If you give a rat colorful gym shorts, they will ask for pre-workout. And once you give them that pre workout, they will ask to go to the gym. And once you take them to the gym, you will be forced to stay there for two hours. And if you’re there, well you might as well grab a weight. And once you’ve grabbed a weight, you’re going to eventually try a machine. After you’ve finished a whole workout, the rat will force you to get on the treadmill. When the rat finally spares you and decides enough is enough, the rat will need to take a picture of their crazy pump. You will look at your own crazy pump, and with fear in your heart, understand why the rat has forced you to go to the gym at six am.
I love my best friend so much that I would do literally anything for her. I would walk in the rain to go to the library with her, I would pay $20.00 in Crumbl delivery fees for her, and if you still aren’t convinced of my love for her, I have even become a gym rat for her. Specifically, a baby gym rat. A gym rat is what I like to refer to as individuals who live, laugh, and love the gym in almost a religious way. Even now, two semesters into my gym rat journey, I still find a fully-fledged rat a little terrifying. A rat will be on their literal last breath, yet still think about their pump. I have fought through a blizzard at 6 AM all because my best friend loves leg day a little too much (it was intense).
My baby gym rat journey can really only be described as a fever dream. When I first started going to the gym, it wasn’t because of my insanely flat butt (shoutout to my dad), but actually because my bestfriend and I weren’t rooming together, and I was scared that meant I wasn’t going to be with her 24/7 anymore. So, as an act of true love, I told her I would start going to the gym with her. I wake up at 6 AM, with zero ounces of pre-workout in my body, and make my way to her dorm. There, we reunite after a very hard and cruel night of being ripped apart. Together we walk into the gym, where I unfortunately get stuck almost every time when trying to swipe in, even though I’ve done it more than ten times. We connect to her workout playlist, and I can’t really tell you what happens next. I kinda black out. There’s a lot of “omg why is this so heavy” and “omg why do I look like this, how am I sweating this much” and definitely a lot of “wait Nikki look at how big I look I’m literally the biggest rat here.”
If you’re currently struggling with going to the gym, my best advice, and really the only advice that matters, is find yourself a gym rat best friend. The gym can be scary and intimidating, but with a certified rat who loves you and wants to see you grow and succeed in every aspect of life, it’s worth getting up at 6 AM, it’s worth feeling insecure, and it’s even worth having class in Main Hall on the fourth floor after you just hit legs. I never have to worry about feeling stupid when I’m asking her a question or when I ask her to check my form, or even, and this is so embarrassing, when I ask her to help me lift a weight. The gym with my best friend is one of the favorite parts of my day. I would keep getting up this early and being sore for the rest of my life if it meant starting my day with her forever.
Now to conclude this article, let’s end with my favorite day of the week… Yes, it’s back and bi, it was always going to be back and bi. I think the only proof of being a certified baby rat I need is how much I love hitting back and bi. Yes, I have the biggest strongest arms in the world, yes, they’re bigger than the universe, yes, I will show you a pump pic of them.
While this was supposed to be more of like a come to the gym with me, it morphed into an essay about how much I love my gym rat best friend. Either way, being a baby gym rat isn’t so bad.