This past weekend I found myself back in my old stomping grounds of Brooklyn, NY, the town I called home for almost a year after college.  I love Los Angeles and being able to call myself an Angelino, but from the moment I landed at La Guardia I was filled with pains of nostalgia for my days as a New Yorker.

I moved to Brooklyn as a poor unpaid intern, living on the small savings I’d amassed from college jobs.  Not being able to afford a gym membership (though I did make sure to always have enough money for New York- style pizza and Brooklyn Lager), those first few months proved to be quite hazardous to my waistline.  When I finally became too disgusted with my lack of exercise, it dawned on me that I didn’t need to pay to workout; I could transform the city into my gym.  I turned scaffolding into pull-up bars, used park benches for dips and picnic tables for push-ups.  Anything Central Park had to offer, it was mine for the using.

Though I’ve been more ardent with my workouts, and have invested in dumbbells, a yoga ball, and iron gym since moving to Los Angeles, I still try to incorporate the skills I learned on the East Coast to my West Coast workouts.  I rode my bike over to the Santa Monica trail this morning and utilized every park bench I saw on the path.  I still don’t belong to a gym, but I am a tax paying California resident so I’m gonna get my money’s worth.  After a nice bike ride, I ran the three and a half miles along Santa Monica Blvd and got in some good cross training in the process.

See you all next Monday!  Spring has sprung, so let’s all make the most of it.

-Derek