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Kaylynn Du Preez

Ms. Litle

Eng121

25 January 2022

Paper 1 draft

On 5th Ave in South Africa, on a corner near a small river sat a beautiful gym with the

most mesmerizing view. From a young age I always thought the gym was a waste of time. I saw

it as a punishment and never wanted to set foot in a gym. Seeing people suffer, sweating and on

the treadmill struggling to breath with faces as red as a tomato, scared me to death. It never

looked like fun, they looked miserable. I would have rather watched movies than go do any type

of exercise. Who would have ever thought that the gym would become a very special place to me

and could become one to a lot of people in the world because it has a lot of benefits for the

human body.

The biggest blue building you will find on 5th Ave with windows shaped like triangles,

squares and diamonds. In the center of the building stood a proud GYM sign. Whenever

possible I always imagine it to be a lake house, looking out on the water with ducks swimming in

the distance. The gym always gave me that calm feeling when I started liking it, it was like

feeling that calmness when a person looks out on a lake while the sun is going down.

The gym can be a haven for a lot of reasons. Firstly, it has helped me through some tough

times. When I though I lost everything, the gym was there for me. Lifting heavy weights made

me feel stronger and sometimes even invincible whenever I have hit a new personal best in an

exercise. It also made me think about life problems differently. It made me realize that no matter

how hard life or anything is, there will always be a solution to every problem.
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Secondly, exercise also has a lot of benefits for the human body. It helps prevent heart

diseases, stroke, high blood pressure, noninsulin-dependent, diabetes, obesity, back pain as well

as improve your mood and can help you manage stress. The gym has saved my life. I was obese

from a young age. I never had any confidence and was very unhealthy. The gym helped me get

healthy and take care of my body.

Third, the gym can make you feel more comfortable within your own body, just as it

would make you feel more confident inside and outside the gym. When you view fitness with an

“all or nothing” mentality, not only will it hold yourself to unreasonable standards, but it will

lead you to accept defeat at the first mishap. Instead of adopting this mentality, tell yourself each

day that you will do the best that you can and if you do make a mistake, you’ll get right back up

and try again. With that type of mentality, you will be undefeated or look at things in a more

positive way. Not only does the gym make your body stronger, but it also makes your mind

stronger.

Lastly, you do not have to be alone at the gym. There are always people willing to help

you. The fitness family is very big and is more then happy to add family members. I remember

my first day at the gym like it was yesterday. I did not know where anything was, neither did I

know how to do any of the exercises. Out of nowhere, a super sweet lady that was built like she

could kick a building down, came and helped me. She showed me that the gym and exercising

can be very beneficial for you and that it could be something that you can use to your advantage.

After that, I realized that the gym community is a community I want to be a part of for life.

As much as I use to hate the gym on 5th Ave, I started loving it so much that whenever I

skipped one day, I always felt super bad and disappointed in myself. I fell in love with the

feeling of being strong, all the benefits as well as all the results. I fell in love with the gym just
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like it did for a lot of people, like Dwayne Johnson. He was also overweight when he was

younger and turned to the gym as a place to escape. A place to get his mindset right, put in the

work and a place for him to just be him.