Commit to Fit | Dave McKew: Week 19
‘Clothing Part 1: Looking Back’
I’m 6′ 3″ and I’ve always been pretty tall, with a really big bone structure, and overweight. I don’t remember how old I was when my mom would take me shopping for clothes and we had to start shopping in the Men’s department instead of the Boy’s department, but I was fairly young and I was sorta humiliated by it. I was embarrassed that my waist size was so big that I had to wear men’s pants. When we went shopping I’d hope that none of my friends would see me shopping in the men’s department.
Muscle Knowledge: SERRATUS ANTERIOR
Origin: Anterior surfaces of the first 8 or 9 ribs.
Insertion: Anterior surface of medial bonder of scapula.
Actions: Abducts scapula and upwardly rotates it while abducting the arm; stabilizes scapula by holding it to chest wall.
Photo Courtesy of DIAKADI Body
4 months in and 43 lbs. down
Dave is 4 months into his training and has already lost an astonishing 43 pounds! Way to go Dave!
“This week I started to go to DIAKADI on Saturdays (on top of my three workouts per week with Billy) to do some extra cardio. I’m increasingly confident and comfortable in the gym by myself, which is a good thing.
Commit to Fit | Dave McKew: Week 15
‘Meeting Kevin’
Today was Sunday Streets here in San Francisco. My friend Andrew and I ended up walking almost four and a half miles today, in the Potrero Hill, Bayview and Mission neighborhoods. I am pretty sure that’s the most I’ve walked in one day in…several years. My knee is still bothering me (more on that next week) but all this walking is, without question, much easier now that I’m 34.5 pounds lighter.
Commit to Fit | Dave McKew: Week 14
‘Surprise Madonna Concert’
It is a well known fact that I’ve been a huge Madonna fan for over 20 years. I’ve seen her perform live FIFTEEN times, in nine different North American venues, and I have over 120 Madonna CD’s from all over the world. Well, this detail did not get past Billy and Mike at DIAKADI; on the Tuesday after Memorial Day they surprised me me by playing a full hour of Madonna in the gym to celebrate my previous week’s weight loss and blood test successes. I was simply *beaming* at their very sweet acknowledgement. It totally made my week (and by chance, happened to be the 5th anniversary of my personal “interaction” with Madonna.) (See http://www.frontrowbitch.com ).
Commit to Fit | Dave McKew: Week 13
‘Plummeting Numbers: Weight, Size, Cholesterol’
Three MAJOR successes this week:
(1) During my weekly weigh-in I passed the 30 pound mark. I’ve now lost 33 lbs since March 2nd. This success was even sweeter than usual, because for the previous four weeks my weight had fluctuated between 21 and 25 pounds down, and it was starting to really annoy me. But 33 pounds is a great number to close-out my first three months of Commit to Fit. And an even greater number to use to shade in a diagram of my 100-pound coworker Lilei, who has become my “fitness model” to represent the 100 pounds I want to lose during my CTF year:
Commit to Fit | Dave McKew: Week 12
‘The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall’
I originally wrote three long paragraphs about an injury to my left knee that’s been bothering me for the last two and a half weeks… but it was pretty boring so I deleted them. The gist: I’ve had a lot of muscular pain behind my left knee, and Billy @ DIAKADI has been a hugely patient with me while we work to get it back on track. Initially we sacrificed a few training sessions to work on stretches for it, and in parallel I’ve seen two massage therapists in the last two weeks and they have been really helpful. At this point, we don’t think there was a particular injury that caused this flare-up back on May 5. We think that the new movements I’ve been doing in the gym woke up some existing problems with this knee. You know the expression “The bigger they are, they harder they fall?” Well, in 2006, I fell on this knee FOUR times (but I assure you only ONE of those times might have involved me being drunk on wet pavement at a car wash at 10th and Harrison). In 2010, this knee got a hell of workout when I injured my right achilles tendon; my left knee was doing a lot of extra work. In short: this history + new movements at the gym = PAIN.
Commit to Fit | Dave McKew: Week 10
‘Not The Same As Gym Class’
My new favorite people are the people I only see once every three or four weeks, because they are the ones who notice my weight loss more. I hit the 25 pound mark last week, and several people who saw me the first time in a month or more totally noticed. It was pretty cool. A few people have said stuff like, “that’s a new shirt!” not realizing that it’s an old shirt that hasn’t fit me since forever ago. I let them think whatever they want, as long as they keep complimenting me. 
Commit to Fit | Dave McKew: Week 9
‘Food Baggage’
Apparently I have food baggage. I know, I know…it seems obvious to any outsider looking in that the fat guy has food issues, but learning this about myself definitely caught me by surprise. Now that I’m actually trying to control what finds its way into my belly, I’m finding that certain food situations intimidate me. Recently I obsessed about a party for a few days before I attended; I was dreading showing up there and being tempted to eat stuff I shouldn’t be eating. I almost didn’t go. A little mind-over matter empowerment got me through (thanks to Michael Purdy @ Subject To Change for assistance), but I still find every few days I’m in some sticky spot where I’m challenged more by the SITUATION rather than just a craving. I’m talking about free food in the office, the obvious temptations that present themselves at happy hour, and other social eating situations like eating out, parties, or visiting friends houses.
Salsa at DIAKADI
DIAKADI will be offering beginner salsa lessons with DIAKADI trainer Dave Robinson!
Salsa is a great way to kick ass and stay in shape while having a blast!
Date: Friday, June 17th, June 24th and July 1st
Time: 7pm
Meet at: Escape Room
Fee: $20 per class or $50 for whole series
Cancellation Policy: 7 days Prior; no refund if whole series is bought
Dave is a trained Salsa dancer and offers Salsa lessons (both private and group) as an alternative (or an addition) to traditional cardiovascular exercises.