NerdStrong Gym - Testing for Thor

It's Sunday so that means brunch after a hard NerdStrong workout, this wasn't my usual brunch crew as most of them didn't come to workout this morning. But it was nice to hang out with other Nerdstrongers outside of the gym. We walked to The Hungry Fox, it normally takes us a half hour/ an hour to get a table and then a few hours to order, get our food and eat. But we had a table with in a few minutes and food was served shortly after that.

After brunch Shannon and I headed back to the Gym as they were holding try outs for the NerdStrong Gym Intermediate/Advanced Weight Training program called Thor!! The past few weeks I have been debating on trying out. They were having a half hour seminar beforehand to talk about the program and then they would be doing the test and announcing who made the cut.

So I listened to the pros and cons of the program. Parts of it got me excited and I considered trying out, but then other parts made me question if I wanted to do it at all. The plus side is I would gain some good muscle and build upon my already large upper body frame. These classes are a set time and day, three times a week for ten weeks, which wasn't a real problem for me since I would be available during those times. And it would take extra dedication to eat better to get the full benefit of the workouts. But the negatives outweighed the good, at least for me. If you do Thor it's highly suggested that you give up all other classes (with exception to Yoga), I don't think I could do that. I enjoyed my DEX, CON, STR & Team classes each weeks. I not only enjoy the workouts but the people I workout with. The community is a huge part of the success of NerdStrong for me. There was talk of losing some of your endurance, coach David talked about having to work extra hard for a few months to gain his back after he did Thor. By the end of the seminar I knew that I didn't want to do it.. at least not this time around. But I did want to see if I qualified. They did suggest that if you were going to try out for Thor that you shouldn't have done the morning workout but it was to late for that.

It was a very intense 15 or so minute workout, the coaches were testing our mobility. They really want to make sure you are able to do the extreme workout. I think there were around 18 of us who tried out. After the test the coaches went outside and deliberate. After fifteen minutes one by one the a coach would come up to you and pull you aside and let you know if you made it or not. You kind of knew who did and who didn't as some folks were gathering their things and leaving while others just kind of hung out. It was a few minutes before coach Kimi asked to talk to me. She mentioned that I did really well with the majority of the mobility movements but there was one that I just couldn't quite get. I knew exactly which one she was talking about as I was doing the back squat I couldn't quite keep my heels on the ground. She said that I will need more hip mobility. She knew that I wasn't really interested in this go round so she said that if I work on my hip mobility, that she's pretty sure I can make it into the next batch for Thor... so will see.

It's funny because I really didn't want to do Thor (this time around) but it was still hard to hear that I didn't qualify, and that I wasn't quite good enough (but I know they were only looking out for our health and well being). I actually felt bad for those that really wanted to do it but didn't make it. Out of the 18 or so people only 6 or 7 of them actually got picked for Thor. Among them several of my "closer" NerdStrong buddies, people that I enjoy seeing every week. Now I'll only going to see them one day and in passing :( Anyways... congrats to all who made it.