Nerd Workout! Inspired by Gwen Cooper from Torchwood

Posted: April 19, 2012 | Author: fitnerd | 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

---