Page 39 of Take It on Faith

“Good.” She took a swig of her water and then capped the bottle. “You have to give your 100 percent to your workouts. I could tell by the weights you chose—and that BS that you told me earlier about your fiancé—that you’ve been coasting out of fear. That’s why I made you put those pansy-ass weights back. Have you ever deadlifted before?”

“Yeah.”

“How much do you lift?”

“Um.” I pretended to think but really, I was delaying the inevitable. “Ten pounds on each side with the forty-pound bar?”

“Are you asking or telling?”

I sighed.

“So I repeat: how much do you lift?”

“Twenty pounds total, with a forty-pound bar.”

“I want you to lift triple that, with the Olympic bar we used today.”

My eyes bulged. “What?”

“Me oiste, manita.” Yasmine pointed to her ear. “I went easy on you today, but next time, we’re going harder.”

“This was easy? Are you trying to kill me?”

“No, you’re our photog. We need you.”

I glared at her before I could stop myself. She grinned.

“There she is! I want you to get angry. I want you to shed whatever it is that makes you feel like you need to bow to people who don’t deserve your deference.” Yasmine took another sip of water. “Think about it this way: if you’re really just hoping to be a housewife, which is where you seem to be headed despite your photographic talent, you will still need to build strength. Weight-lifting will also help you manage the stress of dealing con los muchachos and a dunderhead soon-to-be husband. It will release endorphins in your body that can last a while after you finish lifting. You will be able to more easily push babies out. It will help you lift those children when they fall. Once they can walk, it’ll allow you to play multiple rounds of tag without feeling as tired. When you have to do housework—which you will, because your husband probably won’t contribute—you won’t pull a back muscle picking up the laundry basket or scrubbing the toilets.

“But most important—and I want you to really hear me, manita—it’ll increase your quality of life outside of benefitting your family. When you lift—and lift with the right amount of weight—you will gain a sense of peace, happiness, and strength. You will stop slouching and rise to your full height. You will take the reins on your life. And you will never look back on that trash life you were living before.

“And that’s only if you decide to be a housewife.” She grinned. “Just imagine if you decided to pursue photography full-time.” She sighed happily as she re-racked the weights. “The possibilities would be endless.”

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