Is Burn Boot Camp better than the Church?
Last weekend I had the "privilege" of visiting a gym called "Burn Boot Camp". We went to visit some friends in the Atlanta area and the husband of this couple asked me to join him at the gym for "Bring a Friend to the Gym" night. I was happy to go because I love going to the gym, and love exercise of all types. (I say "privilege" a little tongue-in-cheek because of how sore I was afterwards. I could barely move for the rest of the weekend.)
I entered this gym in a foreign town (I'm a newcomer to this gym), and upon entering the door I was greeted with a smile (and high-fived!) by an employee/trainer named Beth. She was super friendly, and guided me through the process of getting put into their system so they could track their visitors. I was then met by another female trainer named Kaya who instantly asked for my name. She knew I was new, but I learned later that her desire to know my name was fully intentional.
This gym was nothing like I was used to, since most gyms I have ever attended have been big box gyms like Planet Fitness, Gold's Gym, or the YMCA. These gyms usually offer a lot of equipment of various types, where you can work at your own pace or create your own program. This gym was different because it was one large, open space with about 80% of the floor space taken up by a padded, elevated platform with lines down it. There were dozens of dumbbells spread across various spots on the floor, and a large "rig" that was sort of like a giant monkey bars setup for adults.
Minutes after I entered, we were already warming up, constantly moving, with the days class explained during the warmup. It was loud with music. The trainer spoke loudly in the mic in a motivating tone. It was encouraged that each participant high-five the others in their pre-assigned group, before, during and after the workout.
The entire workout kicked my butt.
Like I said, I am no stranger to a gym. I have tried to workout for at least 3x/week since I was in high school, some times 5x/week (other weeks less, especially when we started having kids and I was tired all of the time). But this onslaught of purposeful, multiplanar stretching, cardio, strength training, ab work, agility, plyometrics and more was incredible. Even though I am a physical therapist, a health and wellness coach, and a personal trainer, but this combination of stuff rocked me for about 40 minutes straight. Everyone high-fived each other at the end, and then we had a group photo to celebrate the hard thing we just conquered together.
And I loved every minute of it.
In this 40 minute experience, I saw so many things that this gym did so well that churches fail at. Here are some examples:
1) Even though this gym is largely female, they instantly welcomed me as a male with a few other males. Shouldn't we be more welcoming of all kinds? And high-fiving them on the way in?
2) The trainer got to know my name (and the names of others) so she could specifically come to me to encourage me to keep going, or tell me how to do something better. What if we knew each other like that? Or lived in a church space where fear of getting/giving feedback to others was actually accepted because it was helping us get better? (Proverbs 12:15)
3) This experience was truly something hard, but something hard that was done together. Community during this hard task for growth is a FOCUS. Are all churches like this, and I don't know it? Rather than being just a social gathering for meals (nothing wrong with this, to be clear), what if it was a community that walked hard things together? Taking pictures of what we accomplished together.
There is so much more in this that will come out some other time. I seem to think of something new and enlightening from this experience every day. The community. The encouragement. The people who all signed up for the same purpose......to GROW. It was wonderful. I can't wait to do it again. (And shouldn't we be able to say this about church too?!?!)
Shalom.
