The constraints of a professional life don’t leave much time for taking care of yourself. I’ve heard it joked before that the Four major Food Groups of New York City are … Caffeine, Nicotine, Alcohol and Cholesterol! And that pretty accurate. 

I had several Starbucks gift cards,  none of them made it past the second week i was town. And I’m a first-name-basis-regular at an area deli, a quaint pub, and my local Dunkin’ Donuts. Not sure that too proud of that.

But what ever you put in, you have to work off. My daily commute has me walking about a mile and half, climbing 3 escalators (nobody rides them here), and if I’m running late, sprinting across the main hall of Grand Central. If you’ve ever seen one of those videos of a guy in full charge carrying a briefcase, spilling his coffee everywhere while a bagel bounces clinched in his teeth… that’s me three days a week.

I needed to make a change. One problem: I’m not a morning person. No matter what time I go to bed, I’m doomed to repeat the cycle and forever be running late in the morning.

So I changed my persepctive: It’s my workout! I don’t run laps, I run to late trains. and I can do it in other areas of my routine too:

I don’t lift weights, I carry groceries 10 blocks.

I don’t do stairmasters, I do stairs in the subway system

Why walk around the block when I can walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

This city is great!

*disclaimer:

Don’t do pull-ups on the subway car’s overhead hand hold rail and say “I’m working on my guns… NYPD doesn’t like that one.