KETCHUM-DOWNTOWN YMCA STAIR CLIMB FOR LOS ANGELES.

Where oh where does the stair climb money go?

To support kids like Carlos.

Get on board.

Make your difference.

Have a strong day.

2011 KETCHUM-DOWNTOWN YMCA STAIR CLIMB FOR LOS ANGELES: "ELEVATORS ARE FOR WIMPS" RACE RESULTS.

www.YMCAStairClimbResults.org

And I'm happy to say that my time has improved over the past 3 climbs:

2009   24:15
2010   23:49
2011   18:37

Come out next year to the YMCA Stair Climb for Los Angeles and we'll see you at the top!

2011 KETCHUM-DOWNTOWN YMCA STAIR CLIMB FOR LOS ANGELES

Elevators are for wimps -- not Peggy Murphy.

62 years old. An amputee. A grandmother.

Able to climb the tallest building in Los Angeles. The tallest building west of the Mississippi River.

"If I could do that at 62 on crutches, why can't you?"

Yes.  Exactly.

WHY CAN'T YOU?

I tell people that when I moved to Los Angeles that I drove cross-country and they respond, "What?! You didn't just fly?!"

Uh, and do what with my Jeep and belongings that I wanted to bring?

Where the hell is your sense of adventure?

I tell people that I am going to climb 75 stories and they respond, "Horrible. I can think of much better things to do with my time."

Which inspires the question, what exactly DO you have to do that's better? Sit on the couch? Eat doritos? Spend yet another day in your short life NOT ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING OR PUSHING YOURSELF?

Great.  Get on it with all deliberate speed.

And a one-legged, 62-year-old, grandmother will be hopping and stepping and crutching and wheelchair-ing her way past you.

BUT, if you choose to do something different.  If you choose to move.  If you choose to get your body doing what it was made to do, then...

Sign up TODAY for the Stair Climb for Los Angeles and even if you don't climb for yourself, climb for someone or something else.  Climb for someone who can't walk, run, see, hear or do for themselves due to physical limitations.  Climb for the youth and community programs that are supported by the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA out of the proceeds from the Stair Climb.

www.ymcastairclimb.org

2011 KETCHUM-DOWNTOWN YMCA STAIR CLIMB FOR LOS ANGELES

Reach for the sky and climb 1,500 stairs to the top of the West Coast’s tallest building!

 September 23, 2011

Be a part of the 18th Annual Stair Climb for a Stronger Los Angeles! Each step you take benefits the impactful work of the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA. You’re helping raise vital funds to support critical programs for children, teens, families and seniors in the community.

Climb up for a thrilling vertical race or step at your own pace. Just like the mission of Y programs, you will be focusing your energy upwards and feel a huge sense of accomplishment! Plus, you, friends and family are sure to enjoy a great day filled with climbing, and music, food, firefighters and fun at the Race Expo.

What are people saying about climbing 1,500 stairs?

“It’s step-breathe, step-breathe, 1,500 times.”
–Peggy Murphy (Grandmother and single amputee)

“I did it to show my children that you can do anything!”

“I never knew how much my coworkers cared until they wouldn’t finish without me.”

“The firefighters are my reward!”

Every step you take helps build a stronger community!

“I feel like the Y helped me raise my boy into a man.”

“My kids may be out of the program, but the program will always be in them.”

“Now, I know I can do anything!”

“I was hanging out with the wrong people, doing the wrong things;
the Y showed me a different path.”

www.ymcastairclimb.org

TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY: MY PATH TO THE TRX.

So here’s my personal "True Hollywood Story" about discovering the TRX.
 
Nautilus Freedom TrainerI started developing suspension exercises with the Nautilus Freedom Trainer at the Southwood YMCA in Tallahassee, Florida.  The Freedom Trainer was not even engineered for these types of exercises but I made it work because the Nautilus brand version of this two-armed, multi-directional, pulley-based, total-body machine was the only brand on the market I had personally seen that, once the arms were raised to their highest setting, allowed several inches of space between the handles and the floor when the cables were fully extended for the now famous suspension training for which TRX is famous.  For all of the other brands of this type of machine, the cables/handles extended all the way to the floor.
 
ABDOMINATION Fitness Video Series: "Superflye"I began working with clients performing planks, “Superflyes” (see video capture photo), pushups, and also integrating BOSU Ball work in with those various exercises when applicable and when the client’s strength was there.  Granted, we were a bit limited with some exercises that we could perform (just simply due to space and range of motion with the cables) and especially compared to the library of exercises that TRX and the TRX community has now developed, but we were doing it.
 
Upon moving to Los Angeles, I had the "brilliant" idea of developing a prototype for a device / apparatus that would take the place of the machine to which I now no longer had access.
 
The "Superflye" PrototypeApproximately $111 later, I had developed “The Superflye.”  (see photo) When I proceeded to take it out to the Santa Monica Stairs (an exercise location of which I’ve grown extremely fond) and set it up for testing / usage, I asked a passing runner if he’d like to try it out.  He responded with, “Oh yeah, I just saw something like that yesterday, it’s called the TRX or something.”
 
Psssssssssssssssssssst.
 
The air went out of my million-dollar idea balloon immediately.
 
This post isn’t meant to be sour grapes, it’s meant to ask, am I going to roll over and not continue tapping into my creativity while working on new ideas and such even though someone else beat me to the punch?  No.  More power to the TRX creator.  Randy Hetrick, you beat me to it.  You have an amazing thing (and exercise movement) and I am completely behind the TRX support for our military.  Keep it going.
 
 

If I was stranded on a desert island, I’d want to have a TRX, a BOSU ball and a set of kettlebells.
 
Oh, and a palm tree from which to hang the TRX.

Have a strong day, TRXers.