Best work out in 6 weeks I swear!!

These last 6 weeks although I've been eating good and staying really active have not been my best work out weeks by far. I hit a place in the workouts where the swimming had gotten boring, even though I still love the water. I love the weightlessness I feel when I'm in the water I can take these huge strides where I left myself off the ground and I feel like Neil Armstrong walking on the moon if just for one second I feel like I can do anything. But like I said the swimming still got to be boring.

I changed it up a little when I started attending water aerobics classes. The interaction with other humans (mostly chicks!!) was something that was really lacking in my workouts. There was one water aerobic class in particular that this dude taught I really dug. It was called aquando and he mixed in a lot of punching and kicking and stuff like that. Of the three different aerobics instructors I'd worked out with at 24 Hour fitness his class was the most fun and also the most intense workout. The other two instructors got boring to me really quick no matter how many cute chicks did happen to attend.

So I was still going to the gym just not as often and the aerobics made me start to enjoy it again just like before. Then wouldn't ya know it some shit goes down with the instructors boss or something they took away one of his classes or something like that to give to this new chick and he gets mad and quits....fuck!! What about me!!! I need to like my workouts in order for me to go!! Quickly I became burned out on the gym again. The work outs went from 5 a week to 4 a week to 3 a week. It was getting bad and I knew I had to make a change. I had to adapt or this diet thing was about to die!!

I bought an IPod a few weeks back with the hopes of buying a water proof case for it and using it in the pool. If I got music in my life I can do anything. I'll make really intense workout playlists and start giving it my all again I thought to myself. But I haven't gotten around to buying a case yet and the IPod just kinda sits there I've only used it a few times. Then last week I took my niece to the gym with me. It's kinda hard convincing her to go sometimes so I used the IPod to bribe her. "lets go to the gym" I said. "you can borrow my IPod" she agreed and we went. We got there and we both went our separate ways. Me into the swimming area and her to the side I've never ventured into where all the other non swimmers go.

I had a solid 45 minute session of swimming, steam room, swimming, hot tub. I dried off got dressed and walked out into the lobby expecting to see my niece waiting for me. Everytime we go, she always finishes before me and I find her sitting in the lobby afterwards waiting looking bored. Well this time she wasn't there....Hmm could she still be working out? It's been almost an hour? I went looking for her.

I found her on one of those sitting bikes the kind you can lean back on, the ones they have on the floor not up the stairs. She was beet red, sweating like a dog, rocking out to music oblivious of everything around her. I got her attention and we took off. She was glowing in the car grinning from ear to ear the way I used to look after my workout....I was starting to get jealous. "Did you have a good workout I asked, did the IPod make a difference?" "yeah, dude the time just flew by, I listened to Dre, Pac, Eminem". Damn that's some good work out music I thought. I was now officially jealous.

So, today I made plans to go to the gym, for the first time in 6 days mind you. I almost went a whole week without working out, but I did get a hell of a workout running around Dodger Stadium the other night. I had my IPod and I was ready to give the bike machine a try I had no idea how it was going to go. Would the bike be strong enough to hold me, would I actually be able to pedal it, was I going to look like a complete fool? Well really the latter doesn't phase me anymore. I found a machine way off in the corner kind of out of the way, I walked over and stood in front of it for a second. How do I move the seat back is what I was pondering and will it go back far enough for me to squeeze in? I found the lever slid the seat back, hiked up my leg and mounted that bad boy. I sat down and reached for the pedals with my feet. Wow I fit!! Not only did I fit but I had to move the seat up, I fit and I had room to spare! Now, how do I turn this damn thing on? I started peddling and all sorts of lights came on, I panicked wtf? Oh wait I forgot I had my Ipod I stopped peddling and turned on the IPod.

What should I listen to, I had no clue? I hit random, started peddling again the music started Wonder by Natalie Merchant, nah too slow hit forward, Don't Speak by No Doubt, way too damn slow, I need something to get me going man. Hit forward again Badlands-Bruce Springsteen live in Barcelona fuck yeah I love this song, this live version kicks ass and comes in at just over 6 minutes 6 minutes and 23 seconds to be exact. Perfect. I began to pedal again the lights come back on. Here we go. 'Select a workout' the display said. I picked 'bike ride' seemed simple enough. 'Select desired time' uhhh um 20 minutes selected in haste knowing I'd never last that long. 'Enter your age' WTF is this a myspace survey man? I just want to pedal and sweat for crying out load why they gotta complicate things with all these damn questions? Then I saw a button that said 'quick ride' or something like that, so I punched that and it stopped asking all the questions and just went into workout mode. It gave me my RPM's, Distance, Heart Rate, and calories burned. Cool I thought I liked this. I leaned back and got comfortable.

How long should I ride? How long will I last? Whoa check out the three hot chicks in front of me on the elliptical. All these thoughts raced through my mind as I peddled away. I felt the blood start rushing to my head, and little beads of sweat began to run down my forehead and cheeks, down my neck and around my back. This is feeling good I though. Badlands ended the distance on the display read .50 was that half a mile? The calories burned showed 33. Not bad I thought. Should I stop? Silence for a second then the next song started Dr Dre's The Day the N's Took Over. This is an intense song with hypnotic beat and some angry angry lyrics if you've never heard it. Perfect keep peddling I thought, this song is about 4 minutes long. I made my goal 1.00 on the distance display whether that meant a mile or one tenth of a mile I would give it my all until I reached it. I leaned back and gave it all I had. My belly jiggled my feet screamed and the sweat began to poor.

I hit my goal just as the music ended. I stopped peddling I sat for a second and enjoyed that work out high I was feeling you know the one I'm talking about if you've ever worked out. It feels great and I love it. I changed into my swimming trunks and hit the hot tub. I sat in the hot water soothing my aching bones. I could still feel my blood pumping pretty hard, my breathing was a little heavy but I wasn't dying or anything like that, like I said I felt good. I hit the steam room next, time to sweat profusely. 5 minutes in there and I was ready to swim. Breathing perfect, blood pumping, pours opened up pouring out the sweat. Out with the bad in with the good. I hit the pool and did my 20. Got out I felt great. Yep best workout in six weeks I can't wait to get back there tomorrow. Tomorrow my goal is 1.5 on the bike hopefully I can ride for three songs. We'll see. I'm out JR