I may dread the WOD, but I won't miss it for ANYTHING!

So my husband has been working out for years now.

I did not like it for a while because it sort of felt like the other woman in my husband's life. In my opinion (at that time) he spent entirely too much time discussing WODs, and time, and weights, and blah blah blah... But I could tune it out.

That is, until Iron Tribe came around. "Gates! There is going to be an awesome gym in Homewood!!"... "Oh, joy", I thought. So he joined and as I suspected spent a lot of time talking about this place.

It was all fun and games until he said to me "Hey, why don't you do it!?! They have a 101 class!"...I'm sorry, have we met?! I don't do things like this.

At the time I just sort of ignored him, but he wouldn't let it go. No! I thought. But "No!" was my reaction to way too many things in my life, and I had recently told God that I wasn't going to let fear or laziness make any more decisions for me, so I did the unthinkable.

I called ITF. "Iron Tribe, this is Luan."Oh, man! He answered before I could hang up. "ummmm hey Luan. I'm Gates Br..". "Gates! Hey girl! Are we ready to rip the head off this thing" He said way too enthusiastically. "NO!" I thought "Say no!" ......"Ummm yes. I guess so" "Come on in...Now" He said "Now?...okaaaaay." Lord help me, I thought.

So in I went. I walked through the orange door and saw weights, and ropes, and medicine balls, and some creepy clown painted on the wall. "I'm out-a here." I thought.

But I kept walking to the office in the back. "Luan, I'm Gates, and I guess I'm here to sign up, unless you're already full or something...You know, you look busy. I'll come back later..." "Sit down" He said. "Can you do the 7:15am class? "7:15?!? Are you nuts?!? The Today Show is on at 7:15! "Yes, I can".... Wait, what?!? Did I just say "yes"? What is wrong with me?! I run when things scare me! I don't do it if it looks too hard! I am full of "quit"! Gates, say noooo! "Ok then." He started "Just sign here, stating that if you die, you can't sue us and then initial, here" What??? So I did.

He scanned my credit card and "Bam!" I was a member. That was 18 months ago, and I'm still at Iron Tribe. This is  a record for me, when it comes to sticking with a fitness program.

The craziest thing is that I dread it, but I won't miss it for anything. I like how challenging it is. I have found this slightly competitive side to me that I NEVER knew existed. The coaches are incredible. They have figured out the art of pushing you just past your limits with out totally breaking you down. It's a delicate line that they walk masterfully.

So, for me, this has been about way more than just becoming physically fit. There is an amazing amount of confidence that comes from being able to do something one week that you couldn't do two weeks earlier.

Just as much as Iron Tribe exposes your weaknesses, it celebrates your strengths. It strengthens you both mentally and physically (all the while keeping you completely humble).

For me, God has used Iron Tribe, and I firmly believe that, to remind me, that I am capable and strong and that there is a whole big wonderful world of scary things that I don't want to do that are worth doing anyway. He's put it all out there for us to grab, and all we have to do is say "yes" to the challenge and keep walking through that orange door.