Nerd Workout! Inspired by Jo from Eureka
Posted: April 30, 2012 Filed under: Home workout, Nerdiness | Tags: commandos, dive bombers, elder scrolls, eureka, jo, jump lunges, nerd workout, nerddom, plank, plank butt lifts, side crunches, side lunge jump, skyrim, tire runs, video games Leave a comment »
I am pretty sure this home workout would make the character Jo on Eureka proud. I did this doozy yesterday and my arms now feel like they are going to fall off, accompanied by twinges of pain elsewhere on my body, including the butt.
Eureka is a silly little show on SyFy – my boyfriend Aaron makes fun of me for watching it, and it does enter the cheesefest realm fairly often, but it’s good fun. Eureka is a town in Oregon that is centered around this company called Global Dynamics, which basically does whatever the U.S. military wants it to do while researching crazy medical practices, robots, and basically anything scientific you can think of. It’s like if all of the U.S. military contractors’ got all their best together and put them here, together, doing weird things… constantly. Almost every… basically every episode something goes wrong in the town because of some insane experiment gone wrong. You’d think they learn… but of course they don’t, and where would the show be without the crazy happenings. Jo is a military-trained, incredibly smart, tough person. Like many characters I’ve done so far, she takes crap from no one (except maybe her love interest) and can beat just about anyone up. She is sort of the normalest person that still fits in to Eureka (gets all of the nuances of the science and all that) and acts sometimes as a translator to the town Sheriff, Carter, who fell into his job and who is a smart guy, but no genius like everyone else on the show.
In the last season, Jo trained people who were going to go on a trip to space to be physically fit. Thankfully SyFy has a clip of this, because ALL tribute videos to her were terrible, and only involved her love interest and didn’t show one ounce of her true character.
The workout that I did pretty well mimics a military-style, very tough training that Jo would have done. Also – note the tires you see in the clip – we are going to be doing a “tire run” exercise!
It’s 16 minutes long – 8 exercises twice through. Get your interval timers out! Find an interval timer app on your phone! Seconds Free is a good app.
16 rounds – 10 seconds rest – 50 seconds work
Dive bomber – a tough arm exercise that I could see Jo using to torture her class 11 / 8.5
Tire run and plank – obviously had to do this one 8 / 9
Plank butt exercise – this works out the whole body 18 / 16
Jump Lunge – Cardio and strength at once – this will get them in shape for their space trip 30 / 30
Commando Pushups – Very military style exercise 15 / 15
Side crunch right – Always need those abs strong 19 / 18
Side crunch leg 20 / 20
Side jump lunge – Cardio and leg workout to get the trainees in gear 52 / 48
Dive bomber
Start with your head down, butt in the air, then swoop your head down and up, not letting your legs touch the floor. Then bring your head back down and butt up. One rep.
Tire run and plank
With your feet spread far enough apart you think they’d fit into the center of tires, lift your feet up and down ten times – each foot up, one rep – and then jump your legs out and then back into start the ten feet runs again.
Each time you come back in from your plank is one rep. (Note Skyrim being played in the background. Nerd boyfriend.)
Plank butt exercise
On your elbows, get in in plank position. Have one leg up and bent at a 90 degree angle, with your foot flat toward the ceiling. Raise this leg. One rep. Get into plank and do it on the other side to alternate.
Jump Lunge
Get in lunge position. Jump up to switch legs back to front. One rep. Each switch is one rep.
Commando Pushups
Start laying down, face-down on your stomach. Quickly lift up your body into plank, lifting one leg up and into your chest quickly. Keep your back straight and your body low. One rep. Lay back down and next time lift up and bring in your other leg.
Side crunch right
Laying down on your left side, you crunch in on your right side – lifting your legs up as you crunch up on your right side as well. Each crunch is one rep.
Side crunch leg
See above, switch sides.
Side jump lunge
Start with a side lunge, then jump to switch which leg is lunging and which leg is out to the side. Each jump and switch is one rep.
Now do everything once more…
Disclaimer: not an expert, do this at your own risk, ask your doctor, be careful! etc etc
In case you’re REALLY tiring of your current workout routine…
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: Nerdiness, News | Tags: Atlanta, BACON, craigslist, funny, Jezebel, lolz, news Leave a comment »Craigslist Ad
Via friend Keegan via Jezebel
Ironic, seeing as how it’s the ATLANTA craigslist. Sorry guys, I can’t keep up with everything!
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/lab/2976741254.html
Here is the content of said ad:
“I am in need of someone who will cook (not microwave) and dangle bacon in front of my starving face while running to the YMCA. The objective is to trick my arse into working out.
Qualifications:
Must be able to run a few miles without going horizontal
Must be able to fend off wild dogs and rodents
Must be able to dodge stray bullets
Must provide own transportation
G-rated picture is required to prove physique
I am serious. The objective is to be alternative school skinny.
Interviews will be conducted on Thursday. Please respond before then. The downtrodden need not apply.”
If whoever wrote this wants to tell me how it goes for them – PLEASE DO.
New Fitness Locally Post – BTB Fitness
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: Fitness Locally | Tags: BTB Fitness, CrossFit, Fitness Locally, Review Leave a comment »Everyone should check out my post on FitnessLocally about my experience at BTB Fitness here. CrossFit! It was a ton of fun.
Image Courtesy of BTB Fitness.
Paleo Bread!
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: Nutrition, Recipes | Tags: chia seed, elana'a pantry, flour, gluten free, paleo bread, recipe Leave a comment »
Recipe blog post!
What would I do without this blog: http://www.elanaspantry.com/ She has all gluten-free recipes, and so many many paleo-friendly recipes. They are usually straightforward recipes, too, not the kind that you know will take you an hour to prep and then an hour to wait for to cook. Love this site. I finally gathered up my will to make the paleo bread recipe found here:
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
Hahaha if I’d known it was that freakin’ easy the whole time I would have made it a looooonnngggg time ago. Well. I mean the instructions are pretty simply, so duh, I should have known, but whatever. I pretty much did this recipe exact, except, well, a huge part of it. The almond flour. No almond flour at Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market?! What is up with that. But they had CHIA SEED FLOUR? Ok fine, I’ll take that challenge. Chia seeds are apparently the new health thing and are gluten-free and paleo (right?) anyway. Paleo enough anyway.
So I followed the rest of it and hey! It’s good straight out of the oven, even if it didn’t rise as much as expected? And it tastes nutty and flavorful. I am worried post freshness it might get dry. But, a few seconds in the microwave or oven might perk it up. I think next time I’ll not leave it in the whole time. I must not have baked in a while, honestly, because I usually check before the allotted time instead of letting it go all the way to the end. Oh well. Gotta get back in the groove of things. Need to make more jam to go on this bread I can eat guilt-free! Also I see pickle making in my future as I’ve received many hints from a certain boyfriend. I’m thinking of just making him crates and crates of pickles for his summer birthday.
Hope you guys make the bread! Cause you can’t have mine!
Chair Workout
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: Home workout | Tags: dips, elevated, leg ups, pushups, step ups Leave a comment »
With crazy socks!
So this home workout is short, and every exercise involves a chair! I know you were just sitting there… on the floor…looking at your chair, thinking what can I DO with this thing. Well, here is your answer. How did I read your mind? I just don’t know – it’s a gift.
All right lame jokes aside – this workout, after a short nice walk with Starbuck, got me a nice dripping sweat going. I feel great. This workout, like pretty much all my workouts, will target the core. You’re gonna be hitting those abs even if it isn’t an “abs” exercise.
So this home workout is 5 exercises – 4 times through. It will end up being a little over 13 minutes long.
20 rounds – 10 seconds off – 30 seconds on
Left leg on chair, leg up – this will hit the thighs BIG time, but you’re abs and arms will feel it too. Don’t worry. 12 / 11 / 13 / 11
Right leg on chair, leg up 13 / 12 / 13 /10
Elevated pushups knee in – yeah you’re arms will feel it. Steadying yourself on that chair will initiate your abs. 7 / 6 / 6 / 6
Step up on chair 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 9
Chair dips 10 / 10 / 13 / 13 / 13
Left leg on chair, leg up
In side plank, on your elbow, have your left leg up on the chair and your right leg beneath it. Then lift your bottom – right – leg up to the bottom of the chair. That’s one rep. Have a yoga mat beneath you and the chair.
Right leg on chair, leg up
Same thing as above, right leg on the chair.
Elevated pushups knee in
With your feet on the chair (steadied by the yoga mat), do a pushup. When you come back up, do a knee in on one side. That finishes the rep. Alternate knees in. If that’s too hard, take if off the chair, and if that’s too hard, knees down.
Pushup:
Knee in:
Step up on chair
With your chair on a yoga mat to keep it stable, step up on the chair wit one foot and bring the other leg up towards chest, and then step back down. One rep. Next time you step up on the chair, step up with the other foot.
Chair dips
With your body in the seated position, but in front of the chair, dip down as far as you can, keeping your elbows back behind you. One rep. Keep the chair on a yoga mat or something similar to make sure it doesn’t slide.
Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk, ask a doctor, be careful, etc etc.
Nerd Workout! Princess Mononoke Inspired Workout
Posted: April 24, 2012 Filed under: Home workout, Nerdiness | Tags: anime, flying pushups, home workout, leg raises, Miyizaki, nerdiness, nerdom, Princess Mononoke, running, squats Leave a comment »
Princess Mononoke is one of my top movies, though somewhere beneath Howl’s Moving Castle, another awesome anime movie. I remember seeing on IO9.com this week, in honor of Earth Day, that this is a great environmental movie. It’s absolutely true. The movie’s beauty and rich story makes it worth watching for any reason, moral or not. One of the main character’s (as are most, if not all, of Hayao Miyazaki‘s characters), is a strong (female) person who is on the forest’s side in the conflict and lives with wolves, San, or Princess Mononoke. She carries a spear and is a feisty, independent and yet, sympathetic character. My home workout today is inspired by her.
Here is a trailer- she’s the girl featured in the video.
I have said I wanted to incorporate more short bursts of running, well here we go.
I started out kind of sluggish through this, so you might very well beat my time. I felt like I was moving through molasses. By the end, I felt like I was doing my pushups and squats much faster. Oh well.
Here’s the home workout:
4 times through!
Running – no pic – ran about 150 meters or so? Down the block and back
10 Flying pushups
Do a regular pushup, but then after your down, lift one arm and the opposite leg up. After you do that, that’s one rep. Alternate legs and arms.
Pushup:
Fly:
20 Leg raises
Lift your legs from the laying down position and then lower them back down with control, letting them almost touch the floor. Each time it almost comes back down to the floor is one rep.
30 Squat and Knee Ins
Squat down and as you come up, lift your leg and knee into your side. That’s one rep. Then squat down and do it with the other leg.
Now do it three more times!
Disclaimer: not an expert, do at your own risk, ask your doctor.
New Music Tuesday
Posted: April 24, 2012 Filed under: Music | Tags: beach house, hoodie allen, little boots, purity ring Leave a comment »It’s that time!
New Music Tuesday again! And here I am to handpick songs for your workouts.
This song builds into a sexy steady song. I was going to not do this one since I had another slower song, but this song drew me in and I couldn’t not. Also, I think this one could be motivating in a way the Beach House song may not be… it’s got a good steady beat (maybe for mid-run) and sounds so sexy you want to keep working out… to be sexy too. It’s so gooooood.
Little Boots
Always a good workout option
She came out with a song for record store day, but I think one of her older songs is better.
New In Town:
Good meditative calm down song. Get centered. Beach House.
Be warned: this has language I try to avoid on this site!
But, it’s got a great fun beat that any workout needs!
Kickstart workout
Posted: April 24, 2012 Filed under: Home workout | Tags: bridge, burpees, butt in the air, home workout, plank jacks Leave a comment »
Ah, Monday again. Here’s a home workout to get you quickly into the workout week. This workout will target the usual: core, abs, get that heart rate up…
It’s a 12 minute workout. 4 exercises, 3 times through. Get your interval timer out!
It’s 12 rounds, 10 seconds off, 50 seconds on
Exercises with my scores:
Pushup jump burpee 8 / 7 / 7
Bridge 9 / 10 / 11
Butt in the air 9 / 12 / 10
Plank Jacks 31/ 31 / 31
Pushup jump burpee
Jump your feet out into a plank and into a pushup. Jump your feet back in to a squat, then from there jump up. One rep! Burpee!
Bridge
This time I’m using a stability ball, but I’ll give you options for without. Lay your feet on the stability ball, keeping your body straight. Then bring the ball towards you and move your feet down with your abs, so that you are knees are near 90 degrees and your body is straight. Without a stability ball, lay on the ground, and put your foot flat on the ground. Lift up your hips so that your body keeps the same straight line as in the picture, just without the ball. Hips up for both kinds – one rep.
Butt in the air
I know I just did this. But it was really fun! Also I wanted better pictures. Get in plank with the ball beneath your shins, then using your abs, bring your butt up in the air and straighten your upper body up towards it. My head should really be looking down between my arms, straightening that line. Each time your butt is in the air, one rep. So try to do better than me. If you don’t have a stability ball, you can sub with V-ups – bring your upper body and your lower body up towards the ceiling, trying to touch your toes.
Start:
End:
Plank jacks
With elbows down, get in plank. Jump your feet out on either side of your body (the width of a yoga mat). Each time your legs are out, is one rep.
Disclaimer: not an expert, do this at your own risk, be careful, ask your doctor.
Nerd Workout! Inspired by Gwen Cooper from Torchwood
Posted: April 19, 2012 Filed under: Home workout, Nerdiness | Tags: doctor who, gwen cooper, high knees, low lunges and kick, low weight arm exercises, stability ball, v ups Leave a comment »New Nerd Home Workout time!
This workout comes a bit later in the week than normal, but life happens. This workout is inspired by Gwen Cooper of Torchwood. Torchwood is a Doctor Who spinoff, a darker, more sex-filled version than its parent show. The Doctor himself never makes an appearance, though Torchwood characters have been known to pop up on Who. Torchwood lives in the same universe as Doctor Who, though, dealing with incorrect timey-wimey things, aliens… Just things that tend to come out of the weird rift that is in Wales. Lots of Welsh accents in this show, which there just aren’t enough of in the world. Gwen’s character isn’t always likeable and she does things that you don’t agree with, but you still root for her. She isn’t perfect, and that makes her character much more real in the non-realness of this show. Actually, all of the characters are pretty flawed, particularly in the beginning of their character arc. Gwen doesn’t take crap, though, and with her faults, is a strong character who will kick butt as hard as she can, with as much heart as she can.
All the Gwen Cooper montages were pretty lame, or had really awful music that I could not subject anyone to, so this is just a general Torchwood video. Both ladies you see in the video have dark hair with bangs, but Gwen has longer hair and is seen running at 0:13. Also, she is the one who punches lots of people. Running and punching – that will incorporated into this home workout, never fear.
This workout was going to have running again, like the last one, because I want to incorporate more of that and also, it works for her character. She runs at full speed pretty often. But it was getting dark outside so I subbed the 100 high knees between each exercises.
So:
2 times
30 Low weight arm exercises – tone up those arms to more effectively punch people
100 high knees
15 Butt up stability ball – tone the core and abs to move out of the way of bullets and other worldly weapons as well
100 high knees
20 Low switch lunge and kick up – strengthen speed, agility, and strength of legs to kick assailants or kick down doors.
100 high knees
20 V-ups – work those abs to help you reach things when you are trapped
15:14 is my time
30 Low weight arm exercises
Start with your arms out to your sides at a 90 degree angle with the weights. They could be small dumbbells, or even two equally heavy books. Be creative! Then move your arm, keeping then at an angle, together in the middle in front of your face. Each time they meeting in the middle, one rep. Be careful not to do it too quickly and hit your fingers together…not that I did that or anything.
100 High Knees
Drive your knees up as high and fast as you can. Each knee up is one rep.
15 Stability ball exercise
Start out in plank on the ball, with your shins resting on the top of the ball. Using your abs, bring your butt up into the air, creating a triangle with your body. Keep your back and spine straight as possible. Each butt in the air is one rep. Go back down into a plank to start over.
Starting plank:
Ending with butt in the air:
100 High Knees again
20 Low switch lunge and kick up
In lunge position, with feet on the ground next to you, switch your legs, so the back one is now in the front and vice versa. Then swing the back leg up into a kick and bring it back down into the low lunge. That is one rep. Each switch and kick is one rep. After you bring your leg back, switch and kick again with the opposite leg.
100 High Knees again
20 V-Ups
To make this more challenging, you can use the stability ball and pass between your legs and your arms as you do this. In starting position, lay down, then bring your upper body off the floor as you take your legs off the floor and begin pointing to the ceiling, trying to touch your toes with your hands. If you use the stability ball, squeeze the ball between your legs and as your upper body comes off the floor, grab the ball and bring it back over your head. Then switch back. Each time your body goes up, or touch your toes, is one rep.
Now do it all one more time!
Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk, be careful, especially with the stability ball exercise, ask your doctor, I am not an expert, etc etc etc
Super sweat sucker punch
Posted: April 17, 2012 Filed under: Home workout | Tags: 90 degree abs, plank, pushups, running, side plank crunches Leave a comment »To the abs that is.
New home workout!
I did a workout with running in it, the Hunger Games one, and decided after my CrossFit workout this weekend that I needed to do some additional workouts that incorporated short bursts of running like that one did. So here we are! Whoo! Also, they are really great to do in the morning to wake your butt up, if you are like me and snooze for two hours. Hi Dad! Yes, things haven’t changed! Except now I just pretend to myself that I’m waking up. ANYWAY.
That’s also why I look like undercooked meat in these pictures, and this weekend’s impromptu cookout with friends introduced me to a lot of that. (We got it all cooked, not to worry)
Honestly if I did this home workout again, I would up the reps of the ab stuff (so everything but the pushups) – although I didn’t really have the time to do more. Up to you!
4 rounds! Time challenge!
So – run a block and back (My house is next to the end of the block, so I ran down to the other end and back. Probably a around 150 meters? I’m bad at guessing distances.)
10 90 degree abs
10 Pushups
5 Side plank crunches on right, 5 side plank crunches on left
10 plank knee to shoulders (5 on each side)
The run:
Go as fast as you can without eating it on damp pavement if your situation is anything like mine was… be careful! (No photo for this part)
10 90 degree abs
Here I am showing it with or without equipment. Put your legs at a 90 degree angle, and with weight or not reach over the tops of your knees to object or an imaginary one. If they aren’t challenging without weight, do V-ups (Lift your upper body and lower body up and reach up at the same time).
10 Pushups
Mod as needed – knees down if you can’t do a full one. Keep your body straight, don’t drop the hips.
5 Side plank crunches on each side (10 total)
In side plank, with you underneath leg’s foot towards the back (so you can then lift it up without losing balance), lift your bottom leg up as you bring your arm in to touch knee to elbow. Do this 5 times in the plank on one leg. Then switch sides and do it five more times.
Starting position:
Crunch:
10 plank knee to shoulder.
With your elbows down in plank, bring one knee up towards your shoulder. One rep. Go back to plank, do it again with the other leg.
Now do it three more times!
Disclaimer: be safe, ask your doctor, do this at your own risk, I am not an expert.
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