The Purpose of this Blog

I started this blog to make my gym/cardio experiences more interesting and motivating. Each day that I visit the gym, I select an interesting person for "observation." I ultimately write an entry describing the dress and actions of the interesting person. I observe while using the treadmill (20-25 minutes), decide on the name and back story while on the elliptical. The writing happens while using the recumbent bike.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Antonio

Looking good is feeling good Tony!

Today is another step on your journey!

Tony pumped himself up for today's workout session. He had specifically selected the fluorescent lime green and black workout set. He bemoaned the fact that he did not have fluorescent green Nikes to accompany his shirt and shorts. His fluorescent red and orange ones would have to suffice. As was his tradition, after entering the gym, he posed for a selfie infront of the mirror. This is why coordinating outfits that would look good in print were so important to his workout - these daily photos...

A little over a year ago Tony decided to make a change. He had always been in shape - choosing a job as a landscape designer had helped. He loved the uniqueness of every job he was hired to design. He loved being outside measuring, drawing and overseeing an overgrown or barren yard become something healthy and strong. 

He sighed as he remembered, it was about two months after his father died that he began to think of his body as an overgrown  plot. His father had been in shape, had worked outside all of his life. No one expected the heart attack, no one expected the complications. The doctor had sadly told his mother that his father's heart had simply not been strong enough.  Tony had not really understood when the doctor had said it - his father had worked until his death. How could he not have been strong enough? Tony finally came to understand that it was like the leggy overgrown shrubs he often advised cutting back or removing. Although they looked beautiful on the surface, the plant was lacking key support and would eventually die.  Tony had taken a look at himself and thought - am I like my dad? Am I more leggy than substantial? So Tony decided to make a change. He started coming to the gym to workout.

Here he was, over a year later. He was proud of his progress. He was not so buff that his arms could not rest at his sides, be he had significant tone and strength. When started, he had been watching others on the machines. He began to develop his own method for the weights. The more he used the method, the better he felt and the more results he noticed.

So six months in, he started to seriously track what he was doing. He started taking photos everyday and noting exactly how many of each reo and machine he was using. He had started talking to other people who were working out - sharing tips and what was working for him. Some of the guys started using his technique and were seeing results too. About a month ago, one of the men had suggested he start a website or write a book about his plan. 

He talked to his wife about this strange idea and she was completely supportive, so for over a month he had been taking photos and carefully documenting what he called Exhaustive X-Training or the EXciTe Method. This method involves doing over 25 machines in one 35 minute trip to the gym. In order to accomplish this, you only do five reps on each machine at a very high weight. In between every two machines - it is push-ups next to the machine. Tony had developed six different types of push-ups that could be rotated between the different machines. 

His technique had originally started becuase he didn't know what each machine accomplished and wanted to try them all. The results were an overall improvement in his tone. He had noticed his "leggy" status was gone after only three months of working on all of the machines.

Tony smiled at himself in the mirror, reminisicing. Workout first Tony, then website, then book. Within two years everyone will know your name!

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