And as for getting in shape...

Will and I have been going to Crossfit. What is Crossfit, you ask?

Crossfit is a grassroots fitness movement based out of Santa Cruz, California. It is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martialartists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist. The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.

It's been fun and challenging just to learn a bunch of new stuff, mainly the Olympic-style weightlifting moves. And the biggest challenge is yet to come.

On Saturday, September 25, we have signed up to do a fundraising workout called Fight Gone Bad. Other than the fact that it's to raise money for 3 incredibly good causes, this may prove to be one of the craziest things I've ever done. Maybe crazier than Boot Camp.

Proceeds from this nationwide event go to:

• The Livestrong Foundation
• The Wounded Warrior Project
• The Crossfit Foundation

If you can, please support me with a donation of $5 or more-- you can donate by following this link. (you can also donate via Will if you'd like... or even better, both of us!)

Thanks, and wish me luck!

Use Your Words! An update of sorts.

Someone said to me the other day something about how I'm not writing very much on my blog these days. It's true-- I've been posting a photo a day which satisfies whatever bloggy cravings emerge.

I've also been pretty busy with so many things that are not yet at a stage where I can write about them, so I feel like there isn't much to report. Good things cooking, but nothing quite ready yet.

One thing that I'm loving these days, though, is Camera Bag on my iPhone. It's the reason some of the photos I've posted look so nicely photoshopped. I did not become a photoshop whiz. I spent three bucks and put the app on my phone. I highly recommend it.

I'm also still going to Boot Camp. Some friends and I actually have been going 5x/week since the first of the year (except for one week when I was sick). I put that one hold this week (though it might be back... might being the operative word there) and only went 4x. The guys seem to have upped the intensity after the holidays and they haven't let up. The end of January marked a year since I started (though I left the other place after the initial six-week run and started at WFBC in May). I can do a lot of things now that I could not do when I started:

• I can get all the way across the monkey bars now-- last year, I couldn't imagine getting simply from one rung to the next
• I can hurdle 4 of the 6 hurdles, as opposed to climbing over them-- which I still do to the last two-- they're high!
• I can climb the rope at the end of the obstacle course
• I can do 100 sit-ups in 2 minutes-- we did 2-minute drills during bi-weekly fitness testing

Overall, I'm faster, stronger and generally in much better shape than when I started. It's still hard as hell-- there are people there who run marathons and do triathlons and such things and it's still hard for them! But it's the first time I've actually joined a gym and felt like I've gotten my money's worth by actually going regularly. Part of that is the fact that it is a combo of a personal trainer (two, actually) and the set-up of a class-- basically group personal training. The group aspect is a big factor. When you sweat all over people, there's sort of nothing to do but become friends.

Talk is starting now about the Men's Health Urbanathlon. I don't know that I'll do it this year either, but it doesn't seem as crazy a thought as it did last June.

Bootcamp: One more thing

Today reminded me that taking two weeks off is like basically starting over-- everything is hard, everything hurts. Even a 2.5 hour afternoon nap doesn't do much help.

So now, I guess I basically live at WFBC. There is that little tunnel we crawl through in the obstacle course... I could easily sleep there.

Bootcamp: And Thus It Begins... AGAIN!

I took these past two weeks off from Boot Camp for the holidays.

This may have been, hands down, the biggest mistake of my life.

Today was my first day back and it was a killer. I decided to ease back into it by going to class at noon as opposed to my regular 730am. Eighteen other Warriors decided the same thing-- with 19 people, it was one of the biggest classes I've ever been in.

These classes are usually really hard but really fun-- Alex and Ruben split us in half (the group, that is, although I personally felt split into pieces by the time it was all over!) and kept us moving NON-STOP. Really. A lone water break turned out to be the only chance to catch a breather today.

When the warm-up seems like it lasts an hour, you know it's going to be a rough class as the warm-up really only spans the first 10-15 minutes. Hundreds of crunches, squat thrusts and lunges later, I was wishing I'd bailed on xmas and just camped out at the gym for the past two weeks!

3x over the five walls, 2 rounds of monkey bars and hurdles and a couple of trips up the stairs with little rest reminded me that I pay these guys to kick my ass and, (sadly?), they're really good at their jobs.

I don't feel like going to Boot Camp is so much of a New Year's resolution for me, as I'd been in a steady rhythm of going 3-4x/week leading up to the holidays. I figured maybe the turn of the calendar was the reason for the large class, but lots of familiar faces were back.

One guy even brought his kids today-- Glen's two teeny tiny daughters sat quietly on the sidelines near the last tall wall while we all tried to remember not to scream "FUCK!" while climbing over it. When class was over, it was their turn to "play". It was really fun to see the excitement with which they attacked the course-- the older daughter (they were probably 8 and 6 or so) flew over the hurdles like it was her job and the younger one was right behind her. Ruben helped one of them climb the rope at the end of the obstacle course. She noted that the rope at her school has knots (of course I leaped on that, telling Ruben that maybe we should get some knots in our rope!). They tell you to grab the rope up high, then pull your legs up into your chest. This little girl actually pulled her knees UP TO HER CHIN. When I'm "climbing the rope", it's all I can do to get my knees past my hips!

A couple of my friends and I have made a pact to attempt to go 5x/week for as long as we can-- which for me might mean half a week! I'm going again tomorrow at 930 if I wake up and have not died. By this time next week, we'll see if the fiver sticks!

Lines Must Be Drawn

Madness.

Sheer Madness.

I'll admit don't love going to a gym (although I have, over time, come to love my gym). I probably wouldn't go if I didn't have to. But. THIS IS RIDICULOUS (just look at the video!).

Eat less. Move more. It's really just that simple. When you're working, work. When you're eating, eat. When you're working out, work out. And then be done with it.

Don't buy the stupid treaddesk.

via Popgadget

Bootcamp: I Still Go, You Know.

But not today.

I missed today and for the lamest reason. I skipped the 730am class to do the noon class with a couple of friends (and to catch up on a little bit of sleep for once!).

I got to the Carroll St F stop at about 11:20 only to find a G train stuck in the station with no less than like 600 people on the platform staring at the motionless train. There were some MTA workers there too, and I asked them if they knew how long it would take for the train to start moving. They looked at me like I was crazy, like it's NOT THEIR JOB to have info on this sort of thing, and said "Uh, we're trying to figure out the same thing. Nobody knows."

Then I tried to get a cab on Smith St, which was uncharacteristically jammed with traffic. No luck.

It's really annoying when I actually WANT to go to the gym and can't get there. I'm not like most other folk at the Boot Camp-- if my genetics allowed me to lay on the couch eating cheese and sausages all day without looking like a Polish farm maid, I would. But sadly, I come from sturdy stock and ... well, I need to gym it out.

Ups and Downs and Ups!

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks for me, which may explain my lack of posting. Here's the highlight reel:

Ups:

• After four months of recording demos and waiting, I officially booked the Campbell's Soup spots two weeks ago. I believe they are already airing, so keep an ear out for a soothing voice selling you soup.
• I joined SAG.
• I finished (well, my friend Mark, the super-genius editor actually finished) my film Thursday. I picked up the final cut today and will turn it over to the Mister Sinister himself, Bryan Enk, tomorrow! It will first screen on 10/30 and Halloween-- more info to come.
  
• I booked a couple of spots for Bounty Paper Towels, an industrial for Captain Morgan, a promo for the new Duffy album and some pick-ups on the Prime Outlets commercials I did earlier this year. I just found out this afternoon, too, that I also booked another industrial that records tomorrow.
• I started another round of ass-kicking Fight Studio with Qui and the Vampire Cowboys -- this, mixed with 4x/week of Boot Camp has left me near-hobbled, but I feel great.

There have been a few downers, including riding my bike over my own glasses (really- CRUNCH!) and my good friend Katie Brack packing it up and moving to LA.

But all in all, things feel very much like they're coming together. It's been a long time coming and a lot of hard work, but... it's all very exciting!

Bootcamp: The Open House

Alex and Ruben opened their doors last Friday night to friends, family and anyone wanting to see just what goes down at WFBC. It was fun to hang out with my bootcamp pals while not covered in my puddles of my own sweat!

Mark and Will came along-- Sari and I were secretly hoping that once they saw all the fun climby things they would not be able to resist signing up. No dice.


Although... Mark did manage to find a way to turn the torture devices into toys. I saw him notice the Giant Tire and I was all,

Dude, your wife flips that thing!

And he was all,

WHAT?!

So he decided to look further into the situation. From the inside out.


But hands down the most exciting part of the night was the Demo, featuring five of the most serious bad-asses you'll ever meet just destroying the obstacle course. If there were like honors classes in bootcamp, this would be the class:


It was loud and fast and furious, and in middle of it all I realized,

Uh... I'm at a party: at the Gym.

It was a good time, and I was glad to finally have Will see just why it is that I come home gimpy each morning. That part sounds a little nuts, but it's really the people involved that keep me going back.


Did I mention that I just signed on for three more months? I'm hoping to pass legislation to have the Tire Ride become part of the warm-up.

Bootcamp: "Because you’re not going to take any shit from the terrorists"

Warrior Fitness Boot Camp is listed in the Spas & Sport section of Time Out New York this week. Check it out, then CHECK THEM OUT!

For Real, these guys will whip you into shape like nobody's business. And they offer a trial class. If you're in the city and looking to get into a serious work-out regimen, get yourself over there now.

True, it is very hard and very tiring. But then again, isn't being a sad sack of chubby sloth also very hard and very tiring?

Bootcamp: Afternoon Delight

I've been having problems over the last couple of weeks with getting to Bootcamp for the 7:30 class. It's not with waking up as I've been doing that when my alarm goes off at 6:30. It's the actual leaving, the getting-out-the-door.

There was last week, when I had the shoulder blade glitch. There was yesterday, when I woke up with the same thing. Then today, I couldn't find my keys! Sounds like a bad excuse, but it's true. I've got the early-morning subway schedule down: I have to leave the bedroom by 6:42am on Will's alarm clock which gives me about 1-3 minutes to gather my things (bag, water bottle, keys, etc) and get out the door. If I'm still in the apt at 6:50, I'm not going to make it. There's a woman that is usually on my train in the morning. She has short dark hair, a thick Brooklyn accent and wears an abusive amount of perfume. If I'm not nauseated by her scent, I'm not going to make it. And I learned, back in the days of poor Wong, you just DO NOT show up to Bootcamp late.

Today I couldn't find my keys and was just generally not awake in time enough to motor out the door. So I went to the 1pm class.

It was not a bad class-- 7 of us all together, but there were a few doozies.

Alex has been really into the "Push-Planks" lately, a deadly combo of push-ups and plank position. You start in plank and lift your arms one at a time to reach a push-up position. It is a killer on your abs. Did I mention he worked that one in after Pull-ups? Sneaky bastard.

Then Ruben thought it would be fun to do Diamond Push-ups. This is your basic push-up, except that your hands are close enough together to form a diamond. My arms and ... well, I don't know what the other muscles are called because I didn't know I even had them!-- they were all shaking. All of my arms and arm-related muscles. Shaking.

This further supports my theory that these two men WILL NOT REST until I am in London 2012 on the Polish Weightlifting Team.

Bootcamp: So I Took a Few Days Off...

I didn't realize everyone was so concerned about my physical fitness!

I've had a painful ... let's call it a glitch in my left shoulder blade that started on Friday morning and persisted throughout the weekend and kept on keepin' on this morning. It was so bad at one point that any time I tried to roll over in bed, while sleeping the sleep of the dead that I sleep, I was jerked awake in severe pain.

I figured a weekend of rest would make it better, but it was still there when my alarm sounded at 6:30am today. So I bailed on Boot Camp, thinking that it was pretty unlikely that we'd have a day without having to use our upper bodies at all.

Well, boy, did I cause a stir!

First, from Ruben:

WTF REED!!

What happened this morning?

Then, Nickelburg chimed in, via a Facebook:

They're gonna make me do extra stuff if you're not there tomorrow, and if I'm doing 'extra stuff' at boot camp tomorrow morning YOU ARE GOING TO HEAR ABOUT IT ROBIN!!!

(ed. note: this one went on for quite a few more sentences and involved what I can only infer are OBSCENE emoticons)

I replied, stating my case, and found a response in her Status Update:

Sari Nickelsburg wants Robin to know that if she doesn't get to boot camp tomorrow, that I am going to come down to Brooklyn and kick her butt all over the Stinky Cheese bar.

Then I got it from Friesell, also via Facebook:

they're gonna make me do extra stuff tomorrow too if you're not there... just kidding, but I thought maybe it would help get your ass to Boot Camp!

Gee. I never realized everyone cared so much. I just cried one single lonely tear! And then I got jabbed again with the stinging pain in my back. Well, either way, I'll scrap the tears and the belly-aching and report back after what I'm sure will be a hell day tomorrow morning!

Bootcamp: Extra Killing Yourself!

2 days in a row of suicides. I think that qualifies me as officially near dead. My hands are torn to shreds thanks to my love-hate-love-HATE relationship with the monkey bars, and my knees make me feel like I'm closing in on my 85th birthday.

I just have to remember (as Will is so kind as to keep pointing out) that I willingly pay these guys to do this to me. Oy.

Bootcamp: Suicides*

It's been an odd week for me and Bootcamp. There was the aforementioned Nyquil/Sudafed debacle which left me in rough shape. I took yesterday off, choosing rather to stay home and attempt to cough up a lung**.

Today was my first day this week where I felt really good enough to be there. I probably should have stayed home one more day, though, to escape the dreaded Suicides***!

There were two teams of circuit training today, and we all got stuck doing the suicides. I guess my team had the easier one (ha!) because someone on the other team told me theirs involved the stairs! Ours was two sets of suicides (see below), two laps around the gym, hurdles then monkey bars.

I absent-mindedly left my gloves in my bag, so the monkey bars helped me add to my hand callous collection yet again!

While it was one person's turn to do the suicides, the other three were doing things with resistance bands, dumbbells and some awful jumping onto a bar on the wall thing that I'm sure is precisely what passes time in hell. Four circuits, so we all got a turn on each thing. Joy.

I have to give them credit-- Alex and Ruben manage to come up with something new each and every day. Sure, we repeat stuff, but NEVER have I done the same workout twice.

I guess that's a good thing?

* Dear Friends and Family: Do not be alarmed by the title of this post. Or the photo attached. Just remember I am paying these men to do this to me.
** Came close, but not didn't quite pull it off.
*** Suicide Sprints: sprint from an end line to other designated line on the field or court. Once this designated line is touched, the athlete is expected to turn around and sprint back to the original line where he/she will turn around again and sprint towards another line that lies beyond the first line he/she touched. This process is repeated until each line has been touched.

Bootcamp: Proceed with Caution

Don't take Nyquil the night before Bootcamp and expect to be super-alert during class.

I was walking when I was supposed to be running, my legs were bent when they were supposed to be straight, straight when they were supposed to be bent and I was just all sorts of out of it.

And taking Sudafed in the morning does not, as I simply thought, counter the effects of the "So You Can Rest" medicine.

Bootcamp: Long Live Hand Callouses!

After yesterday's foray back into the bi-weekly world of the Fitness Test (I did more sit-ups than ever, but my dead-arm hang time dropped 50%-- that's right: 2 seconds), we had a six-man class at the Bootcamp this morning.

Correction: 4-man, 2-woman class.

In their quest to never quit until Friesell and I look like actual men, Alex and Ruben treated this morning as a 6-MAN class. I actually reached a point where I was going to just plain TAKE a water break and see if they dare try to stop me.

Ruben, bless his soul, was on a mission for me to have a great sense of accomplishment. At least, that's the best argument I've come up with. I was having some problems with the monkey bars (maybe because I had just done a billion push-ups and a boatload of running?) and he was determined to see to it that I won that battle. It became tougher and tougher-- he watched as I struggled and fell, did his best to motivate me by threatening me with 10 squat thrusts for every fall (I did 50 then another 20 and, yes, nearly died) and then, I think, took great joy when I finally did it.

When I was leaving, he looked quite proud when he asked me if I wasn't glad I made it all the way across. I said

What you don't understand is that I'm just as happy when I almost make it across!

And thus, one of our fundamental differences. Perhaps Ruben will mold me into a great athlete without my even knowing.

And perhaps I will then be crowned Queen of England.

Bootcamp: Note to Self-- Don't EVER Skip a Week

After our trip to LA, I found waking up at 6:30am more difficult than ever. So much so that on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, I gave into the demons and just went back to bed. To be honest, yesterday I actually got up, showered, got dressed and was out the door, but when I saw that it was gray and rainy through the skylight in the hall, I decided that Tuesday and Wednesday's plan was probably a good fit for Thursday as well.

Which made this morning all the more important and difficult. No matter when I go to bed, I want to throw a grenade at my alarm when it blares at 6:30. But this morning I trudged through, left the house and headed to Bootcamp.

My entrance was met with rounds of menacing faux-cheers from Alex and Ruben, who both questioned my whereabouts for the past few days. Jetlag, sunburn and just plain 'sleeping-in-is-better-than-not-sleeping-in' did not seem to appease them. As I sat and waited for the 6:30 class to finish up, I could feel the fear building up in my belly.

And then it happened. A quick warm-up led to everyone running up the stairs to the eleventh floor. Somehow I managed to keep pace with Long, WFBC's Captain Endurance. When we got back to 3, Ruben set him on a path of bearcrawling, while I was sent back up to the eleventh floor.

That's right. Double Stairs. I guess they missed me.

For the rest of the class, I was partnered with Quinn, who seems to find great joy and a sense of accomplishment in setting records there (I heard he once did the whole obstacle course in like 15 seconds!). Poor Quinn. Stuck with me. Most of our exercises were based on each other-- I would run while he did jumping squats, then he did pull-ups while I did jumping squats, and so on. Let's just say that Quinn got extra time on everything as my shaky legs adjusted to being back.

But, I did not die. And I'm going back tomorrow. Eeesh.

Bootcamp: That GIANT Tire is NOT Decorative

Those tires at the Bootcamp haunt my dreams. I've pressed them up and down, held them over my head for exorbitant amounts of time and taken them for a jaunt up and down 8 flights of stairs.

But I never could have seen today coming.

Today Ruben concocted the most horrific piece of circuit training to come along since the advent of circuit training.

Four of us. Four stations:

• Squats (squatting down so your butt touches a single tire on the ground-- that's about 8" for those of you who don't frequent bootcamps, salvage yards or auto body shops)
• Push-ups (or an excruciatingly long handstand, in my case) with your feet up on a vertically standing tire
• Step-ups onto a maybe 2' box with a set of 15lb dumbbells

and the WHAT-THE-F-AM-I-DOING-THIS-FOR leg:

• suicide sprints (2 sets), followed FLIPPING THE GIANT TIRE THE LENGTH OF THE ROOM, followed by a run up to the 8th floor, while all the while Ruben yelling (cheerleading?) for it to be done faster (naturally)
  

I don't know what I was doing in this group. I suspect since Nickelburg doesn't "do" Wednesdays, they crammed me in there in her place. I managed to get through it, though I think I extended everyone's time on their station with my lack of TIRE FLIPPING skills.

Let me explain: this tire weighs no less than 700lbs. Enough said.

My arms and legs went far past the point of shaking from exhaustion after today. They had scurried over to the land of numb, from which they may never return. I don't know how on earth I'm even awake or alive right now*.

Luckily, I'm out of town for the next few days and won't return there until Tuesday. At which point someone might be kind enough to put the final nail in my coffin and float me gently out into the Hudson.

*Nickelburg did make a good point in absentia today, though: should I survive all of this, I'll probably be down to my starting weight by the end of it. Like, my birth weight. 8 or so pounds. 5'6", 8lbs 3oz. Bikini Season, here I come!

Bootcamp: Progress!

I had a late start this morning (read: ignored the alarm at 6:30a) and decided to go to the class at noon. I completely forgot it was Fitness Test Monday!

When I saw Alex walking around with his clipboard, a pit of dread gurgled in my belly. But today, I proved that gurgle pit wrong!

You may remember on the day of the last fitness test, I only managed to "hang" for 1 second. (can you even really call that "a hang"?)

Today? I'm up to 4 seconds! That's right, friends. 300% progress!

And even though there were only two of us in the noon class, it didn't seem to kill me as much as usual. Don't get me wrong, I could barely breathe and/or walk when we were done, but much less so than usual.

Maybe I really am making progress...

At one point, Alex jokingly asked me when I was headed over to the Marine Recruitment Office. I breathlessly muttered something to the effect of "I don't believe in war" and kept on with my squat thrusts. But it made me laugh, as it reminded me of the time Will and Sang and I were in a debate over strip clubs and why I should or should not go to one. My argument was if they wanted to go, why couldn't I come along*?

Sang's reply:

"Because you'd be asking them if they had health insurance and whether or not they were in a union."

That Sang. What a jokester!

*Besides the fact that I wouldn't be caught dead in a strip club unless it was to make sure the strippers had health insurance and union protection.

Bootcamp: Best Day Ever

I have little to no recollection of today's workout, except for the fact that it ended with my bootcamp buddy Long kneeling on my back and stretching the crap out of me.

Best. Spa. Ever.*

Seriously. If Ruben and Alex wanted to make a gajillion dollars**, they would team up with Long and offer a Bootcamp Spa Package. For the ways he got my back to crack and my legs to stretch, that winning combo could easily be priced at $400,000/month.

Easy.

It's Manhattan, people!

* Take that, Will Schenk!
** A real number. A LOT of money.

Bootcamp: The Noon Class is NOT 30 Minutes Long!

I REPEAT: it's a full hour, kids. No fun when you think you're gonna have it easy and the hell time doubles! There's no such thing as an easy day in the Boot Camp, no matter how many times Ruben says "Easy Day!" at the end of class.

Today could very well have been the hardest day ever and it's my own damned fault. Misconceptions lead to a very difficult workout. Here are just a few of the minor tragedies that led to my noontime malaise:

• 30 minutes? 1 hour? Who knows. I've heard tell of this quickie class, but it was nowhere to be found today. No sir. Sixty hot, sweaty minutes.
  
• 3 person class. Added personal attention. I have mentioned before that I feel no need to stand out in the Bootcamp. I would much rather hide behind columns and inside giant tires. But it was 2 of them against 3 of us-- we were being hawkeyed. There was no way out.
  
• Hot as hell. Everyone recalls Alex saying on live television that "It's nice & cool in our joint... we have A/C!", but none of us have yet to experience it.* I think they turn it on once we've all safely left the building.

Yep, I got some personal attention today. It seemed to be Ruben's mission to get me to jump over the hurdles rather than climb them as I usually do. This left a couple of fresh bruises on my legs, but I managed to pull it off a couple of times. And not to be left out, Alex made it his mission to see me cross the entire set of monkey bars**, which left me with the most hideous dime-sized blisters on top of the callous farm on my fingers. Good thing my hand-modeling career is no longer my prime focus.

And really, who needs two milestone achievements in one day? I'm no glory hog. I'm still amazed I show up each day!

I also learned a very valuable lesson today: Gatorade during the workout is just not for me. When it was time for my nano-second water break, I slugged a slug of orange Gatorade and it was like having a gigantic candy apple shoved down my throat.

Water Break: n. time in a workout used for catching up on breathing. And sometimes for sipping clear, cool H2O.

Even though today maimed and nearly killed me, it was all worth it when I discovered that the doorman of the building keeps a little hobby going at his post. As I walked past him, I noticed something all colorful and shiny. This little old Irish man makes beaded necklaces! It was perhaps the sweetest thing I've ever seen.***

*I live for the giant fan near the window. It feels sometimes like my only friend.
**When I've said in the past that I did them, I actually meant I did half-- there are about 8-10 ascending to the center, then another 8-10 going the other way. Sue me, it felt like an accomplishment.
*** There is no way on earth that this man reads this blog, but just in case, let me make it clear that it was "sweet" in the MOST MASCULINE way imaginable.