and even though I visited Oregon, I did exercises at home and at the local high school track. As soon as I came back from summer break, I returned to the gym with a more rigorous and demanding work out that I have been keeping up with for 3 months now.
My strength and endurance is the highest that it has ever been and going to the gym is one of my favorite parts of the day. In addition to going to the gym five days a week, I eat healthier and am constantly looking for new work outs or fitness challenges to try. Receiving comments on how strong I look gives me the motivation to work on my strength every day, no matter how tired I may be.