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Thing: A Push-up Monster
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Written by Staff Reporter
Paul Thing joined JROTC at MGM under the persuasion of his cousin Desiree Thing. She enjoyed the program so much, she convinced her cousin upon the start of his high school career to join the organization. Her persuasion worked, and Thing’s typical high school day includes two classes of JROTC. He participates during his second block and the 45-minute block. This participation led Thing to claim the top prize at the Mobile County Physical Training compeition held in October. After including events in his JROTC experience like orienteering and color guard, he found his niche. Physical training is his comfort zone in the program. He trains at home and and school every day. During second block on any typical day, Thing can be found running bleachers, running a mile, working through push-ups in sets of 50 and accomplishing sit-ups in sets of 50. He continues this repetition until the bell interrupts him. He likes to work out with Ray Goleman who is also a JROTC student. Thing said he likes to think he is training Goleman while working out as well.
Thing said it is all about the protein. He said, “I’m a little guy.” He drinks protein shakes and eats protein. He doesn’t like to work out with weights because it interferes with his training regiment. Thing, a sophomore at MGM, is the only son to his two parents, and he has five sisters. His sisters’ ages are 18, 17, 13, 12, and 11. He fits in the middle with his age being 16. He said they all fit into their house, but he smiled and said he does have his own bathroom connected to his bedroom. Paul’s dad is an MGM graduate as well. Warren Thing graduated from MGM in the early 90s.
At the physical training competition, Paul competed against all the other JROTC students in Mobile County. He said his biggest competition was a student from Baker, but in the end, the Baker student didn’t even come close to Thing’s success. Thing was able to do 128 push-ups in 2 minutes to claim an individual award as well as beat out the competition in sit ups and running the mile to claim the overall winning trophy. For the push-ups, he was awarded a medal, and for the overall win, he was presented a trophy. He said the medal and trophy are proudly displayed in his bedroom at home, and he is planning to get a special shelf for the trophy.
Thing said it is fun to work out. He will continue to train and work so he can secure the same victories his junior and senior years. For right now, he has his sights set on the next competition which is in Mississippi on Saturday, November 5. He will have more competition at this event, and there will be five different events instead of three. When asked if he was ready for it, Thing smiled and said, “I got all of it.”
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