Yesterday on our Instagram page, long-time friend and loyal supporter of PrayFit - Roy Gonzalez, Jr - said that he ran across an old 2007 Muscle & Fitness article where I was taking on then Mr. Olympia in a sort of exhibition training session.

It might as well have been yesterday. I drove to Vegas under the impression that the article, “Getting Ready for Mr. O.” was to be a story about how the best bodybuilder in the world trains legs as he prepares for the Mr. Olympia contest, and the magazine’s resident fitness editor was gonna experience it first-hand. However, come to find out days later that the writer of the story, Joe Wuebben, was given specific instructions by our editor-in-chief to interview the champ as soon as this editor quit.

He did not get his story.

In The Dark
Five years later, my eyes had not yet adjusted. After turning out the lights, I stood in pitch blackness. You know the feeling. Though your eyes are wide open, you can't see the end of your nose. So I did what you do. I didn't budge. I reasoned that with a new artificial neck and freshly-fused used spine, the last thing I needed to do was to trip and fall. But Loretta's eyes had already adjusted to the dark. "You're fine, take another step." And there it is. What had to happen for me to move? I needed to have faith that Loretta could see in the dark.

We encourage babies to do it. Patients that surrounded me at rehab needed to hear it. From someone discouraged because they haven't lost a pound, to someone trying to overcome the loss of a loved one, it's the most basic, difficult and necessary action any of us have to do to get through. Take another step.

Well, anyway, yesterday Roy asked me over social media, “What would the 2020 version of Jimmy say to the 2007 version of Jimmy?” My response could not have been more natural. What would I whisper to that Jimmy? Simple. “Don’t get under the bar.”

But I did. At the end of the training session and photo shoot, when pressed for answers, Mr. Olympia said, “He was like a little machine. He would not go away. He was relentless.”

For years, I took so much life out of my body. Sure, I had undetected degeneration, and it wasn’t that particular training session that caused my infirmities, but even after all these years, look at how resilient my body is! God filled my heart and nerve and sinew with such material. I’m a walking miracle. And I want to serve. I want to play. I want to hike. I want to garden. I want to travel the world to help those in need. I can still do so much and more. It’s just, I can’t pick up my suitcase. That’s haunting.

I may be over-simplifying it, but if my body is able to do what I can do now, imagine how strong it would be today had I not been so foolish. My flesh failed me, yes, but I failed my body too. It had so much to give, and I wasted it. God equipped my body and back for the long haul - for the big battles - and I spent it on little things like fitness. True story. But you don’t honor God with your body by damaging it under the guise of “bodily stewardship.”

Silly kingdoms we try and build. Foolish pride. Again, as healthy as I am today, able to do push-ups and planks and stretch and ride my stationary bike, I sometimes imagine how good I would feel and how able I would be to do the real work; the kind of work that puts meat on the bones of faith and fitness: the kind of work my heart longs to do for others who don’t have the choices I did.

I wish I would have stepped away from that weight. Five-hundred and fifty pounds across my back for a few seconds (for who knows how many years) and maybe a few weeks of strength as a byproduct, wasn’t worth it, Roy. But the best I can do now is keep walking. No longer in the dark, I want to take another step. And another. By grace, I will fight what would be my natural decline along with the wasting I accelerated, but I will do so in pursuit of real service.

- Jimmy Peña

A RISE EXPLANATION: ENJOY
This video will explain a lot; both of my story and why all the attention to the word RISE. It’s been a part of the lexicon at PrayFit for a few years now, and it will be one of the anchors at PrayFit U; the new education center at PrayFit. We will have The School of Exercise Physiology, Nutrition and of course, we will have The School of Grace & Suffering.

The Wheelhouse:
You’ve heard me talking about some exciting new things at PrayFit, well two of the new campaigns are launching soon. One that I am stoked about is called, “The Wheelhouse;” where we dedicate our leg training, our running, our cycling and basically anything “legs” to the purchase of wheelchairs.

Taken from Luke 14, where Jesus told the parable that it wasn’t a party until the blind, the lame and the marginalized were there, the Wheelhouse is exactly that. “Wheels” represent “disability” and “house” says we won’t stop until His house is full. PrayFit is uniquely positioned as the fitness industry’s answer to the crisis of mobility. Hope you join us and dedicate one leg per month to help us with wheelchairs.