I’ve been at 212 since March of this year but the journey really begins back in January of 2019. I was walking back to my car after picking up Avenue N (and had to park in the back due to lack of parking out front) when I saw a sign that said – “Hey You. Yeah you, the chubby one carrying the burger and fries. That’s not going to help you even though it tastes good. You know the better it tastes the worse it is for you. Call us for a nutrition appointment. We can help.” It may not have said those words exactly, but it was close. I emailed and set up an appointment with Kiki.
Over the next four months I lost around 25 pounds. She told me I should join the gym and lift weights as swimming and biking would only get me so far. Then came Covid, and my second daughter. Swimming stopped, and Zwifting in my basement became my only exercise outside of my day hike once a month in the White Mountains. My wife subtly (not really) pointed out that I seemed to be gaining back the weight I lost, and my flexibility was worse than usual (and my usual is bad). She thought that I should look at 212 as an alternative to riding every day. She agreed to look into it as well. So I emailed Heather and set up an orientation.
I went the following week and met Colin. The meeting went well although when we went into the gym it was…interesting. We started to stretch, and it became apparent that I was worse than I thought. There was one stretch that Colin said, “Lean into it…you have to lean into it” Me – “I am” Colin – “Oh. We need to work on that”. Then it was kettlebell workshop with Scott. I had never heard of the concept of hinging. My body apparently had never heard of it either and resisted. Scott tried a few ways to get me to hinge until he finally said, “We need to work on that”. The trend was obvious.
My first class was with Alicia. I walked in and she greeted me by name. It’s impressive that all the coaches know everyone’s name. It’s kind of like being at Cheers but the gym version. And the similarities continue as a lot of regulars have their “spot” (or stool to continue the analogy); the location where they prefer to be for all classes. And there are people who take class but don’t actually follow the class. Interesting characters just like Cheers. I’m not sure I realized how helpful Alicia was until I learned enough to know that she was paying a lot of attention to make sure I didn’t hurt myself – or anyone else. I also need to mention that Kim’s classes have set the bar for being a challenge. My first class I couldn’t understand why she had a stopwatch. It didn’t seem like one would need a stopwatch for rounds that 4, 6, or 8 minutes. Then we did the warmup. The stopwatch was out, and it became clear that the warmup was going to be harder than most of what I had experienced to that point. Then I did a Saturday kettlebell class with her. Wow. Run to the near dumpster (there’s a near dumpster?), run to studio B, run around the building, and lift some weights in between. I was happy I survived.
Small group with Scott has been the weekly dose of learning at a pace that is slower than class. He assessed everything we needed to work on during the first class (it was a lot), and we have slowly made progress. I can almost do a get up sit up. Almost. There has been enough progress that I have hope. And recently he told me we are working towards being able to do a pull-up. Really? Did I mention I wanted to do a pull-up? (the answer is no but it would be neat to be able to do one or two).
In short (kind of long actually) 212 has been the best thing to lure me off my bike and to work on all of me not just the cardio. As a bonus I do get to work out with my wife on the occasional Saturday which has been fun. And thanks to Kerry and the crew for creating a culture of acceptance, making things more about challenging yourself and not your neighbor, but still having enough competitiveness during class to be able to look around and keep going because everyone else is. Chapeau. Too bad I didn’t listen to Kiki; I would be that much closer to whatever is in those ten-year anniversary bags….
