To start, this is the first episode that I'm recording in my new studio.
So if you're on YouTube, you can take a look.
It's pretty nice, I think.
I got a chair that I'm sitting in and soon I'm going to get a tripod, but I got better
lighting and I'm still working the lighting out.
I'm actually going to test right now to see if it looks good with extra lamps.
Let's see.
I'm not sure if I made a difference, but let's start this episode.
You should cancel your gym membership.
So for some context, let me just tell you that I've been lifting weights in the gym
for a little over two years now.
I love it.
I love going to the gym.
I love lifting weights, but there's something about lifting outside that is just so good.
So different.
And this whole journey started probably a little over a month ago, maybe even a month
ago, I don't know.
But it was pretty much when I saw a video back when I was watching YouTube.
I saw a YouTube video by Hamza and he was talking about how he ordered gymnastics rings.
And this was a long time ago.
This was one of his first episodes, his first ever YouTube videos.
And he ordered the gymnastics rings because COVID closed all the gyms.
So everyone was in lockdown.
So he still wanted to maintain his training.
So he ordered gymnastics rings and started doing calisthenics.
And so I saw this video and it just initially sparked an interest for me in gymnastics
rings.
And I started thinking about them.
I started thinking, oh, I kind of want that.
Because the way he set it up, like the way he portrayed it was very cool.
It was like the aesthetic of lifting outside under a tree or just even outside.
And so I got pretty excited.
And around this time, a little bit after watching that video, I went to the park and saw that
they remodeled the park.
I already knew that they were remodeling it, but I saw the final product.
And I was pretty excited because they added in outdoor training facility.
It was small and it's just calisthenic stuff.
But they added in this plastic gymnastics rings that are about waist level and maybe
knee height.
So I was basically using those for a couple weeks because I got excited about the gymnastics
rings and I didn't actually have the gymnastics rings yet.
And so I'm using these plastic gymnastics rings that are at my park.
And I actually really liked it.
I was doing basic movements like L holds, body weight rows, dips, all kinds of things.
And I was practicing my calisthenics while I was waiting for Christmas because I actually
decided not to buy gymnastics rings.
Instead I decided to ask for them for Christmas.
And so I was waiting for Christmas for gymnastics rings and I got them.
And it is, let me actually check the date.
It's January 6th and I've been using the gymnastics rings outside pretty much two days on, one
day off, two days on, two days off.
So I go outside for the gymnastics rings on my push day and my pole day.
And then my leg day I go into the gym.
And then I do basically six days on and then one day off.
That's basically what I've been doing around because that's when I need my rest.
And so I'm basically going outside maybe like four or five times a week.
So I'm training outside and I train at, basically I start at 4.45 in the morning.
I usually am actually starting lifting around 4.50 because it takes a couple minutes to
actually set up the rings.
But pretty much ever since Christmas I've been training on these gymnastics rings.
And the first couple of days I was training under a tree.
But the tree that I chose was kind of lopsided and the specific type of rings that I got,
you can't really make very specific adjustments because it's a carabiner.
And so the adjustments you make are like inches upon inches.
You can't go small, you can't make smaller adjustments than what they have set.
And so the tree was uneven and I decided to just train underneath a straight bar, just
like the same bar that they set up the outdoor training facility.
It's just like two kettlebells down there, just like two kettlebells attached to a pole
that goes up and down.
And so I'm training at five in the morning every day, not every day, but I'm training
five in the morning outside and no one's up.
There's barely any cars.
I live in a city so there are actually a few cars out.
But for the most part I'm all alone in the darkness.
And since I live in a city it's not really that dark, it's very well lit at night time.
But it's a pretty cool vibe, I gotta admit.
And I've got a video coming up and if you're listening to it on the podcast, if you're listening
to this episode on the podcast, then that video is most likely have already released
onto the podcast because this episode is probably not going to actually release until
like a couple of weeks now.
But the gymnastics rings, I'm outside in the morning training and I've been going pretty
much every day that I have an actual workout planned and this morning was by far the most
amazing morning.
Now let me tell you why.
It's because I woke up, did my normal routine, got ready, got hyped to go outside and then
right when I was putting my shoes on I just looked outside and it was snowing.
And it was amazing because I biked down to the park, biked at 4.45 in the morning and
it's snowing dark outside, it's freezing as balls and I'm just biking with my lights
on and I bike all the way down to the park and then I set up my rings.
And the coolest part of it is that it was actually pretty bright this morning.
It was crazy because yesterday it wasn't snowy and it was just the same brightness but since
there was no snow yesterday it was darker and today the snow made the atmosphere brighter
because I think it's probably because it's like reflecting off of the, like the light
is reflecting off of the snow or something.
But pretty much I'm out there at 4.45 in the morning doing pull ups and it is an awesome
vibe because it's snowing, freezing as balls but I'm doing pull ups 10 sets of 10 which
is me pushing myself because for the past couple of years I've just been doing three
sets of as many reps as I can and so that's usually like as of recently it was one set
of like 13, another set of maybe 12 or 11 and then another set of like 10.
And so me doing 10 sets of 10 I push myself because I'm trying to actually grow my strength
for my pull ups and my dips but I can't actually complete 10 sets of 10 fully yet so I have
to like do cheat reps but it's still worth it because I get extra muscle tearing but
I'm out there 5 in the morning and on my last set I have this tradition that I just did
the first time I went out there and decided that I was going to do 10 sets of 10 I knew
that it was going to be tough and so I said I was going to do it no matter what and it's
going to be hard but I'm going to push myself and the first day I set up my rings and I
started doing the reps on set 4 I believe it was I was on my fourth set and I got to
six reps and then I just stopped and I started to walk away and I was like no screw that
like get back on that bar right now and so I finished it I finished the four reps and
then I was just like yeah that's how it's done and then just out of the blue I just
started sprinting and I the way my park is set up is there is a hill there so you can
do hill sprints and it's probably maybe a hundred feet away from where my workout area
is and so I'm walking I'm I just out of the blue start sprinting over to the to the hill
and this was after me like literally yelling at myself like no you like you're better than
that like get back on that bar and I'm like out there five in the morning and I'm just
like yelling to myself and I just started sprinting out of the blue and I started sprinting up
the hill and I was like just because that crap you pulled you're doing three hill sprints
so I just did three hill sprints and this was when I was in worse cardio shape so this
was actually it wasn't like difficult but it was like it wasn't like easy you know and
so I do these three hill sprints and then I was like okay and I was satisfied I was satisfied
with my punishment so then I start running a jog back to my workout and then another
time out of the blue I just start taking off my jacket taking off my hat my gloves and
then taking off my shirt I completely I'm like I stripped down all of my clothes except
for like my pants and my shoes obviously so I'm literally just standing there 28 degree
weather freezing and I'm in like my top half is exposed like I'm shirtless and no gloves
no hat and then I was like okay time to run a lap and so I basically run a lap around
my entire park which it probably takes like only like four minutes it's not that far maybe
it's less than four minutes I don't know but it's a it's a pretty quick lap so I just do
a lap shirtless and that's a cool vibe too and so that was my tradition I just basically
run a lap shirtless and I do my last set so once I get to nine sets I basically do the
three hill sprints and then I do my tenth set of dips or pull-ups whatever it is that
day and then I go and run a lap and the the last set and the lap around the park are shirtless
so it's a pretty cool vibe and this morning was cool because I was running a lap shirtless
in the snow 30 degree weather so it was pretty cool but I've just grown a very strong liking
to training outside I actually prefer training outside over training in an inside gym so
with that said you should definitely go pick your pick up yourself a pair of gymnastics
strings and go train outside.