In the beginning

Guess I should tell you how this all started.

I was at my 20th high school reunion this summer (Maui High Sabers c/o 90) and ran into a classmate of mine by the name of Robert "Bumper" Kikuchi. In high school he was like the fastest guy on Maui so of course I expected him to be out of shape. Except he's not. In fact he has his own Crossfit gym and invites me to workout. No problem I think. I had a friend of mine introduce me to it earlier this year although I kinda got injured and had to stop. You just go to http://www.crossfit.com/ and follow whatever the workout is for that day, which is a pretty tough workout usually. Anyway I figure Bumper doesn't have anything new for me so I go check it out.

The place is nothing more than a garage with weights all around and ropes hanging from the ceiling. But he's got me sweating after a 3 minute warm up and then has me lying down on the ground and gasping for air over the next seven minutes. I couldn't believe it. We did something called thrusters and burpees back to back and I almost saw the bright light and went over to the other side. It was nuts.

Meanwhile I look around the gym and there are high school girls ripping through a more advanced workout than I just did. It was embarrassing. And painful. I was hooked.

Then a week later my cousin, an MMA ring girl here on Maui (yeah yeah I'll post her picture later) invite me out with one of her fighter friends, a Filipino guy by the name of Wally. Anyway after a couple of beers Wally invites my cousin and I both down to the gym where he trains for a workout. We go and check it out later that week. Basically my cousin and I were the only ones there without scary tattoos and large, calloused knuckles. But everybody was really friendly (yeah, I know, could have been because of my ring girl cousin) and the workout was fast and furious. Wally had me hitting the heavy bag with jabs and crosses, hooks and uppercuts. Then we worked on speed drills in the ring where I tried to hit the pads while moving around. Then we did something else that involved more punching and push-ups when we weren't punching. Then I asked if I could practice kicking just so I wouldn't have to punch anymore. If it were a real fight I would have gotten beaten down like Tina Turner. I was tired, blind from the sweat in my eyes and couldn't break a bubble with my jab. I liked it.

So now I had two gyms, two types of workouts to consider. I still hated cardio, but at least I was having fun now. Then this blog idea started to form in my head and here we are. I figured if I was going to try and kill myself while doing these workouts I might as well let everybody else in on the joke. Excuse me while I laugh and ice my knuckles.

Like I said, I hate cardio

Especially running. And aerobics. And Tai-bo. And Zumba. Especially Zumba. Looks great when girls do it though.

Anyway, like a lot of guys I lifted weights for years. It was like relaxing and working out at the same time. You sit down and lift. You stand in place and lift. You even get to lie down and lift. It's easy.

Then came my 30's. Then came kids. Then came busy schedules and tight budgets and no money for the gym.

Then one day you look in the mirror and say, "Who the hell is that guy?" with two chins and a belly sticking over your belt. At some point you either grab another beer and say what the hell or start figuring out ways to jump start your metabolism. And the only way to do that is to do some cardio, which, like I said before, I hate.

So I dabbled in P90X, tried one Insanity workout and decided watching a DVD at home wasn't for me. I tried running on the road and swimming at the beach but that was a bust too.

Then fate stepped in and introduced me to two types of workouts which got my cardio going and kept me coming back for more. So this blog is my own personal comparison of both while I go through the workout process.

First there's Crossfit. It's a form of excercise that as far as I can tell, wants to give you functional strength. What does that mean? Well for me it means not having sore legs when helping my friend move boxes upstairs. It also means not getting winded while snowboarding or just playing around in the park with my kids without telling them that daddy needs to rest for a while.

Here on Maui the good folks at Raw Fitness Maui (http://www.rawfitnessmaui.com/) have welcomed me into the fold. They powerlift, do a stupid amount of pull-ups and make me run. That's right, I like running when I workout with them. Why? Because after making me squat and do snatches and thrusters and other painful things I am very happy to run away from their weight room. They hurt me on a daily basis and I am happy about it. It's sick.

Then there's Elite Fitness, (formerly Peak Performance and their website is still called that (http://www.peakperformancemaui.com/), located in the hard to find Waikapu Industrial Center. What they put me through over there I like to call Fight Science Fitness. So far I've hit the heavy bag, practiced my footwork and cranked out push-ups like there's no tomorrow. There are some pretty good mixed martial arts fighters there who have been nice enough to take time out of their workout to show me how they get in shape. Granted, it's not their workout but it's good enough for a scrub like me. Those guys are nuts. The first time I worked out with them I came away with bloody knuckles and a sore back. But I was sweating like crazy so I knew it was a good thing.

So check out this blog if you like reading about how an out-of-shape writer in his late 30's hurt himself today. Along the way I'll introduce you to the coaches and other guys at the gym. And hopefully I get better at this website thing.

Anyway, here we go . . .