I'm not just a normal guy. I'm a gymnast.
At the end of the nineteenth century, a fanatical craze for physical fitness swept through Britain. Millions of men and women took up gymnastics, body building, and other physical exercises. Such a thing had never happened before, and it was given a name - Physical Culture.
For the Olympics, I'm mostly training in the gym, so I'm running laps on the standard speed wall.
There was a kind of physical anarchy that dominated most of my younger life. I was always too skinny, not hairy enough, my voice jumped around. It was a thing that drove me away from towel lines in gym class.
To combat the monotony of gym workouts, I started playing soccer. I looked at workouts as training sessions. My soccer training includes squats, pushups, resistance-band work, and sprints. Ninety minutes of running became part of my love of the game rather than a chore.
Sometimes I'll be listening to NPR at the gym, and I'll hear them say, 'Oh, Donald Trump did this today.' And I'm like, 'What?' All of a sudden, I have more energy than if I drank an espresso.
Barcelona is the best education possible. Training with Messi is something I will never forget - he was always the last off the pitch and working incredibly hard in the gym. If he is the best player in the world and works so hard, who are we? You can have all the crazy talent but you need to work.
Gym sessions will always consist of 40 minutes to one-hour cardio. I try to stay off the treadmill because of the pounding, so it's the rower or the cross-trainer.
I like looking nice, but I always put comfort over fashion. I don't find thin girls attractive; be happy and healthy. I've never had a problem with the way I look. I'd rather have lunch with my friends than go to a gym.
I don't like going to the gym.
