Friday, March 6, 2009

I met Stein at the gym last night (Thursday) to photo his X-training class. Of course, he didn't show up with his camera, as he promised to do... but I had. This was his usual "gotcha" in that he wanted to do the class. Frankly, I am a little intimidated; i.e. I don't know who's in the class, what their levels are, and I'm both a little afraid I'll fail and also extremely competitive. So I spend the hour trying to get shots of the class, of Stein, of him doing what he does so well... and I'm not even an amateur photography, so it was really hard to get clear, clean photos of him doing the training part, because the only time dude stands still is when he's checking his stop watch. That's good for the class; bad for the photographer. It was, however, quite interesting to have the opportunity to watch the class, the people involved and what was going on. It was organized -- well organized-- chaos. Stein does a good job at this, and if he markets himself well enough, he could be a top-class trainer. I don't know if he knows this, but he's good enough to be training firefighters, cops, and other law enforcement officers.

Carter showed up right after the 20 minute warm-up, and I told Carter to just jump in. Since the rest of the class were on a two minute "break", Stein just told Carter to do 1 minute rope jumps and 100 jumping jacks... which would make the rest of the class break into pieces, but Stein knows Carter can just fucking hump it, and so he did ....

It was interesting to watch a bunch of people (about 14 altogether, only two men), at different levels of fitness doing a vague approximation of Crossfit. Honestly, I wasn't really inspired to join in, though as the photographer I didn't have the option of going 50/50, obviously.

The thing is, in group classes, 2 or 3 people are lean, mean and ready to work, and have no problems. Everyone else struggles with one or another exercise, and are really working hard with a positive attitude, or at least an approachable attitude.

Two people in the entire group -- both fit, trim, attractive women -- kept the steely faces of those who know they are so much beyond the rest they don't have to put on a friendly face. it's interesting to see.... these ones who "know" they look good versus the ones who are trying so hard to just get to a place where their self-esteems allow them to feel good.

The cocky pretty ones make me want to kick them in the ass; the other ones, I want to encourage and help and work with. The odd thing is, those pretty, cocky ones -- those are the ones that my rigth hook would drop dead like a fucking piece of meat. The other ones, the ones without the thin, slim, trim bodies, would fight back, because by damn they are trying way too hard to get outdone by an old-ass shit-kicker like me. I appreciate that.

Honestly, I used to be a hot chick. When I was 3o, I was something to see. And now I'm watching women half my age do half what I can do, and they are doing it. And so can I, and I too have to work hard, though I've been doing this for over a year. But I still have to remind myself that I can do it, and that I will do... and then... just DO IT.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is a crossfit day, and Carter and I are going to do a Fucked Up 47 or something like that after work. And on Sunday, I give my 23 year old son a crossfit training session. Maybe a little workout for myself as well, in his uberfashionableultragym.

I promise not to get the attitude that I'm better, holier than thou, stronger, faster, better... and that somehow that makes me a better person. It's not that I feel that way, 'cause I don't 'cause I'm just not there. But what makes me a better person is to continue to keep myself healthy and strong, and hopefully, to share what I know about getting to this fitter self with others.

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