Social Workout

My Body

Jon Togo of "CSI Miami" on L.A. Gyms, Boxing, and Body Dysmorphia

Golden Oldie alert! Reaching back to late summer 2009 for a classic from our My Body series. ~ The Eds.

I used to do Pilates for exercise when I first moved to L.A. I was really good at it. It was all the Beverly Hills housewives and me. The place was called “Pilates Plus.” This French guy ran it, and he used to grab all the cougars' asses who were in the class while they were working out. It was a great workout, but I couldn’t take all the yentas. It was fifteen Joan Riverses and me.

I haven’t been to the gym in a long time. I box now. The regular gyms in L.A. are horrible. Literally, Fabio works out at my old gym. Once I saw Vin Diesel working out with a giant wooden staff. It's so douchey, it's unbelievable. It’s irritating and horrible. Once I was in a spin class and the teacher was like, "This is why you don’t work as actors! You don’t push yourself!”

I like the idea of going someplace where what you do for a living doesn’t matter. When you go to a boxing gym, you’re treated the same same no matter who you are. There’s no posturing in boxing.  You can put on any front you want, but, once you get in the ring, you have to back it up. Everyone is really friendly, but they beat the shit out of each other. I get my ass whipped all the time. Some of the guys I train with fight for a living, and they have nothing to prove. There’s something very America about it. It’s like jazz. It’s a throwback sport. It’s the hardest workout there is. Because you’re working out and trying to not to get punched in the face at the same time. It would be like if you were holding a position in yoga trying to breathe and relax, and at the same time the yoga teacher was kicking you in the face. But boxing doesn’t hurt. It’s not a painful experience. You wear so much padding. You learn how to do it.  I got the shanan punim. I got the money maker. I can’t get hit in the face. All the actors wear headgear because they don’t want to get punched in the face.

Workout

wii sports says I am 76 years old

I just did AN HOUR of wii sports (mostly boxing) with my dear roommate, andrealc23.  I whooped her butt.  she won at tennis though.  I am THE SWEATIEST.  and now, I am going to take a shower and slip between clean sheets in my clean bedroom.  

Quotes

Coaches Who Are More Than Coaches

"He's not just a boxing coach, and that's what really drew me to him. Emmett coaches people in life just as much or more as he does in boxing....Those little things he talks about are the things that get you far in life. And he's always been there for me, in any situation. He's become a member of my family.''

— Robert Brant, 19-year-old USA Boxing lightweight-heavyweight national title holder, describing his coach, 90-year-old Emmet Yanez.

Inspiration

Boxer, Writer, and Yogi Peter Wood On Getting Over Your Brain

"Too often my brain whispers to me: Peter, you don’t belong in a yoga class. You’re a boxer. You can’t stretch, or come close to locking a knee. You’re making a fool of yourself. You’re too old....My brain has always been my main opponent. Even as a strong eighteen-year-old middleweight, while punishing the heavy bag, or trying to defeat some opponent, my brain whispered the same thing: Peter, who are you kidding? You’re not a boxer. You don’t have the right stuff it takes to fight. Besides, you have asthma, and you hate fighting."

— Peter Wood in "An Old Boxer Stands On A Yoga Mat." His full essay, which is quite beautiful, on getting over your opponent the brain on The Sweet Science.

Spirit Guides

Michael Olajide Wants You to Be a Fighter

Michael Olajide, former #1 ranked middleweight fighter in the world, is a Million Minute Spirit Guide. Below, he offers Social Workout challengers a basic boxing-driven workout routine. Above, we offer you Olajide and his partner Leila Fazel in the ring at the 2009 Aerospace High Performance Center World Championships.

What's that, you ask? Aerospace is Olajide and Fazel's ballet-meets-boxing gym in New York's Meatpacking district. Each year, Aerospace holds a "championship" benefit, with all the proceeds going to the East Harlem School. Among Aerospace members are people like Hugh Jackman and Will Smith, so this benefit can get kind of interesting. People don't actually box each other, but they do some very aggressive shadow sparring, and they're judged in three lovely categories:

"Swagga” (do you carry yourself like a champ?), “Get-up” (wardrobe), and “Realism” (do you move and punch like a fighter?)

Our advice: Watch the video, follow Michael's instructions below, and mark your calendar for the 2010 Aerospace championships, which go down next Thursday, May 6th at 8 P.M....

Workout

Boxing

Bag Punching for 3 mins at a time

Spa-ing with trainer in the ring while he holds pads for 3 mins at a time. 

Swim - Which means lying frontwards over a huge inflatable ball while pulling eleasticed rings from behind and 'swimming' for 2 minutes.  

Workout

First Class

Social Workout's Engineer hits the gym ~ the Eds.

A few friends and I went in on boxing classes from one of these get-enough-friends-and-get-a-deal websites.  We descended on Mendez Boxing en masse last night at 7pm, slightly overwhelming their capacity for dealing with a bunch of newbies during peak hours, and totally overwhelming their capacity for dealing with non-spanish speakers.  No worries, however, as some floor space was quickly found and 'jab', 'right' and the numbers 1-10 turn out to be sufficient vocabulary for an intro boxing class. Before getting to the workout, a word about Mendez: 

Workout

As long as the meals are small and frequent, I'm good. :)

W.  Slept in again, so no morning workout.  :(  Busy day, as my Wednesdays usually are....  Taught the oldies fitness class in town, 20 minutes.  Thump at the hall, 60 minutes.  WOW!  Good and sore from that!

Ate okay today.  :)

Snapshot

Irene Believes in the Curative Powers of Kimchee

Every day, we give you a snapshot of one fellow striver in fitness. We ask personal questions, he or she boldly answers. Today's snapshot: Irene, aka Evangeline.

• What would you do (fitness wise) if you had all the time/ability in the world? I'd probably be a boxer. There's something kind of strangely graceful about it. It's not just beating the crap out of someone else or a bag, it's a lot of restraint, a lot of calculated movement, and boxers make jumping rope look so easy... But the sound of slapping a pad or a bag in just the right spot is pretty satisfying, too. 

Workout

Squatting Your Twin

Get this.  We were asked to squat our body weight, 30 times.  I weigh 174 pounds.  Could you throw your twin over your shoulder and squat him or her?  Because I couldn't, ha.