I had an experience at the gym recently that I’m trying to hold on to as a teaching experience. Basically, things weren’t gong my way, but I turned things around, and I’m proud of myself for doing so. Here’s what went down:
I got a guest pass at a new (to me) gym a few weeks ago. I’m not really in the market to switch gyms, but it’s fun to try new facilities and switch things up a bit. The first time I went to the gym, I had a good, if not standard, workout. But I noticed the gym had a pool, which was very exciting news. I like swimming, but I’ve never had a gym with a pool, so I swim in public pools in various parks. I like the outdoor public pools I’ve discovered around town (including my favorite pool EVER), but the hours are crappy (they’re only open 3 hours each day on the weekend), so having an indoor pool available on an expanded schedule was very enticing. I made plans to bring my swimsuit next time I visited that gym, three days later.
Those three days couldn’t come fast enough. I started hyping up this workout in my head: “I can’t wait to get in the water. It’s been MONTHS since I went swimming. It’s gonna feel great, and I’m gonna feel great. Maybe I’ll start swimming every week! Maybe even EVERY DAY!”
Finally, the day arrived, and I went to the gym after work, changed into my swimsuit, grabbed my goggles, and headed to the pool deck. I was ready to go. And then, I started noticing things…
I arrived home from work last night and was greeted by a little present. It was a gift that I had left for myself, and, since leaving it in the morning, I had completely forgotten about it. The present was… a mess.
Last week, I mentioned one of my favorite new songs – “The Rifle’s Spiral” by The Shins (watch the awesome video at the end of this post), and after doing so, I realized that I’m overdue for a post about the music that gets me moving when I’m working out.
I shared my entire workout playlist in April (check it out here), and since then, it’s evolved significantly. I removed a bunch of songs that I was tired of hearing, and added a bunch of new songs to the mix. I thought I’d share some of them with you. And I’d love for you to comment with the newest songs on your playlist!
This one’s gonna be short and sweet, ladies and gentleman. I’m off to bed soon, and feeling really good. It was just last week that I was in the midst of a minor self-inflicted inner turmoil involving the frequency of my workouts. The short version: I had some unplanned rest days, beat myself up over it, revised my thinking, then got lazy, then rallied. (For the long version, start by reading this post, then this one, and finally, this one.)
When the dust settled, I had three rest days last week. This week, I had…
I swear I’m not trying to be on reality shows, but for the second time in three months, I’ve been unexpectedly filmed by reality show crews. The first time was when I showed up at Slimmons and Tia & Tamera (which is airing right now on the Style Network) was filming. Read my post about it here.
Then, Tuesday night, I showed up at my regular gym, and guess who hops on the treadmill five down from mine?
Happy Anniversary to me! It was one month ago today that I stepped on a StairMaster, fired it up, and climbed 163 stories without stopping – the equivalent of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. There’s a wonderful little 3-minute video documenting my achievement that I’ll never get tired of sharing, so, in case you missed it the first time around, check it out:
It’s already the sixth month of the year? Are you kidding me? This year is flying by.
At Keep It Up, David, the start of a new month means one thing: time for my monthly exercise progress report! I put these together at the beginning of every month (check out April, March, and February). Every workout I complete gets noted in my calendar, and once a month I use magic to transform those notes into facts and figures. I dig facts and figures. They motivate me.
I don’t have plans to celebrate the Mexican army’s defeat of the French in the 1862 Battle of Puebla. Instead, I’ll be spending my morning finally completing my 163-story stair climb fundraiser challenge! I feel like it’s taken forever for this day to get here, but, in actuality, it was only two months ago when I announced that I’d be climbing the equivalent of the Burj Khaifa (the world’s tallest building) on the StairMaster without stopping. I’ve done a lot of training since then, including an actual skyscraper climb in downtown Los Angeles, then had a setback and postponement when I fucked up my foot.
But now I’m ready. And if you’re reading this after 11am PST on Saturday, then chances are I’ll have completed my stair climb.And I’ll have rocked it!
If you’re looking for a recap, than you’ll have to come back Monday, because I’m actually writing this Friday evening, and I can’t predict the future!
What I can do is share my final two training sessions. I used the StairMaster on both Monday and Wednesday, and both were great workouts. On Monday I climbed 116 stories in 30 minutes, and on Wednesday, I climbed 140 stories in 37 minutes – a new personal best!
That’s two skyscrapers I can add to my Skyscraper Collection! The problem is that I’ve already exhausted most of the buildings on the planet that are over 100 stories, so this time I’m going to do something a little different. I’m adding more than one tower for each climb!
A big hello to everyone that's discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I'm glad you're here.
My name is David. I live in Los Angeles, and I'm 33 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good - I've lost over 160 pounds! But now that it's getting tougher, and the weight is coming off more slowly, I need to find new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I'll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!
Posted by David 
