Pumping iron ... finally

Today was a day I have been anticipating for three months. For all of the anticipation and expense, I am now more confident than ever that I made the right decision.

As I arrived this morning, I noticed that the staff had arranged four Athletes' Performance gym bags for the four new clients this week: Larry Johnson, me, Fred and Cameron (the last time I'll ever mention L.J. and me in the same sentence.) The bag included two t-shirts, a water bottle, Gatorade packets and ... Metamucil.

I got a chance to meet Fred and Cameron yesterday and we proceeded through the orientation process. Fred is a 15-year veteran soldier who has served four tours in Iraq. He's spending the next two weeks rehabbing from a broken pelvis and compressed disks in his back ... that he suffered by getting hit by a car in the U.S. Cameron is a high school kicker in Washington State.

I learned yesterday that we will receive "shooters" before every work out. For me, those shooters are about 8 oz of creatine and 8 oz of EAS Muscle Armour. All supplements that we receive here are ethical and NCAA-approved. My first workout started at 8 am. I'm in a small group filled primarily of baseball players, supervised by two interns and Daryl. There are only five people in the group, and the size and ratio of trainers to athletes makes it intimate. We started with something called "movement prep" which is basically a selection of squats, lunges and stretches designed to prime the body. I spent the last 10 weeks performing the same exercises while completing a similar online program that is run AP. The difference, however, is supervision. I heard "chest up, butt out" so many times today that I thought my ears were going to bleed. Seriously, I have issues with my posture and my intern, Joe, is trying his best to work that out of me. The AM work was mostly stabilization work (e.g. laterally jumping onto a box with a miniband around my knees). Just when I was starting to wonder when we were going to be done, the session ended.

The kitchen staff whips up a special shake that we drink after every workout. The shake is specially prepared to match the goals and strategies that we discussed with the nutrition staff yesterday. Mine is a laundry list of supplements: 3 amino acids (leucine, glutamic acid and taurine), Chocolate Mass Factor, maltodextrin, and Athlete's Defense washed down by two multi-vitamins and a fish oil pill. The purpose of the shake is to provide me with some essential nutrients (I can forgo my fish oil pill if I eat salmon three times each week) and with some supplements that will help maximize the iron pumping.

The nutrition staff followed up on yesterday's orientation by producing a personalized report. I weighed in at 205 lbs yesterday and the staff recommended that I gain 5 to 10 pounds while reducing my body fat from 15% to 12%. I received a packet of information detailing how I should act in every possible scenario when I might come in contact with food.

We relaxed after the workout by experiencing the coldest place in Tempe. Our trainers recommended a cold plunge, which basically means sitting in 60 degree water until your teeth chatter. After the second workout, I took it one step further, alternating between the cold bath and the spa.

The PM session was more of a traditional lifting work out, with a few tricks thrown in. Joe informed me that everything is supersetted at AP, which means that sets of exercises are alternated with other exercises. Today, that meant front squats were paired with squat mobility exercises and pull ups included lat stretches. I also used a bizarre cable machine and did some leg balancing exercises.

Wednesdays are special at AP. I will explain why tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,
Ben