Day 4

Rocky Balboa  (I currently resemble Paulie more than I do Rocky, but I'm working on it!)

This morning, Nick Kapande, decided to change things up a bit. Today, we did a workout reminiscent of one of the best feel-good movies ever made: "Rocky." A true American classic that we all know and love. Who didn't want to be like Rocky at one point in their lives? Our "Rocky" workout involved a 45-minute rotating circuit of: jump rope, speed & power punches on the punching bag, sit-ups, lunges with a medicine ball, pull-ups and dips! Unfortunately, there were no iconic horns blaring the "Rocky" theme song to really set the tone and pace of our workout, or Survivor belting out "Eye of the Tiger" on the loud speakers to really get your heart pumping and feel like you too could be getting ready to fight Apollo Creed or Clubber Lang! Nope. This is 2011. We had to listen to the Black Eyed Peas and Kesha (really?) to get us moving. What is THAT all about?!

The best word to describe my overall workout experience this morning is this: TEAMWORK! We have all had to push ourselves to limits we never thought possible, and then motivate ourselves to continue pushing even further. Even Rocky had Mickey there to push him and show him how to train correctly! I will be the first to tell you that without Mickey around to hold me accountable in the gym, I look for the shortcuts because they won't hurt as much. In our "Rocky" workout this morning, Nick found muscles to abuse I haven't felt in years. And it was only with the help and constant encouragement from some of Nick's "veteran" members that I was able to make it through today.

I need to take this opportunity to thank my own versions of "Mickey" today. Ed Bischoff (Ed has lost 20lbs in his few short months at Nick's to date); Mike McMahon (Mike drives up to Evergreen everyday from Denver just to work out with Nick); and Eric Shaw (Eric joined Nick after his wife lost 20lbs and called Eric out on a dare!). It is people like these 3 guys who make Nick's Pro Fitness such a great place to workout. They didn't have to help me out. They didn't have to take the time away from their own exercise time with Nick to make sure I was doing everything Nick asked -- and doing it RIGHT! But they did it because everyone in Nick's Conditioning Class has been there before. And they genuinely want to see each other succeed. Nick's Pro Fitness is a very cool, very personable place to work out and the pain you experience is only a small bi-product of the ultimate goal:  To Lose Weight and Get in Shape. Thank you Ed, Mike and Eric. I really could not have done it without your help today.

Thank you for reading.

Jeffrey Bowers
Director of Sales
Denver Life Magazine