Kickin' Butt and Takin' Names

I've found a new pasttime.

Over the last, eh, four months, I've been enduring thrice-weekly butt kickings at an awesome gym in midtown.

Not one of those "ten minutes on the treadmill and then wander around the gym for ten minutes" kind of places.

It's a "pull 150 pounds on a sled around with a rope tied around your waist" kind of place. In the cold. Up hills.

It's an "add more weight and push yourself to the max" kind of place.

It's also a place of great commaraderie and motivation. Our team encourages each other to go beyond what each other thinks they can do and go further each time. Even on the days when you'd rather go home and sit on the couch after a long day, you feel like a rockstar at the end of that hour because that ass kicking was such a better idea.

I feel awesome. It's not from becoming "skinny," I realize that's just not me. It's from feeling fit, in charge of my body and healthier than I've been since the throngs of the high school soccer days. Hell, I've even caught myself (multiple times!) skipping cocktail hour with my besties in order to do pause squats and kettle bell snatches.

Which brings me to the point of this post today...

Due to a high turn out in class and an otherwise packed gym, I had a choice:

Go down from my usual 26 pound kettle bells to, say, 18 pounders, or try my hand at the 35ers. And not for single kettle bell swings, but for double kettle bell swings with a clean lift (I'm pretty sure that's what it is) directly after. Then a burpie. 30 times.

In a fit of 80's-music inspired audacity, I chose the 35ers. Those rep's may not have looked "World's Strongest Man Competition" worthy, but I kicked those kettle bells' ass like I would never have dreamed I would have 4 months ago. With my favorite colleague/workout buddy encouraging me on, I did the dang thing. I'm not saying many in my class aren't stronger than me, because they certainly are, but it felt damn good to take on a challenge like that and live to tell about it. (Not to mention not dropping those frickin' heifers on my foot!)

So thanks for letting me share my gymspiration with you.

If you're in for a challenge and want to be fit instead of wishing you were, check out Coach T at Innovative Strength and Conditioning. You'll be glad you did.

http://www.tsingleton-fitness.com/