DAY 30

DAY 30 - Tuesday;

Curse of the Dreaded Mountain Climber!

For those of you who are unaware of what the exercise is, a "Mountain Climber" is where you start out in a runner's starting position:  Hands, or knuckles, planted firmly on the floor.  Your right knee tucked under your chin with your right foot planted  on the floor beneath you - toes flat and your heal up.  Your left leg slightly bent, knee on the ground, and toes flat on the floor and ready to push. Just like a runner in the starting gate before a sprint.  When you do the exercise, you stay in that runner's position the entire time.  The only movement is from your hips, your stomach, and your legs. You swiftly switch from right foot, to left foot, and back to right foot while maintaining your hands or knuckles firmly on the floor, and your back slightly arched in the air.  You move your legs back and forth under you, making as little sound or impact as possible with your toes as you push your right leg forward, then your left leg forward!   It is an exhausting workout that strains your lower stomach, your legs, and your hip flexors.  And it burns after doing about 40 of them.

A "Kick Back" is where you start out in a squatting position.  Knees bent, both feet side-by-side under you and balancing on the balls of your feet, with your hands planted firmly on the floor on either side of your feet.  Kind of like a Catcher in baseball, only hunched forward with your hands on the floor.  From this position, you kick both of your legs out behind you in one movement, forming a push-up position with your body.  You finish by thrusting both of your legs back underneath you into the starting position.  That's one!  It's a lovely exercise that strains your hip flexors, quads, shoulders, and lower back muscles. And the Kick Back makes you do funny faces as you struggle to keep up and push yourself to continue doing one after another of this torture!  So much so that even Nick notices and has to yell out during the exercise: "RELAX YOUR FACE!  NO MAKING FACES!"  It always makes me chuckle when I hear him say that because you really can't help making a face when you're straining so much to complete the task.  Kick Backs are a real delightful movement that you don't see enough of in yoga or pilates!  Probably because, like mountain climbers, kick backs are annoying too!  Even more so than mountain climbers, though.

Tonight, Nick was in a playful mood and decided that we would do mountain climbers and kick backs for the entire first half of our workout.  In my mind, we must have spent an entire 45 minutes doing just these two exercises, and probably did about 1,000 of each!  In reality, it may have been more like 10-15 minutes, and only 300-400 of each.  Either way, it hurt.  But to Nick's credit, he was there in the front of the hot gym, doing every single one of them with us.  And he was counting them out too!  I know I have said this before, but at 48 years old, Nick Kapande is in the best shape of anyone I have ever met in my life.  He is truly impressive.  No less aggrivating and frustrating when he's making your do these incredibly tiring exercises for long periods of time!  But that is what makes working out at Nick's so special; he is right there with you, pushing you "through the wall" as he likes to say.  Forcing you to do your best, and get in shape.  No shortcuts, no freebies.  It is why, after five weeks, I have been able to lose 14 pounds.  And if muscle weighs more than fat, I am exciting to see how much my Body Fat Index has changed in this time period.  I feel great. My clothes are looser fitting.  And I have noticed a change in my energy level and quality of sleep. What's next?

Thank you for reading.
Jeffrey Bowers
Director of Sales
Denver Life Magazine