Source: iwastesomuchtime.com via Suzy on Pinterest
On my way to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam; just one long flight to Detroit and then a short one to St. Louis, and I’ll finally be back to my home away from home at the Lab Gym!!! It’s been six months!!
Last summer when I made this trip for the first time, I had no idea what to expect or that I was about to change my life in such a big way. This summer I know exactly what I can expect to find there, the Lab Gym Tribe (Lab Rats). Some I have gotten to know well over the past year, some I barely know and plenty that I haven’t met yet; but they’ve come to mean so much to me. There’s Troy who broke through the 100 pound weight loss mark and looks amazing in photos, but I can’t wait to see and squeeze him in real life and Ginny who has lost over 60 pounds since I met her in January and has started a blog! (Ginny and I are planning a Lab Rat Happy Hour on the 20th of July,if you’re in St. Louis, please come!) I shouldn’t have started naming names, but I wonder how reigning Queen of Lab Rats, Sharon is doing; and I want to tell Sonya, my most active online supporter how much I appreciate her and to check in with Anne on her pushup goal.
There is Team Lab, the Olympic Lifters that I hope to join this summer and there is the ultimate tribe within the Lab Gym Tribe….Bootcamp! They are such a close group, yet always welcoming to newcomers and crashers like me. They are so much fun and based solely on feeling part of their group even when I’m away, my big fitness tip for the day is JOIN A TRIBE! Don’t try to convince yourself that you will shape up doing some kind of ab blaster in the comfort of your own home in front of the tv or on a treadmill in your laundry room!! Get out and join people who are living the lifestyle, who are busy making it work instead of busy making excuses!
Last but not least, in a matter of hours the dynamic duo pictured here will be reunited! Damn I’ve missed my coach, Shawn Dunn; the man whose voice is in my head every single day while I train solo; reminding me to keep my shoulders back and down on every deadlift and chin up, look up to pull up, among many other things. It’s been 6 months since I have actually heard his voice, and in person he is nothing like a shouting TV Trainer. He has his own more subtle ways of getting the best out of me (psychological warfare) but the idea of training with him scares me enough to do crazy things, like…throwing sandbags around my neck for weighted surrenders in the days before my return, wondering if I’ve been slacking these months on my own? We’ll see soon enough.
Our big reunion will go something like this…I’ll tell him how much I’ve missed him, he’ll laugh at me and we’ll get down to it because there is heavy stuff to push, pull and press; so much more to learn, and of course, new records to crush together with my Coach!! Another summer of fun ahead:-)
