Ester Horowitz posted this inspiration story on Facebook. After reading it, I asked her to allow me to post it as a guest blog for my first blog of 2013. I hope it inspires you.

Seventeen months ago, I went to an arthritis doctor for injections in my knees. I have osteoarthritis. The prognosis is that, eventually, I will need knee replacements. The treatment suggested was to lose a little weight and do some light exercises. I did one better.

I changed gyms. I knew that I had outgrown the gym I was attending for 6 years. But it was comfortable and I knew what to expect. I had joined a 30-minute work out gym. Toward the end, I was only attending the 30 minute classes 2-3 nights a week. To their credit, had I not done so, I would not be an ex-couch potato today.

About nineteen months ago, the gym’s needs starting changing. It was the push I needed.

I switched to a regular gym in the same town right after visiting the arthritis doctor. It is the kind of gym that includes men as well as women. It’s the kind of gym that has 25-year olds and 70 year olds too. It’s the kind of gym that not only has machines, but also lots of regular classes day and night. They include things like boot camp, kick boxing, and body sculpting. I thought I was ready. That is, until I attended my first few classes.

Seventeen months ago, I couldn’t complete a 45 minute workout at the new gym. It was out of my league. I thought I was in shape because I spent six years working out at the other gym. I found out that I was not even close.

Seventeen months ago, I cursed a young trainer under my breath for expecting too much and I decided it was her fault I wasn’t doing well. Dana was her name. I wouldn’t go to her boot camp class after trying twice. I hated that she didn’t show me how to perform the exercises properly that she demanded I do. I complained.

A month later, I came back again and tried. I couldn’t catch my breath after 10 minutes. I just couldn’t do it.

I was having better luck in the body sculpting classes and the kick boxing classes even though those classes were kicking my “tush” too, so I decided to go to Dana and admit the problem.

She stated that it was okay if I left after 10 minutes if that was all I could do. She encouraged me to try. She stated I would build endurance over time.

Mind you, when I started, I couldn’t jump. I wasn’t even allowed. I didn’t even know how with bad knees. I couldn’t squat down and if I did I couldn’t go low enough to put my elbows to my knees. I couldn’t do exercises called “mountain climber” or such things as “downward dog”, lunges, squats, or interval training. I was lucky I could run in place.

Ten minutes turned into twenty. Twenty minutes became forty. Today, I completed my 3^rd one hour boot camp. Today, I graduated.

I can perform 125 modified push ups in one class. I can lunge frontwards, sidewards, and backwards. I can perform standing crunches, side crunches, and complex crunches. I can even perform 150 squats in one class. (Oy!)

Today, I showed my trainer that I can squat low enough that my elbows dangle around my knees. It’s only the second time I’ve been able to do it.

Today, I performed an exercise that starts is a standing pose, then I bend down, thrust my legs behind, do a push up, thrust my legs back underneath me, and then stand straight up. I can actually do five of them. I couldn’t do that two months ago.

Today, for the first time I was asked to walk my hands across the floor into a plank position. Place my legs on top of a step and then have my legs jump off the step and back again while remaining in the plank. I did sixteen. Not because it was New Years. Not because it was a resolution for 2013. But because I decided seventeen months ago to try and I didn’t quit either.

The first time I was able to jump again was when I was outside of a Broadway theater last spring having just seen the show Rock of Ages with my kids. I was so excited I started jumping without realizing the magic of it until I stopped. It was only a few seconds. But it was the beginning.

The first time I jumped in an exercise class was three months ago and I kept it up for 30 seconds. Now I can hold on for 2 minutes. I just have to be really careful with the landings because of my knees. Today I performed one minute of jumping jacks with a 7 pound weight over my head. Just don’t tell my doctor. He would still tell me not to do them.

After seventeen months, many firsts are now occurring and there are more still to be completed. Perhaps it’s because I’m also less afraid. Dana says I’m her miracle story.

I am strong. I have a two-pack. I doubt at my age that I will ever have a 6 pack but darn it I can keep up with the 25-year olds. I completed two 1.5 hour Zumba classes during Thanksgiving with the 25-years olds. I can keep up with those “Biatches”.

I have definition in my arms. I still have underarms that wave in the wind like my grandmother’s did. But I’m lifting 7 pound weights and 15 pound bars and I’m capable of taking two 45 minute classes back to back.

Last June, I decided to challenge myself and see if I could work out five days a week instead of three. During this holiday season I found myself feeling really uncomfortable if I didn’t exercise. These things are all new milestones.

I never understood how runners could run for miles on end. I never understood how anyone would look forward to a workout. It’s taken many years to get here but I’m here. Now I understand. I have a core. I have knees that work. I can jump. I can squat. I have a two-pack and I’m celebrating. I graduated!