Horrific workout stories to kill your exercise motivation

At just about any time of the year the gym can be a scary place for some. Whether you’re scared to look weak because you’re not an avid gym-goer or you’re intimidated by the machines because, let’s be honest, the directions don’t always make the most sense.

Still, people who want to work out will achieve their goals regardless of how clueless or how much of a klutz they are. Even if that spells a recipe for disaster.

Megan Speirs, a sophomore Gaucho cheerleader and esthetician can vouch for the fact that clumsy people shouldn’t be allowed at the gym or at least be put under maximum surveillance.

“I got my shoelace stuck in the stair stepper one time and I thought I was going to be dragged down into hell,” Speirs said. “Everyone just stared at me until one of the trainers came to help me get unstuck. It was horrible.”

Speirs may be a gym regular and more times than not can avoid accidents like this one, but even she forgot to simply look down at her shoes to make sure they were tied.

Another Gaucho cheerleader fell at the gym in a way that most people just laugh about as hypothetical situations. Taylor Peper, a freshman majoring in dental hygiene, took a gnarly spill on the treadmill that caused neverending stares until the second she walked out the door.

“I was really tired and closed my eyes to focus on my breathing,” Peper said. “Next thing I knew I was flying off the treadmill.”

Accidents like Speirs’ and Peper’s are avoidable accidents but incredibly embarrassing stories that people are horrified of.

Not all horror stories like these are preventable. Sophomore Biology major Julia Underwood suffered from a poor judgment call by her high school water polo coach and doctor that affected her water polo career.

“My shoulder just started hurting so bad to the point I couldn’t lift my arm. Then I went to the doctors and got misdiagnosed,” Underwood said. “Two months later I finally got an MRI and a month after that I got the surgery.”

Underwood sustained a superior labral tear from anterior to posterior, also known as a SLAP tear. She tore cartilage in the ball-and-socket joint of her shoulder causing her to lose the mobility in her arm she described.

This injury occurred on a day Underwood’s high school team had back-to-back games. She blames her coach because he refused to let the team do warm downs between games causing her muscles to become overused and fatigued by the time she got the injury.

Minus the injury aspect, Saddleback College Freshman cross country runner Hanna Badger had a similar experience with a crazy coach. She describes the horrors that go on in practice almost as if she had gone to hell and back.

According to Badger, after an official race, the team went on a 10 mile run as a cool down exercise.

“We had to run 10 miles after a race one time,” Badger said. “We were already dead from running hard and to do another run, it was bad.”

Not only did her horror continue past the already terrifying 5 mile race, Badger said that some of the workouts the team does seem like torture. They have to sprint for two minutes with two minutes of rest. She didn’t fail to mention that the team continues the cycle until they complete 5 km, which is just over 3 miles.

Anything from a laughable fall off a machine that can be laughed off to an injury that needs surgery is a story not many people enjoy telling. Often times these things do happen though so to the gym rats of Saddleback College, be safe out there this Halloween.

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