Beating the Chill at Hulk's... Tuesday, October 29

To say it's chilly at Hulk's would be quite the understatement and I can only laugh at all those who complained it was too hot at Hulk's during the summer. "You need to get air conditioning" many told us. I always responded with a good giggle and would tell them, "Just you wait. The summer's heat is going to be the least of your concerns", and I was right.   Now that it's approaching winter, a definite chill has taken over Hulk's and while I think it's amusing to hear members come in and comment on it, I always wonder how they think we cope with it.  We're at Hulk's from 2pm to midnight, often longer actually considering we've been coming in early to work on installing a heater and insulation in various parts.  We don't have the luxery of training and then leaving.  We're here from open to close with training others and doing our own training in between.  It's been rough. 

 

Top Ten Ways for me to Beat Freezing to Death:

 

1.  Workout

I'm at Hulk's for 10 clocked-in hours but I often arrive early.  Working out for 10 hours straight is close to impossible and just flat out ridiculous.  I'm too busy for me to get in my padwork and any non-interrupted boxing in on a regular bases but I've been doing a lot of short spurts of weight training.  I'll find a short break in between training members so I'll go and do a couple of sets of abs or walking lunge twists, for example.  This has been my most productive way of staying warm -- get cold, warm up with an exercise set -- but it also means I've had to up my eating because I'm burning an extra added amount of calories with training more. 

 

2.  Dance

A little over a week ago I swore to Snickers that I'd dance my whole 10 hour work day.  I promised I'd stand dancing instead of sitting curled up and would continue to do so until midnight.  While many members just thought I really liked the music being blasted, others asked me if I had to go pee and I'm sure some questioned if I was mentally ok.  I left my bad impressions of Michael Jackson to only close members and Snickers and resorting to only bopping my head and shuffling my feet while trying to eat my meals and dance at the same time.  The only problem with this method of keeping warm was whenever a visitor came for a tour.  My head bopping and hip swaying proved to be a bit distracting for them and I finished the work day exhausted from dancing.

 

3.  Drink lots of boiled water

Initially the hot water was coffee but it left me high as a kite at the end of my work days.  One coffee a day is plenty for my 54kg body thank you very much.  I now am hooked on steamers -- water with a drop or two of Stevia and about a tablespoon of milk.  There are two main problems with this method however.  One problem is that it means I have to pee every hour on the hour, like clockwork, and the excessive overdose of water means I struggle to fit my meals into my tummy.  I have to force myself to eat because I'm already full from the water but I know if I don't eat I'll quickly run out of the fuel needed to keep up with training my members and myself.

 

4.    Pop outside for a short dethawing break

Today it rained so cancel leaning on this idea today.  Most days though it is so much warmer outside than it is inside.  It feels like a walk-in freezer at Hulk's and after standing on the tile for so long my feet definitely can feel the cold chill freezing my toes.

 

5.    Think warm thoughts

I tried to pretend it was super hot outside and that the chill that was infesting our club was in fact a mysterious air conditioner on overdrive.  Thinking this only worked to make me giggle as I sat there with my eyes closed and members looking at me as if I were crazy.  The warm thoughts weren't the ones to actually keep me warm but instead it was the giggle that attached itself to me thinking such ideas.

 

6.    Clean the club

Trying to distract myself from the fear of possibly freezing to death by cleaning is great.  However, the dish pan, scratchy-dry hands and random spots of bleach on my training clothes that have resulted from me practicing this idea aren't so great.  Moreover I've become like one of those ignore-her-she's-just-the-cleaning-ajjuma women who people don't even react to when I'm cleaning the bathroom.  I had a male member the other day pee in the urinal with the door wide open while I was washing the floor.  I don't want them to not react to me -- close the door!!!  Another problem with this idea is the fact that cleaning the club, like the unreachable corners and whatnot means run-ins with bugs.  And anyone who has ever been at the club when I've discovered a bug... yikes.  They can vouch first-hand that I hate bugs.  I may be ok with blood and broken bones but put a bug in front of me and I'll scream bloody Mary!!!

 

7.    Make snackies for members

This idea is great for getting members socializing at the juice bar and trying out new healthy eats but it's killing our grocery budget and eating up all the food we'd regularly be eating ourselves or selling to members.  It's only Tuesday and the 60 eggs I bought on Sunday for our new Egg Ding-Dings are already more than half gone.  It'd be great if this meant I was selling a lot of Egg Ding-Dings but I'm not.  I've been randomly making them for members, offering them as bribes for members to train hard and using them as rewards for various training competitions.

 

8.   Hug Pyen Chi

You'd be surprised just how much body heat this four-legged gives off.  With her gorgeous massive fur-coat, she's quite comfortable sleeping on the super chilly tiled floor by the juice bar so I often make her come and let me hug her.  Many members just think I'm overly affectionate to her and yes I am but more often than not I'm just trying to cash in on her body heat.  She may be a cutie but she's also a hottie, literally.

 

9.   Wear extra layers of clothing

Most would think this as the obvious solution to the problem but the problem with wearing extra layering means working up a sweat much quicker and then having to either peel off layers or risk sporting sweaty layers.  More layers mean more sweat, which ultimately leads to a faster and longer chill.  The key is wearing just enough layers and layers that are easy to peel off for training.  Mind you, dropping my pants publicly has been getting a lot of double looks and it's kind of annoying all the random clothes laying around the club that have resulted.

 

10.  Snuggle up to Snickers

Just recently we got Snickers this amazingly warm Adidas jacket (to which I am super jealous Adidas doesn't make ones like this for women... but anyways) so he's been wearing it at Hulk's.  My long winter sports jacket died during the renovation period of Hulk's so the warmest I have is a Gap puffy vest.  But, if I stand next to Snickers and bat my eye lashes at him, my Gap puffy vest-only is no problem as I found out today.  He wrapped both us in his Adidas jacket and together we snuggled at the juice bar, watching reruns of today's sparring session.  Those around us, watching the sparring with us, just joked off our PDA [public displays of affection] as being cute but I wasn't trying to be cute.  I was trying to save myself from freezing to death.