My Fitness Journal - Week 5

By Keith Boykin, in sports
Saturday, May 20 2006, 2:05PM

I was afraid this might happen. This is what usually happens. I get all excited and motivated to work out and stay in shape and then -- Bam! -- life gets in the way. I started off last week like every week, with the best of intentions. But by the end of the week it was just not working out the way I had hoped. But it's funny the way life works. Just when you reach a low point, something or someone comes along to inspire you all over again.

That's what happened the past week to me. I didn't work out very much and I only wrestled once. I was so far behind my schedule that I was starting to give up on my goal of wrestling in the Gay Games. Eventually I realized I was putting too much pressure on myself. It doesn't really matter if I lose in the first round as long as I allow myself the opportunity to take part in the experience. And then last night I met Maven, the hot professional wrestler who inspired me to keep going.

Saturday, May 13

After writing and publishing my fitness journal on the site, I decide to go the gym for a chest and triceps workout. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels now. I'm going full speed with exercise for a few days and then I'm off track for a few days. It's very difficult to make progress this way. I'm trying to work myself back to my old level of strength from a year or two ago.

Although he's listed as 6'2 and 200 pounds, he doesn't look that much bigger than me. I think I can take him in a wrestling match...I wonder what it would be like to wrestle him. I would like to put him in a long sleeper hold.

At the gym, I put on 225 pounds on the bench press and I lift the weight 2 or 3 times with a great deal of difficulty. That's not a good sign. The bench press has always been the easiest and most rewarding exercise for me. In my prime, I could bench 325 pounds. Even in the past year or two I remember benching 275 pounds a few times.

Back in the day I used to walk in the gym, do a warm up set at 135 pounds, jump up to 225 pounds as my base weight and then work toward my max. Nowadays 225 pounds is my max. But I don't accept the idea that my weakness is just because of age. I honestly feel it's because I don't work out consistently. It takes practice to stay in shape, and I have not been practicing regularly.

Sunday, May 14

No workout today. Nothing much to report.

Monday, May 15

I do a full body workout today. Every now and then I like to mix up my workout routine with something new and different. I like doing the full body workout because it allows me to work out every part of my body in one day. Usually when I work out I only do two body parts at a time. That's a good formula for someone who works out consistently several days a week, but for someone like me who is always busy and never sure when he will make it to the gym again, it's good to know you can touch all the body parts in one day.

If I don't do the full body workout, here's what happens. I start on Monday doing chest and triceps. Tuesday I'll skip working out because it's a wrestling night. On Wednesday I might make it to the gym to do back and biceps. Thursday I skip working out because of wrestling practice. And Friday I'm too tired from the week to work out again, meaning I've skipped two body parts -- legs and shoulders.

Today at the gym I do 1 exercise for each body part. For the chest, of course I do the bench press. For triceps, I do the cable extensions and push downs. For back, I do the lateral pull downs. For biceps, I do standing dumbbell curls. For legs, I do the machine leg press. And for shoulders, I do my famous all-in-one shoulder routine where I use a light weight (20 or 25 pounds on each side) and do shrugs, lateral raises and military press all in one long exercise.

At the end of the workout, I feel good and hopeful that I will work out again this week.

Tuesday, May 16

It's a busy day of work so there's no free time during the morning or afternoon. I skip the gym and go to wrestling practice in the evening. Today I'm doing submission wrestling again. I wrestle with another beginner level submission wrestler and I noticed that he's surpassed me in skills during the past few weeks. I tend to forget moves and maneuvers very quickly because I don't wrestle often enough to practice them or to think of them instinctively during competition.

The good part is that I can wrestle for a much longer time now without getting tired. Building endurance has been one of my goals all along. But the bad part is that I'm not getting any better as a wrestler. And the way my schedule looks for the next few months, I don't think I'll have a lot of time for the gym and wrestling practice. We'll see.

Wednesday, May 17

No time to work out today. After work, I take a rush hour train down to midtown to do a little shopping. It's hard to get a cab in midtown during rush hour, so after shopping I walk with my shopping bag 14 blocks from 50th Street to 36th Street to a friend's cocktail party. New York is a great walking city. Not only is it great exercise to walk, but there's plenty to see in the city. For the first time in my five years in Manhattan, I notice the detail of the gargoyles at the Chrysler Building at Lexington and 42nd Street. It is one of the city's most recognizable skyscrapers and it's much more beautiful than the better known Empire State Building.

By the time I arrive at the cocktail party, I'm already behind schedule. Tonight I'm supposed to see Frenchie Davis sing at Luke & Leroy. I spend a half hour at the party and then catch a cab to the club. I arrive as Erica Watson is performing comedy. She's always funny. Then Frenchie sings. Her voice is beautiful as always and she spends a little time doing some impromptu impersonations of other artists like Whitney Houston, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter Gordon Chambers is the special guest tonight. He sings a few songs from his new CD and ends with my favorite, "I'll Miss You Most."

Thursday, May 18

No time to work out again. No wrestling practice either. Tonight is the first sneak preview screening of Nathan and Maurice's new film Dirty Laundry. Gayle King, Stacey J and many other prominent people in the community show up.

Friday, May 19

Again no time to work out. I spend all day working. At the end of the day, I have to go to the second sneak preview of Dirty Laundry. Tonight I'm moderating the discussion with the director. Rockmond Dunbar, Jenifer Lewis, Terri J. Vaughn, Jayson Williams, Toure, James Earl Hardy, Ryan Smith and many others come out for the event at the HBO Screening Room.

After the screening, we head down to a private after party at Cielo, a popular night club in the trendy Meatpacking District. Of all the people there, I'm most excited to meet Maven, a professional wrestler who stars on VH1's "Surreal Life." I make a point to talk to him.

I'm surprised that Maven is not as huge as I expect him to be. Although he's listed as 6'2 and 200 pounds, he doesn't look that much bigger than me. I think I can take him in a wrestling match. (I hope he's not reading this). Anyway, he seems like a really nice guy. He is not the standoffish athlete type you might think. He tells me he was interested in wrestling since he was a kid. I tell him I wrestled in high school and have always been interested in it. I wonder what it would be like to wrestle him. I would like to put him in a long sleeper hold. Hmmm. Oh, where was I? Maven tells me he's meeting up with Batista on Saturday to judge a bodybuilding contest. Wish I could be there for that.

After the after party, we have one more stop. A few of the cast members and producers head to dinner at Spice Market, one of my favorite restaurants. It's family style eating so I sample a little bit of everything. The barbecue chicken wings are spicy and amazing. The skate is tasty. The squid salad is very popular at the table. The curried chicken is wonderful. The duck is good but not my favorite. The spring rolls offer a quick and easy thrill. The mussels are good. Somehow the Shanghai noodles and the lobster dish never make it down to my end of the table. For dessert, I try a few bites of the passion fruit sorbet and it is heavenly. This may be the best sorbet I've ever tasted.

I get in at 3 in the morning, happy, fat and tired. After a great night, I'm inspired to get moving again on Saturday.

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