Fitness Challenge: Day 34

Private Benjamin was one of my favorite movies; I love Goldie Hawn, her name was Judy, and she was whipped into shape at boot camp.

You can live out your Marine Corps fantasies in midtown Manhattan and get into amazing shape at Warrior Fitness Boot Camp.

A loft has been converted into an adult playground, or torture chamber, depending on your point of view. An obstacle course has progressively higher walls to scramble over, a rope to climb and a short tunnel that you crawl through on your belly.

Surrounding this is a track where you run, lunge or side shuffle, sometimes carrying weights. An actual Marine, in camo, exhorts you to run faster, hold your arms higher.

But all in the name of fun. These are nice guy Marines (we are, of course, paying for the privilege to be motivated by them).

And there is great camaraderie in the group. I am introduced to the 'squad' and every grunts their name.

The hour-long workout kicks my butt.

Fitness Challenge: Day 33

The shiny, new Chintatown YMCA shares a building with a Whole Foods. This is a serious upgrade from how the Bowery used to look.

The fitness floor overlooks the pool, so parents whose children are taking swim lessons can spy on their kids while they exercise.

I face a serious but funny challenge - forgot my shorts, so I have to exercise in skinny jeans. Running on the treadmill if fine, if warm, but lunges and squats are out of the question.

There is a subset of NYC fitness buff that exercises in short shorts and construction boots. I think I might look like I share the obsession with how I look when I work out; my concern is how I look the rest of the time.

OK, the skinny jeans look good. But I feel weird. And sweaty.

Veggie Dogs: Asia Dog

If you are searching for a quick meal, hot dogs are not the vegetarian go to choice. But Asia Dogs, one of New York’s artisanal hot dog purveyors, has a veggie dog to go along with its organic beef or chicken dogs.

The veggie dog itself is rather flavorless, but the toppings more than make up for it.
In a nice touch, you can get a whole wheat bun (and no extra charge). You can keep it simple with the Mel & Steve, (named for the owners) an Asian sesame slaw flecked with sesame seeds.

Even better is the Thai style Sidney, with mango, cucumber, peanuts and fish sauce. The counter person warned me about the fish sauce, in case I was vegan.
I also love the saltiness of the Ginny, which has kimchi and seaweed flakes.
If you take kids, they might like the kimchi corndog, which can be made with a veggie dog.

The small shop, in NoLiTa, has a handful of tables. Look for the Asia Dog truck weekends at Brooklyn Flea.

Get your Veggies on National Margarita Day

Today is National Margarita Day, and while I am not usually the biggest margarita fan, the cucumber margarita offers a way to get some veggies in AND celebrate.

The people at Sauza say this recipe serves 4. Maybe. I think 2 thirsty veggie lovers could polish this off at cocktail hour.

Just don't drive after.


3/4 cup Sauza Blue 100% Agave Tequila

1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced

6 ounces fresh lime juice

2 ounces DeKuyper Triple Sec

2 ounces simple syrup




In a pint glass, muddle together sliced cucumber (reserve 8 slices) and tequila. Let sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Strain the cucumber tequila and combine with all ingredients in a pitcher. Stir and serve over ice. Garnish with reserved cucumber slices.

Fitness Challenge: Day 32

Gold's Gym has a very user-friendly website, where you can see at a glance the day's classes for a particular gym. The midtown Manhattan gym has a bare-bones locker room, more like a Y, with several floors of weight, machines, cardio equipment and exercise studios.

They have a trademarked Bodypump class, using barbells and a set playlist. Two instructors run the class, one demonstrating moves and the other controlling the playlist. But neither seems all that concerned with form. Maybe the class works better for those who already know what's going on; I seem to be the only newbie.

That being said, we go for the full, intense hour, with no pause to get a sip of water.

Fitness Challenge: Day 31

Manhattan Plaza Health Club has it all: a huge pool, a climbing gym, several studios for classes, and separate floors for weight training and cardio.

What it doesn't have is towels.

That is, free towels. You have to rent one. This ordinarily wouldn't be a problem, but my daughter lost her lock and took mine, so I ran to the gym with a credit card, a Metrocard, and a change of clothes, which I left unlocked. No towel.

And the amazing class I took, where we used gliders to increase the intensity of the core work, left me dripping with sweat.

No one in the class had a towel to mop up his sweat, so the floor was a puddle and pretty gross.

I had to shower, so I shivered while I air dried and used my credit card to buy a new lock on the way home.

Fitness Challenge: Day 30

I have been to the 92nd St Y countless times, for lectures, concerts and to pick up my niece from afterschool.

I had never seen the gym until I had a fitness pass and now I know what I was missing. The May Center for Health, Fitness and Sport is a gorgeous facility, with a huge, clean locker room, inviting pool and several floors of classes, weight areas and cardio.

The one thing you might need here is a road map.

There is a huge variety of classes, at all times of the day. I took a body conditioning class that may not have been the most innovative, but it did the trick.

You can take swim lessons, from beginning to lifeguard training, Scuba instruction, swim dance or aqua body conditioning.

As a vegetarian, I appreciated the Kosher dairy cafe.