Two years later

[Photo: We completed a 50 mile bike ride in June. Here's Ainsley at mile 45+, we had to make our own stop to refuel and are out of water!]

I started this blog two years ago because the foray into the world of gyms was so novel to me. Then it became a regular, unremarkable part of my life. In that time, I've come to embrace the lifestyle and although there certainly are nights when Ainsley and I take gulity pleasure in skipping our workouts, I know I want to keep this up for the rest of my life.

In the beginning, we worked mainly with machines since my strength level was minimal and I needed to learn good form. Ainsley was also strict about skipping workouts. We were both employed full-time then and had to work out late. Ainsley would drive all the way over from El Segundo and would pick me up from my apartment, which was only a few miles away from the gym. After our workouts, we'd often end up eating close by in Little Tokyo. We became regulars at eateries like Suehiro Cafe, Oomasa Restaurant, and Yogurtland.

A year into our gym-going, we changed our workouts to 3pm to fit with Ainsley's new class schedule (he'd started grad school) and my new part-time work schedule. This meant less crowds to deal with! We also had to start parking a block away from the gym since validation for the City National Plaza didn't start until after 5pm. All this time we are still paying $1 each for parking, which adds up! 24 is also located in a basement food court. This was convenient because we'd often grab a tiny bite from Famima, McDonald's, Lemonade, or Saffron (healthy Indian fast food) to keep hunger at bay before starting our routines.

We explored other local 24s including the two locations in Pasadena, Puente Hills, and the one in Arcadia. Downtown remained the best location for us, though Puente Hills and Arcadia were acceptable weekend alternatives (especially if we wanted Filippino food from the Puente Hills Mall!)

In March of this year, Ainsley designed a new 3-day workout routine for us solely using barbells and free weights. We'd become bored of the machines and found them too limiting. With weights, we'd incorporate the smaller supporting muscles the machines ignored. I feel like my most improvement happened then. Also, the long awaited Monterey Park gym finally opened mid-May. Here was our routine for about six months:

• Monday: 20 min cardio, assisted pull-ups, front squat, dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift, bike crunches
• Wednesday: 20 min cardio, barbell Romanian deadlift, bench press, Bulgarian split squat, dumbbell row, bike crunches
• Friday: 20 min cardio, push-ups, single leg chair squat, reverse pull-ups, bike crunches, leg lifts

After that, we needed another change and explored alternatives to gym membership since our two year plan would be up soon. This included trying out the 100 push-up challenge, which we weren't very successful at. After a few weeks of struggling with it, we decided the lack of variation wasn't motivating enough. We then tried working more exclusively on our cardio fitness since Ainsley and I both hate, hate, hate cardio! We went to Almansor Park a few times for their rubber track. We discontinued that since I have a grass allergy and we didn't want to deal with the weather being a limiting factor...or we just still hate cardio!

So now here we are ready to sign up for another two years. One of my favorite moments is when we ask each other what we want to have for dinner in the middle of a particularly grueling routine. The promise of food is a wonderful motivator to push through to the end!