It's a new world in the gym...

The other day I was doing some weight training and as I looked around something dawned on me. People really know what they are doing.

I remember the good old days in the 80's when I did a lot of weight training as a kid. I'd go to the downtown YMCA in Winnipeg, which at that time was a hole but it was the gym of choice for the serious body builders. These guys knew what they were doing. I got to know them with my buddy Peter Ginakes and we learnt a ton.

At that time we were the pros. Today everyone is a pro and even more.

As I looked around the gym I saw people of all ages, sizes and genders working out and really knowing what they were doing. Especially the girls most impressed me.

One girl was doing clean and jerks, another squats. Both like pros. No intimation. It was an amazing site. The girls at the gym are the ones that most impress me. Many of them have bodies, especially the arms that I would love to have myself. I see people working their core with exercises I've never seen before. There is no doubt that Cross Fit is the reason. It's created hard core machines.

Today I rested.

Today I snacked. I used Alice's Birthday as an excuse. But it's not excuse. I need willpower. I need to get into a groove again. Like I did in Arizona.

In Arizona I ate close to 4000 calories a day, trained hard, gained muscle and lost weight. It was one of those moments in time that I felt like a real, world class athlete. I would constantly think I was Michael Phelps. I'm not sure why but when it comes to eating and training hard I think of swimmers first. I guess because I hear that Michael Phelps eats 10,000 calories a day during peak training to keep his energy up.

Arizona was the first time I ate a lot and healthy and it didn't cause me to gain fat.

My original plan was to run today but there was no way I could and I don't run indoors on a machine. I can't remember the last time I did a treadmill. Maybe 10 years ago? Even at -30 C I will run outside.

I couldn't run today. We had a huge ice storm. The kind of storm that has knocked out power. Some people it's reported will not have their power back until Tuesday or Wednesday, which is Christmas. I couldn't even walk down my driveway without a complete shuffle and hanging on to my car. It's that slippery. Hence no run. It would have been impossible. I didn't feel like training either. I think it was the sugar from the cupcakes and granola snacks I ate.

I do know it could be worse if I hadn't quit drinking beer. I'd definitely be soft again. I think this is the first time I've maintained my Ironman shape for so long. It's a great feeling. Very addictive. Makes you want to keep up training and eating healthy.

My plan is to try and do some self-hypnosis to get myself back on the healthy eating track. I've done it naturally for years before I knew what it was. I went to a hypnotist a couple years back and she explained how to do it and I realized I'd been doing that naturally. I didn't know I've been self-hypnotizing myself for as long as I can remember.

It was a late night. We picked Alyssa up at the airport. She was glad to be back from a week of cold in Winnipeg. I didn't get back home and into bed until 2 am. Tomorrow is going to be a rough day and it's my regular busy Monday to boot.

No training.