Finishing a great workout on my way home I started to reflect on my workouts from last week’s vacation & decided to share…

Last week we flew to Vegas for the Mr. Olympia (the super bowl of IFBB bodybuilding) & drove to Ft. Irwin to visit family.  This gave me the opportunity to experience two different gyms during our travels; one with top of the line equipment at an Army base & the other a hotel fitness room that supplied the mere basics. Both produced some of the most exhilarating workouts I’ve had to date.

The Orleans Hotel & Casino was the host of the Mr. Olympia thus generating an establishment overrun with world status athletes & health enthusiast alike. The clientele consisted of people wearing assorted t-shirts attesting to workout ethic, carrying oversized jugs of water & coolers of food in tow beside them. The fitness center was minimal impelling users to be creative with what was available. When you are surrounded by professional athletes & diehard gym junkies pushing it to the max it’s an in your face call out, that nothing worth working for comes easy. It’s a process that involves hard work, discipline, flexibility, planning & most vital to the mix, a no excuse perspective. These top athletes didn’t arrive & maintain this level by opting to not workout out due to lack of equipment or overcrowded space. Hallways, counter space & body weight were being used to accommodate daily routines.

It’s interesting that not once did it feel like a burden squeezing through everyone to do a set. It’s as though we were all feeding off one another’s energy taking advantage of what our minds & bodies have to offer. The take home is no matter where you are or what your status is focus on what you do have.  Fancy this or that doesn’t make the workout.  The drive to get it done does.  Make it work & you’ll be pleased with the time invested.  The makeshift workout achieved its purpose & my body welcomed the shock.

Before Vegas there was the workout out at Ft. Irwin… the best way I can sum it up is euphoric. This was a workout I left the ear buds out to be sure to fully absorb my surrounding. Ft. Irwin is the national training center. Without a doubt the men & women of armed services are real life heroes. With much admiration it’s evident that dedication & resilience are common characters instilled in this group of selfless beings. Frankly the gym could have been stocked with resistance bands & milk crates. No equipment could measure up to the strength emitted from the presence of these men & women. As I moved along the weights I was swarmed with the reoccurring thought of how I wouldn’t have any of this if it weren’t for these soldiers. We tend to think top of the line athletes are “bad ass” but it is the service men/women that are the true owner of the title. So when I saw the soldier putting up crazy heavy dumbbells like Tic-Tacs you bet I pushed harder, longer & for damn certain without any hesitation.  Again it was an energy that is hard to put into words but what a feeling.  I will forever remember my workout amongst America’s heroes.