10 Milers and More

No excuse. I was keeping the world entertained with about two posts per week and all of a sudden... nothing. I didn't write, I didn't call, I didn't text. I'm sorry. I missed you as much as you missed me, reader. Here's what I've been up to:

-Ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in DC. Killed it. Murdered it. Destroyed it. Made it go bye bye in a mere 1:08:53 or something. Whatever I did, I did it a lot faster than I expected. A little technique, a little DNA, and a lot of heart can make you do awesome things. Here's the proud picture of me and my mustache at the finish. I'm holding up 7 which represents the number of minutes it doesn't take me to run each mile in a 10 miler.

-Ran the Tarheel 10 Miler in Chapel Hill. When you take me off a totally flat course, it does take me more than 7 minutes to run each mile in a 10 miler. Finished in 1:10:45 or so. 45 seconds off a 7 minute pace. Way too many hills for a personal record that day. Finished 133 out of ~2700 people, pretty happy about it. 

-Hung up the gi for a while. Lost some interest in jiu jitsu for the time being. I saw a lot of improvement but I never got the blue belt I was shooting for. I still have a lot of time this year so I may take a weekend seminar later this year to see if I can boost my skill and get the promotion. It was very sad to go in and talk to the folks I roll with. I learned a lot with the Royce Gracie program.

-Amped up the gym review spreadsheets. I've been buried in Microsoft Excel for the past month figuring out exactly how raw data translates into 1-10 scores for evaluated gyms. Keeping an evaluation as objective as possible has not been easy but then nothing worth doing is... right? This is ongoing and painful. 

-Made a workout routine for my dear mother. Assessed what she can do and what she wants to do and set her up with the best workout plan anyone could come up with. She may eternally, unconditionally, totally love me... but she ain't gonna do these workouts. I've faced the truth, you've gotta get in the gym with people to train them.

-Doing some other things: It's almost time for summer lacrosse, golf, surfing, and a friend just lent me his skates so I'm going to see what kind of an ice-skater I am since I haven't worn blades in 18 years. 

Coming up on LSF: "Reconstructive dentistry and physical therapy" OR "The Bruins better make room on the 2012-2013 roster because there's a new sheriff in town."

Keep training,
LSF

UPDATE: If stopping is not important, NHL here I come. 

Rating Gymtensity

Reviewing gyms is awesome. Here's how you do it. Just show up with your lime green book labeled "RECORD" (thanks US Government), start jotting down notes on your super-awesome color coded sheet of judgement, and ignore funny looks from people who wonder why you're such a creeper. You can sneer or raise an eyebrow to let everyone know something is unusual but don't directly look at anyone when you do. Make sure to do all this AFTER your workout: sweat cred.

So this is where your (you the readers's) feedback on "What To Look For in a Gym" is going, straight to the notepad of verdicts. I've gotten some good responses by keeping my eyes and ears open at the gym, office, and coffee shops. However, there's a knowledge gap on my part in a key area: the intensity factor.

People want a gym where the intensity matches their own -- where they can find the gymtensity* equilibrium. People go to the gym where they feel comfortable. You may be on the "chill" end of the equilibrium if people around you are sweating through their shirts and drenching their towels while you use your towel for the occasional forehead dab. And you may be on the "focused" end of the equilibrium if you find yourself rolling your eyes at the pizza and bagels your gym uses to reward its hard-working members.

I've started a list of evaluation criteria to gauge gymtensity in order to back up my hard-collected gym data. Here's what I've got:

+Grunting

Source

+Weight Dropping

Source

+Too little clothing: eg- short shorts on men, sports bra top for women

Source

+Staring: to observe an exercise for knowledge or lust

Source

+High weight: too high

Source

+Sweat on clothing

"Haha! Look how sweaty I got during my workout! Haha! Source

+Protein drinks

Extra gymtensity points for the no-look sip. Source

+Braggadocious clothing

Source.

+Competitive demeanor: hints of workout snobbery

"Oh just warming up." Source

And there are factors that would decrease the gymtensity score:

-Smiles
-Greetings
-Outgoing staff

This list needs some work but most of the bases are covered. I'll evaluate frequency as a multiplier and sum the point value.

To find the gymtensity equilibrium, you should evaluate whether you exhibit any of the qualities above. Be honest.

Feed me back!

Keep brainstorming,
LSF

*BTW, combining two words to make a new one is called a "portmanteau" and it's one of our favorite literary devices here at Long Sox Fitness. The writing snob in me thinks they are overused these days but the desperate comedian in me is having a good time. Either way, we have fun with them. You too can enjoy them at home on this website. Use it for personal entertainment, become the life of the party, or start your own fitness blog. 

What Do You Look For In a Gym?

If you read The Post of Revelations, you learned that yours truly is on a crusade in the Villages of Allston and Brighton to evaluate the highly competitive fitness industry as the one and only Boston Gym Critic. You may also recall the first post scriptum where I admonished, "I need some help figuring out what gets people into gyms and keeps them there..." Well now is that time.

"Why should I help?" you ask. Just think of the hours of free entertainment you've received by reading these side-splitting blog entries. Think of all the free personal training you've received by reading this blog. You've learned so much.  You've learned how to run barefoot on concrete. You've learned how many calories you burn in a day. You've even learned that short white socks don't go with black shoes on white people. (5th on the list when I Googled "Gym Fashion Faux Pas". Athankyou.)

Picture Source. Caption Source.

"But Long Sox, I haven't used any of that information." Not true. You've burned a bunch of calories by laughing at it. We've tightened up your abs, obliques, diaphragm, and increased your lung capacity. You are a better athlete from reading this blog. Don't go reading hilarious blogs all day and expect to be able to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro... But do you think you could pay it forward... back to me? Your feedback would be a great asset to the effort.

It would be awesome, IF, in the comments section below, in an email, on FB, on Twitter, on DailyMile, face to face, in the mail, or by Bat Signal, tell me why you choose one gym over the other. In other words, what do you look for in a gym?

The reason that I'm asking is because the goal of BostonGymReviews.com is to help uninformed gym-goers make decisions as to where to work out. Think about what gets you to go to the free 1 day trial, what gets you to commit to your first month, and what keeps you coming back.

The most obvious reasons are:
-Location
-Cost
-Vibe (intense, chill, etc)
-Features (pool, basketball court etc.)
-Hours
-Classes
-Staff
-Equipment
-Cleanliness 

So that's all folks. If you have anything to contribute, even as part of one of the bullets above, it would be greatly appreciated.

Keep brainstorming,
LSF