I went climbing at Red Rocks in Nv two weeks ago and had a marvelous time. It was also inspiring from a health perspective, bc I've never spent that much time with people who take diet & fitness so seriously. Heck, I've never seen a guy who talked about calories before, but these guys were better at guessing calorie counts (that's what we did while eating burgers at In-N-Out) - and posted them on Facebook. Egads. My host/the ringleader was also very happy to discuss fitness and told me about his fitness routine, which was just far enough ahead of mine to inspire, without depressing. He does 12 hours a week, 3 hours of yoga, 3 hours of lifting, and 6 hours of cardio (mostly elliptical and stair machines). What really impressed me was talking about skiing all day - and then coming home and doing his hour or two of working out in addition. I came back with a renewed desire to work out, in no small part so that I can be better prepared to hang with them again.

So far this week, I have climbed 108 flights of stairs, run four miles, and lifted weights. Last night, I followed workout B2 from The Outdoor Athlete, which was 4x8 of incline bench press, 1L deadlifts, front squats, 1A rows, seated rows, and ball roll-outs, in pairs. I later realized that seated rows =/= rope face pulls, so I'll have to get that right for next time.

I also had a hard time setting up for the squats. I don't know how to use the fancy squat cage, and then while there was a guy who was willing to let me work in on his bar, it was set too low, and I couldn't clean the weight to a height where I could squat with it :( After he left, I emptied the bar, put it at the appropriate height, and started my sets. I finished one set and a trainer came over to ask if they could work in. I heard him goodnaturedly ribbing his client and talking about my good form :) After the earlier frustrations, it was nice to hear someone acknowledge my efforts.

While I worked on my 1A rows, I saw him make his client do box jumps on a 3' pile of boxes, which scared me, mostly bc a friend took a tumble off a not dissimilar set up a few months back and sprained both ankles. The trainer saw me watching and offered me a turn, at which I grinned and said, "No! those look awful!" But I also asked what his name was, bc I was impressed with the workout he was putting his client through. He said I looked pretty strong myself, but to come find him when I was ready to change it up a bit. YAAY!