Those who have experienced the world of sports will laugh and be moved together.
The taste of a lighthearted and touching essay

The author says that his life has changed: he used to wear 'anything' because clothes that fit his obese body were rare and expensive, his eating habits were worthy of the words 'binge eating' and 'binge drinking', he thought he would go to a foreign country where no one knew him and die when he got old and sick, and his life was so crowded with activities and schedules that taking care of his body was not even on his list of things to manage.
Enough to say, “Is that person Mr. XX?”, enough to significantly reduce the blood pressure medication I have to take for the rest of my life, enough to preach fitness to everyone I meet.
And so much so that my attitude towards my body and life has changed.

This book is about fitness and how I came to love it.
And it contains stories about the space called the gym and the life scenes encountered within it, about aging, accepting one's body, and loving one's life as a middle-aged single woman.

The day I started working out again, I entered the gym with the excitement of a freshman who had just started school.
Nice, who was climbing a tall ladder and changing a light bulb, smiled brightly.
He said it was nice to meet you again.
He also told me to just walk slowly for the time being.
I went back to being a snail walking on the treadmill at 3.5 kilometers per hour.
But no matter how slow it is, I am moving.
It was just fun to be moving again.
Like a ballerina on stage wearing pink shoes, I felt like I was wearing sneakers.
I have something tattooed on my body.
Engrave it on your body! This saying is really good.
--- p.35

When lifting heavy objects, it is important to feel your own limits.
You have to maximize your strength.
However, you must quickly judge when it seems like doing more would be too much.
And we must humbly admit it.
If you try to lift too hard, you might drop the barbell and hurt your foot or your back.
In those fleeting moments when it feels like you can do more, yet also like it's impossible, being honest about your own abilities, knowing when to take on a challenge while also knowing when to back down! Ah, am I practicing my craft right now?
--- p.50

I started out by just lifting the shaft and gradually added the barbell to increase the weight.
Every time that happens, I imagine that if I can't bear this weight, the sky will fall.
You have to hold on.
But sometimes I get a feeling.
Alas! The sky is falling! Alas!! If the sky falls, there's a risk of being crushed by Babel.
When the sky was about to fall, Nice was there, holding onto the barbell and holding on.
--- p.59

Just because life is boring doesn't mean you can't always create exciting experiences and go on trips every day.
To survive, you must learn to find joy in the small accomplishments that are intertwined with the mundane tasks of daily life.
The boredom of fitness is similar to that of life.
The thing about fitness is that the better you get, the more you have to do, like increasing the number of sets you do for your abs (oh, life is like that too.
In life, the better you do something, the more responsibility you have. --- p.81

The moment when the body learns a certain movement comes only after countless repetitions.
A trainer is someone who goes through those repetitions with you.
When a movement that seemed impossible and completely blocked suddenly breaks through, the fact that there is someone with you at that moment is as joyful as the achievement itself.
"Is this all you can do?" "Can you do things like this?" In a world overflowing with criticism, the praise of "Well done" for even the smallest action reminds me of when I used to fill in the boxes with "Well done" with rubber stamps when I was young.
It's nice to have a companion who always gives me that kind of stamp of approval.
--- p.100

How great would it be if there was something like personal training in life?
No.
I guess I can survive because I, the people around me, and someone else become each other's PT.
--- p.103

One day I was stepping on the stepper.
But then a hand came in underneath.
An old man forcibly pushed my foot without paying attention to my frightened state.
“You have to place your feet like this.”
While I was doing the biceps exercise, another man suddenly interrupted me, also speaking informally.
“Your wrist is bent.” --- p.109

100 meter dash 25 seconds 0 points, sit-ups 0 points, hangs 0 points, throws 0 points.
The only race that gave me a chance of getting points was the 800-meter race, which gave me points just for finishing it.
I thought I was going to die of a heart attack while running.
The team that started later than me arrived before me, and the teacher who gave the scores got confused and omitted my score.
And every time I got hit on the back.
It was unfair.
Why do you keep nagging me and making my life so miserable when I'm not lazy or doing anything wrong?
--- p.134

'You look young.' This drug-like phrase.
It's ecstatic.
But it is poison, not medicine.
It's a common compliment to hear someone say that they look young.
Is this really a compliment? I could have said, "You look energetic," but they said, "You look young."
You could just say, "You look cool," but instead, you say, "You don't look like other people your age, you look cool."

--- p.150