Sunday, March 18th, 2012: Burpee Run

Because I wanted to enjoy some of the sunshine today, I did a lovely workout that I call burpee runs.  Basically what it means it that I run for 5 minutes on a track running at a good pace (about 70% of my maximum speed), then 1 minute of burps. Sound easy?  Try doing it 5 times through, with no rest.  It was a good time.  Also painful.  But fun.
Tomorrow begins my superhero workout.  To start getting into the mindset, I bought myself Infamous 2, the sequel to one of the best games I have ever played.  And yes, it's a superhero game.  You get powers, get to jump across buildings.  Now that I'm in the superhero mindset, I'm ready to begin tomorrow.
Bring it.
I'm also going to fall asleep with 300 playing in the background, to get me into that "breaking bad guys" mindset.

Want to get into the mindset of being a superhero?  This game will help.

March 17th, 2012: St. Patricks Day!

As today is St. Patrick's Day (which apparently means that everyone is Irish and celebrates by getting beyond hammered) you may or may not be reading this with a hangover, or drunk, or both.
Today, I decided to take a rest day. Reason being is that sometimes, you just gotta take a rest from things to recharge and relax. Plus my new workout plan is literally of heroic proportions. Until tomorrow, when I do a older workout, but one of my favorites.
Until tomorrow. Celebrate responsibly.

March 16th, 2012: Bodyweight!

Because it's a maintenance week (if you didn't get the memo, click here to read it), I did simply bodyweight training.  Here was today's workout:
2 sets of:
30 Pushups
60 Squats
25 Short Bridges
8 Close Grip Pull Ups
8 Hanging Leg Raises
8 Partial Handstand Pushups
I also did this lovely circuit 5 times through:
10-13 Hip Pushups (same as a regular pushup except for a few key differences; you are on your fists and they are near your hips, thus increasing the work load your upper body has to take; significant pausing so I would fatigue between 10-13 reps
3-5 Handstand Pushups; again, I used significant pausing to help me fatigue myself
4 Close Grip Pull Ups
4 Wide Grip Pull Ups
Ah, now wasn't that easy?
Well, I'm gonna be turning in in a bit, seeing as how I've been studying for my new certification course.
Nighty-night!

Freaking Awesome!

Wednesday and Thursday: Limited Time = Awesome Workouts

Hey there guys.  Didja think I forgot about Wednesday?  Well I didn't, I just wanted to write it today, and here's why: because I was dividing up strength workouts into upper and lower body.  Seeing as how you need to work out all parts of your body, I saved one part for each day.  My apologies for sounding a little loopy, but I've been running around for the past week and can barely keep myself awake.  My lack of time combined with me being so tired has lead me to do a maintenance workout plan this week, so it's short and sweet.  Keep in mind that each of these workouts took about 15 minutes to complete.  Who says you don't have time to work out?  So without any further to do:
Wednesday, Upper Body: 3 Rounds

• 7 Hanging Leg Raises
• 5 Hanging Knee Raises
• 30 Pushups
• 6 Pull Ups
• 6 Handstand Pushups

Thursday, Lower Body

• 15 minutes of Squats (doesn't sound hard does it?  Try it).

And now off to bed!  Ciao!

Workout Wednesday: Adventure Racing!

For today's Workout Wednesday, I'm showing you something that I got into last August: Adventure racing!  Giant obstacle course races that test your body, mind and will.  It's awesome!  I did a Spartan Race last year, and am Doing Tough Mudder this year with another Spartan Race, but there are so many of them now.  Just google "Adventure Racing" and see what you get.  There are enough out there to appeal to pretty much anyone, whether you're a couch potato looking to improve your life, or a hardcore fitness junkie who's looking for that next rush.
Here's a quick video of one of my favorites, Spartan Race.  Watch, then get out there with me and do some training for your first (or next) race!

So...much...mud!

Tuesday: Yoga!

Because of the craziness of today (I did some filming with a death scene and everything), I decided to stick with a high-intensity yoga routine.  Lots of bodyweight strength training, along with handstand holds, planks, and some crazy balance stuff that I'm not very good at.  Yoga is still very much a work-in-progress for me because I'm not very flexible for a yogi.  I'm working on it though, and that's what's important.
And since I got some fun comments from it, I'm sharing my photo of me during break on set.  That marks on my torso is dried blood.  I'm still a work-in-progress, so every day I'm improving myself, so we'll see how I look at the end of the year.
Rock and Roll!

Freaking love Instagram

Motivational Monday and Workout: Enjoy the Weather

For this week's M&M, I gotta start off by saying; anyone else thrown off by Daylight Savings Time?  It threw me off something fierce today with work.
But...It was unusually nice up here in Vermont, and warm too (the thermometer hit 68 today).  This time of year there's still plenty of snow on the ground, along with 20s-30s kind of weather.  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this turn of Mother Nature.  I think she's being a little nicer after she dumped on us last year with the winter from Hell and that whole Tropical Storm thing (thanks Mother N, I forgive you, even though you need to have a pissy fit on occasion).
So today, I threw off the shirt and put on the shoes and went for a run.  Ran for about 45 minutes with the sun beating down on my bare chest, observing nature.  I gotta tell ya, it felt real good.  You need to learn how to appreciate nature, and get out there and smell the roses, whether literally or metaphorically.  Go out for a walk or a hike, and just enjoy nature.  And it also doesn't hurt to get a bit of color on your skin; I'm getting a little sick of being so white I reflect the sun.
Tomorrow, I'm hitting the weights again, hard.