Jacob Fleury

Professor Warwick

Writing 1

13, December 2023

Literacy of The Gym

Ever since the beginning of my freshman year of college, I have been going to the gym

consistently for a little over a year now. Within the gym community, there are so many different

types of smaller communities that all have their own goals and focus on learning specific skills

and abilities. Within the gym, people could focus on aerobics, cardiovascular training, sports,

weight training, etc. Personally, I am a part of the Physical strength and weightlifting community.

I would say that these two communities are connected but there are also a lot of people

who do Physical strength training but don’t focus on weightlifting. Physical strength training is

orientated around increasing the amount of weight that one can lift with each body group. The

way I do this is by dividing my workouts into 3 separate days where I dedicate time to train my

arms, shoulders, chest, back, and legs to get stronger. The goals from doing these exercises are to

increase my overall muscular endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. Weightlifting is a

sport that involves compound exercises where we are lifting large weights with a wide variety of

muscle groups. The compound exercises that I focus on are Squats, deadlift, and bench press.

What got me interested in the gym was my lack of self-confidence that I had throughout

high school. I always felt weak and scrawny compared to all my friends who had been hitting the

gym and this caused me to want to change myself for the better. Now I realize that the gym not

only helps with my self perception, but also my mental health and is a great tool to use to help

relieve any stress I'm dealing with.

implementing for making achievable goals. Reading and Listening are both critical ways we use

to get information on what to do to get the most efficiency possible out of a workout. It is the

way in which I gain a lot of my knowledge of how to train and what will help me in achieving

my goals. Literacy can be a very broad topic, but according to Mirabelli, she “defines literacy as

not just reading and writing but things such as reading people” (Branick 267) Personally, I

believe that the most effective way to learn proper form is to observe everyone else in the gym

and read their body movements. Especially if they look like they are well informed and have

expertise in the field, I believe it is easier to learn through observing others. Listening to the

advice that others in the gym community give, especially influencers can help you learn proper

form as well. It can also aid in obtaining knowledge pertaining to dieting, stretching, developing

good habits, etc. which are all great at helping one reach their fitness goals. Weightlifting has the

potential to wear down our bodies and cause injuries that could last a lifetime. Through reading

and listening, we are making sure that we are lifting correctly and maintaining good health in

doing so.

My relationship with the community is good and with time it usually only gets better.

When I'm in the gym, especially the UCSB gym, it was very common for me to see the same

people over and over again which pushed me to get to know them better. Many of my friends

today were made through the gym and a great bonding activity for us is to work out together.

For beginners it is crucial that they don’t show up to the gym and lift weights mindlessly,

they must set goals first. When I began working out at the gym, I made sure to “set goals that

coincide with [my] values, are well defined, and are realistically achievable” (Branick 263).

This way I was able to give myself a purpose and a reason to workout. The satisfaction I was
able to receive from meeting my goals was very good for encouraging me to push harder and get

stronger.

When strength training, writing is something I try to make good use of in order to ensure

that I am doing all the exercise I need and that I am keeping track of my progress. When lifting, I

could be in the gym for over 2 hours so having physical writing to keep track of my progress

through a workout is definitely something useful to me. Just like every other goal, “It is

important to organize a plan for success and be able to stick to it.” (Branick 264) It took me a

while to find out what plan works best for me, but by going through many trials and errors,

anyone who tries will be able to find what plan works for them. The way I did this was by giving

myself a weekly workout plan with a schedule that shows me what to do each day for a certain

amount of sets and a certain amount of reps. By giving myself this guide and upholding myself

to a strict routine, I am able to stay disciplined and workout every muscle in my body enough to

be able to gain strength. The reason for writing down a schedule is because I can usually target

muscle groups twice a week and by using different machines and exercises, I am able to grow

certain muscles the way I want them to.

Lastly, speaking is the way that not only helps retain my knowledge of how to workout,

but also helps me teach others who are new on what to do and how to do them. Starting in the

gym I was fortunate enough to have someone who could teach me what to do to get started.

Through the knowledge I’ve developed throughout my experience of weightlifting, I have

learned some tips and tricks that have helped me meet my goals faster. By talking to others and

teaching new people, I am able to relay these tips to my friends and help them get the most out of

their workout at an earlier stage of their journey.