You want to accomplish something? Make a goal. Work at it. Get through the dip.

And if that goal is anything fitness related, find a good gym. I finally have one.

Competitive Fitness is a Crossfit gym, which means they don’t use weights in the traditional way. No bench press, no bicep curl stations and no Soloflex machines, just lots of exercises based on natural movement, with added weight to increases resistance.

In my three short days there (the first two days were the second and third hardest athletic days of my life, behind only my first ever day of wrestling practice) I’ve lunged, rowed, done push ups, dips, squats and modified situps. As competition is the point here, everything is timed and written on the wall, so you know where you stand every day in relation to other members. I haven’t come in dead last yet, but I’m nowhere near the top of the list.

The biggest shift from a regular gym is that no two days are the same. The workouts vary from day to day and week to week (Jason, the owner, has repeated workouts only a few times in 15 months) ensuring that monotony is never the issue.

Non-competitive types should fear not. While competing is used as motivation, it’s much more of a team effort than I thought. The trainers encourage, not yell, and the other members are pretty damn helpful. The point is progression, not winning.

Let’s hope this place makes my January run a little easier. Perhaps I’ll be able to avoid Debbie, too.

Disclosure: While I certainly wouldn’t write about anything I didn’t deem awesome, Jason DID offer me a deal for helping him promote his business. My blog, however, was not part of that. I just really like the place. Also, I like pizza.