The Escalator of Intensity  Imagine yourself trapped, in a small
room, with no fancy accoutrements whatsoever. All you have is
yourself. And time. You call out, but no one brings you any
Gatorade, let alone Red Bull. You feel like one of those mimes,
just moving your hands around and being unpopular. Is this the
end of your fitness career? Is there any way out of this trap?
Yes. Just take the escalator. The escalator—of intensity.
"Fitness" in the "hardcore" genre is not about where you go to
work out and with what. There are a whole lot of people out
there who attend very pricey gyms that stock the very latest
fitness equipment and yet, even with the fresh smooth grip of a
brand-new barbell and the crisp cool breeze of a state-of-the-
art climate control system kissing their gentle skin, they fail
miserably at becoming Maximum Hardcore. Why? Why is it that,
unlike most everything else in this world—sex, chocolate,
collectible figurines—Maximum Hardcore fitness cannot be BOUGHT?
It is because those who woul