So I’m headed to a data center in Colorado Springs for the next ten days (Dec 11-20). During that time, I’ll be staying at a nice hotel with a gym, but I gotta ask: what do you do to stay in shape while traveling? In particular, how do you handle all the eating out?
I think my suite has a kitchen. If it doesn’t, wow, this is going to be a rough week for sticking to my eating plan 🙂
I’ve never in my life considered fitness opportunities when traveling. It’s a new experience!
–Matt
25 Every 5
In your hotel room do 25 pushups every 5 minutes. The 5 minute cycle starts every 5 minutes, not 5 minutes from when you last stopped.
Order Diet Coke and salads.
Burnout set
I did a burnout set on pectorals last night. Dang, they hurt now!
Turns out my company provides an enormous gym at our building in Colorado. Who knew? I can keep up my regular exercise routine. Even if I couldn’t, though, I would definitely be doing something. I’m really enjoying a thinner, more active, fit “Me”.
The thing I did with the newer, skinnier me today? I went cave exploring. Sure, it’s a commercial cave, so I had a guide and no hard-hat, but we were gone for about two hours and it involved a whole lot of walking, climbing, asking questions, a few bruises & scrapes, and a nifty little theme-park-esque photo to take home at the end. I’ve been claustrophobic my whole life, and I decided “f$#% it, I’m going to do it”. Wasn’t as bad as I feared, nor was it as exciting as I thought it would be. I want to do it again, but next time some place with even TIGHTER spaces. The worst I had to do this time was scoot along on my butt.
That plus an hour-long walk around the Air Force Academy campus and taking in the scenic downtown of a local tourist trap… yeah, I’m achey and sore in a good way. Let’s do some more tomorrow!
—
Matthew P. Barnson
New Goal – 25 of 135
Many years ago I watched on TV with Weed an off-season NFL Skills competition. Part of this competition was to crown the NFL’s strongest man. This was done in a single event in which each competitor, typically a lineman, slid onto a flat weightlifting bench. Striding atop the bench was a typical 45 lb. weightlifting bar. Two 45 lb. circle weights were hung on each side. The bar and 4 circle weights combine 225 lbs. This 225 lbs. bench amount is commonly recognized around any gym as a milepost weight amount. For example, people who are into weightlifting at the gym will throw out ‘225’ and everyone knows what that means.
Each competitor in the NFL competition slides under 225 and tries as many reps as possible. If I recall correctly the winner was in the high 20s range. However, in going through the multiple knockout rounds, everyone lifting was averaging 25 reps. That’s 5,625 of weight moved over sixty seconds. Majorly impressive.
My goal is to get 25 reps of ‘135’, which is the bar plus one 45 lb. weight hung on each side. This would put me at 60% strength of the NFL’s strongest men. This statement is highly illogical, but it’s motivating.
Motivation is what it’s all about.
I like this goal because it’s not about putting up a high amount of weight once. It’s instead about durable strength.
I will be beefy.