T.G.I.F

"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't." -Jack Dempsey

Good news people-I am now employed and will not become homeless/starve to death!!! That is an amazing thing in this economy when so many are struggling.

If only we all could swim in money [Image]

Today is the amazing day of CrossFit! Get pumped because there's a timer involved. And whenever there's a timer you know its going to be a good one.

Maximum rounds in 20 minutes:
Burpees (5)
Pushups (10)
Situps (15)
Squats (20)

If it takes 2 seconds/exercise, you should be able to do about 11 rounds. And some of those exercises shouldn't take 2 seconds to do. So at minimum that's 55 burpees, 110 pushups, 165 situps, and 220 squats. No big deal.

Then we have the cardio portion. Note, I find when I do heavy ab workout immediately followed by cardio I get very bad ab muscle cramps. So I would give myself a good break on this one.

Cardio (20 sec break between sprints):
1 mile run
20 yard sprint + 60 jumprope
20 yard sprint + 10 burpees
20 yard sprint + 20 mountain climbers
20 yard sprint + 20 side to side line jumps
20 yard sprint + 20 jumping jacks
20 yard sprint
1 mile run

Exercise of the Day: Spinal Balance

Many exercises I already do activate the back, but I really want a good exercise that focuses on toning the back. All I really have are supermans, and I've been getting kinda bored with them.

So I did some research...and...nothing. Literally all I got was do pullups. Which is awesome: I think pullups are a great exercise. It's just like, "Check it, I can do pullups. I'm basically amazing." Minor problem: I don't have a pullup bar.

So I kept looking. I got some other exercises, which don't look like fun. AKA pretty sure they aren't actually good for your body. You're bending in ways you aren't supposed to bend, like questionably back breaking. Not cool.

I ended up with the spinal balance exercise. It is basically a modified version of supermans. I'd do 3 sets, 10 reps each side. Here's the basics:

• On your hands and knees, with a straight, activated back.
• Slowly lift opposite arm and leg, keeping both straight, until they align with your core
• Hold at the top for about 5 seconds and then slowly lower back down
• Obviously repeat with the other side

Pretty basic, but without a gym it's difficult to focus on the back. [Image]

Crankiness: Good Thing Exercise Gives You Endorphins!

"Fitness-if it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body" -Cher

My sister woke me up this morning, violently. As in, I went from REM to fight-or-flight-where's-the-bear in a millisecond. I hate it when people do that to me. When I'm at home my mom will let the dogs loose in my room at like 6 AM. First off, why does my mom think I want to wake up at 6 on vacation? And secondly, why the hell would she think letting 200 lbs of exuberant dogs wake me up will not make me panic?

I completely agree Garfield [Image]

Anyways, with a morning like that, I have to believe today is going to be a good day. I've already had my low point so it's only up from here.

Yoga today. Practicing my happy baby pose, which I did not expect to be this difficult to "master." But I like the challenge.

Leg Wrecking Day

“Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.”-Lou Holtz

I'm going to be upfront here. This day is gonna be hard. The kind of hard where while I'm doing the workout my brain is like this "#@$@3 this exercise, @#$ #!@#$ #%$^#$%^ @#$%@#$%" (insert many many swear words), and afterwards my brain does this "Yeah that's right, I'm a badass. Check out what I just did." I'm a cocky individual: it's a family trait.

Repeat 3x (15 sec rest between sets)

Overhead squats (10)
Hamstring kicks (15)

Injury Prevention: Shoulders

Note to the wireless universe out there: if you want your body to be in good shape, don't be an athlete. Seems like a smart plan, hours of conditioning, playing, and weightlifting should make having an amazing bod easy. That's a dirty lie. What actually happens is the total destruction of your body, making you feel like a senior citizen. Hence the hip injury prevention exercises. And now the shoulder prevention exercises.

I never did these in college but watched all my hitters go through this every day. I thought it looked way more fun than my own rehab workouts. I feel like I'm about to prove myself wrong.

Tuesday Workout

"If you are going through hell, keep going." -Winston Churchill

Love this quote for 2 reasons. 1) It's common sense about something no one makes sense about 2) Winston Churchill is awesome. Sorry I'm a history nerd.

No fun title for today. It's hard to be creative when literally every day is simple "workout" or "exercise" or something of the sort. But excellent news-somebody got a callback for a job!

It's a yoga day. I decided to work on perfecting one pose in the spirit of improvement: happy baby pose. Quality name. Considering I can't even hold my feet in this pose I figure it's a good place to start.

Starting Strong

"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does- that makes you a winner right there."-Venus Williams

Today's a big day. I get to hear about whether I got this kickass job or not. So I've got to start the day off right.

Mixing things up this training segment. Doing a burnout style workout for specific muscle groups. Today is arms/upper body, therefore it makes sense to have a Venus Williams quote for today. Seriously, that woman has some crazy jacked arms.

But really, check out those biceps-talk about some serious definition! [Image]

Repeat 3X (15 sec break between exercises):

Sunday Funday

"Pain is temporary, pride is forever." -Unknown

Sunday Funday used to mean finishing off all the extra beer from the weekend. Now, it means slowly recovering from my Saturday night with comfort food and water. Reasons why I make Sunday a slow day.

Hungover Bear. Pretty sure this is exactly what I looked like this morning. [Image]