DAY 31

DAY 31 - Wednesday; 

RIGHT versus WRONG

At Nick's, there is a "right" way of doing things, and a "wrong" way of doing things.  And if you are not doing it the "right" way, every time, there are consequences.  Nick expects, and demands, perfection from his members.  As Nick says: "short cuts don't get you in shape! Short cuts don't do anything but hurt you.  I do not teach you short cuts, so I do not ever want to see short cuts in my classes." 

I learned that lesson the hard way today.  Today, we had to do a series of one-legged presses.  That is where you stand parallel to a wall with a railing and place your hand closest to the wall on that railing.  Only for balance, Nick says.  The other hand is held firmly in place, again just for balance, by your workout partner who is standing on the other side of you.  With one leg extended out in front of you, you slowly bend at the knee and squat all the way down until your butt is inches from the floor with your other leg.  You then push back up to a standing position.  The "short-cut" in this difficult maneuver comes from your workout partner (and new BFF if they are "aiding" you!).  As you squat down, they will place their hand on your elbow and "assist" you on the way down, and again on the way up, by applying slight pressure.  This is a huge "No-No" at Nick's, and he can spot an "assist" a mile away. 

As my workout partner - whom I shall remain nameless out of respect and my sincere appreciation for the short time he was "assisting" me - was providing some "assistance", Nick was on it like flies at a picnic.  He immediately came over to us, and relieved my partner of his duties.  With Nick holding my hand for balance, all of a sudden, the exercise became damn near impossible!!  There was no support.  There was no assistance.  I was 100% completely on my own for the one-legged press.  It became disconcertingly clear and obvious that my legs are NOT in as good of shape as I had previously felt.  As I would begin the downward motion, I would almost drop down instead of doing it in a nice, smooth motion.  The way up was worse! I had nothing there.  My leg would be shaking and my hands were sweaty and I was making funny faces as I strained to stand up!  And with Nick as your partner, he makes you do the exercise until failure.  He keeps pushing and pushing until your legs literally give out and not push up anymore.  Needless to say, Nick would not become my BFF today.  We are "Frenemies" at the moment. 

However, I did finish up a shortened version of the exercise - I could only hammer out about 15 on each leg, instead of the 30 he was asking for and would have completed with my BFF workout partner assisting me.  As I have written before, I am a man who looks for the short-cuts in a workout because they don't hurt as much.  And as I have also written before, Nick is endless in his pursuit to kick that bad habit out of my workout routines.  He constantly strives to push me to do my best, and never give up.  Thus, why we are still at least "frenemies" and not total enemies to date.

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