Road to the Wall St. Decathlon 2013 Begins In Bangkok
The Osbon clan is participating in the Wall St. Decathlon this July in NYC with the team consisting of myself, 24 years old, and my father, 61 years old. This will be our second dual challenge – we ran the Tough Mudder in Vermont back in May 2012. In preparation for the event I am searching around in my current location, Bangkok, for the best places to train.
One of my favorite places to exercise in NYC is Thompkins Square Park. It’s a completely real workout experience that you won’t find in an air conditioned, Lulu Lemon’ed, hand sanitized, hair gelled, puff palace like Equinox. There are no weights, except for bricks and cinder blocks, and if you want to run you don’t get on the treadmill and practice theoretical running. No, you actually put foot to pavement. Oh, and it’s free, and home to some of the most fit people I have ever met (Google: The Bar-Barians). So when I saw this outdoor gym in Bangkok’s Lumphini Park I became immediately nostalgic for my workout days in TSP. Although it’s not free, it still has that same primal appeal.
One of the Wall St. Decathlon events is the bench press. It’s hard to explain why but sometimes it’s just more satisfying when you’re benching tires.
Dips (bars on the right) is the 5th event. Goal for this year is 50 reps.
Without membership, access to this weight lifting area is 20 Baht per day, which equals out to $0.60 cents.
On the completely opposite side of the spectrum, the best winter location to workout in NYC is the New York Athletic Club – NYAC, for short, where I am a member. Essentially it is a country club, but it’s also home to some highly obsessive and top-notch athletes. The NYAC rugby team went nationally undefeated last year and members consistently bring home Olympic medals. The central park south club boasts an indoor track, basketball courts, boxing gym, pool, etc etc. Being a NYAC member gets you access through reciprocity with the Royal Bangkok Sports Club.
RBSC is an oasis in the center of Bangkok. Along with the gym and pool, it has its own private driving range, practice golf holes, and a horse race track. NYAC, take notes. The horse track is a great place to practice the 400m and 800m sprints so long as you watch out for incoming golf balls.
In the mean time… putting in work on those tires.