Ab Upgrades

Never one to shy away from a new (and hopefully) crazy exercise to add to my toolbox, I am excited to try some of the new abdominal exercises in this morning’s serving of Men’s Health Lists.  People who know me know that I live by one mantra when I work out: To be what others can’t be, you have to be willing to do what others won’t do.  I think some of these exercises fit the bill.

http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/ab-exercise-upgrades/index.php?cm_mmc=BONL-_-2011_Jan_05-_-HTML-_-image

Good News for Coffee Lovers!

I overheard two gentlemen talking this morning.  One was giving the other a hard time about all the coffee he drinks.  The recipient of these jabs quipped that at least it had one benefit.  “It’s good for the liver.”  I found that hard to believe, but like always, decided to look into it.  Ah, the beauty of the Internet: in less than five minutes, I’d confirmed what he’d stated.  According to WebMD, coffee is, in fact, good for the liver.  It also offers benefits in several other areas, including reduced chances for Type 2 Diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, strokes, and certain cancers. Read more of this post

7 Best Stress-Fighting Foods

Great article on Beating Stress through 7 great diet tips:

Men’s Health: 7 Best Stress-Fighting Foods

Fantastic Treadmill Sprint Workout

In the spirit of goals (or I mean self-promises), make it a goal to do this treadmill workout in 2011.

1. 2 mile warm-up (start level 6.0 (6 mph or 10 min. mile), increasing by 0.1 every minute; takes about 17 minutes, ending on level 7.6 (7:53 pace)
2. Half mile intermediate run- 8.5 (7:30 pace)
3. 1/4 Mile – 9.5 (6:18 pace)
4. 1/4 Mile – 10.0 (6:00 pace)
5. 1/4 Mile – 10.5 (5:42 pace)
6. 1/4 Mile – 11.0 (5:27 pace)
7. 1/4 Mile – 11.5 (5:13 pace)
8. 1/4 Mile – 12.0 (5:00 pace)

Let me know how it goes and please feel free to share any crazy workouts you might have with me.

Get Back in Shape (at home) Workout

Okay, it’s almost 2011.  And you’re gung ho about working out.  But you’re not going to tell or promise anybody that you are getting back in shape right?  Here’s a great workout when you’re just getting back in the swing of things.  It’s also great for those of you who work out regularly when you don’t have time to get to the gym or need to get something done quickly or in between loads of laundry.

Perform the following 3 Exercises back to back with as little rest as possible:

1. Push Ups (start with a number that is about 75% of the most you can do at one time)
2. Situps (15-30; start with a number that is moderately difficult)
3. Body Weight Squats (10-20; start with a number that is moderately difficult)

Perform exercises for 30 minutes.  Keep track of how many total supersets (performing one set of each is one superset) you are able to do.  Once you’re able to do 10 sets (not easy, believe me; that’s an average of 3 minutes per set, including any rest periods you take), check back with me.  If this doesn’t get you ready for intermediate or advanced fitness training, just in time for Spring 2011, nothing will. Just kidding.  Best of luck and let me know if you have questions.