Because Girls Get After it Too

Slit My Wrists … Please

So, it’s no secret that all I’ve pretty much been doing lately is skinning up Snow King. And really, that’s not an interesting workout to write about. Especially as I”m not even doing intervals. The hardest part of it is dealing with the boredom. I’m doing each and every lap slow and steady. After doing some too-vigorous Russian Twists (awesome core exercise) two weeks ago and upsetting my hip, I made the executive decision to put all the fun, strength training workouts on hold until after this 24 Hours of Sunlight is over Feb. 8. I can’t let a Russian Twist or weighted sit up sideline me at this point. I promise I’ll be back with some awesome workouts the week of Feb. 9. (Although they’ll be slightly easier than usual as I’ll be in recovery stage then.)

Your Shoulders Will Hate You (and then you’ll love them)

Appetizer (aka, warm-up): 3 rounds

5 x dumb-bell get up (and that’s 5 each arm). Although these are done with sandbags (and are more interesting, but most people don’t have giant sandbags lying around, so I’m going with dumb-bells), you should get the general idea. Sub in the dumb-bell for the sandbag and, doing one side/arm at a time, hold the dumb-bell above your head with the arm straight and you get up and sit down.

5 x knees to elbows (hang from a pull up bar and bring your knees up to your elbows … no swinging!)

The Meat, Part 1

5 rounds each of :

5 Curtis P’s (these are a short-yet-evil complex developed by Rob Shaul at Mountain Athlete): Curtis P’s are done with a bar (and weights on it if you can handle it; I used to be able to do these with 65 pounds, but this morning the bar kicked my ass, or rather, my shoulders). One Curtis P starts with a hanging squat clean, followed immediately by a lunge with the left leg (bar still held in front squat position), a lunge with the right leg, and then a push press. Even though I’m a writer, these are kinda hard to describe, so you can check out some of Rob’s Mountain Athletes doing them here.

10 x dumb-bell floor press (kettlebells are optimal, but dumb-bells can be substituted until you’ve got a set of kettlebells of your own). Again, here are some Mountain Athletes demonstrating. Try to look like you’re having as much fun as they are. But don’t try to overdo yourself with weight only to drop it on your face.

The Meat, Part II:

3 rounds each of:

10 x push-ups (And I’m not talking girlie push-ups here.  But by “girly” I don’t mean push-ups on your knees — if that’s what you need to do at your present level of fitness, fine, get on your knees. When I describe push ups as “girly” I mean fake push ups where, whether on your knees or toes,  it’s your head and only your head that are going up and down. For a perfect example of this what-not-to-do, check out this awesome New York Times video. (It also gives a good demonstration of what to do.) Yeah, it seems long, but you’ll see exactly what I mean in the first seven seconds (after the ad). If it doesn’t jump out at you, it’s the woman in the green shirt.)

10 x cable row

10 x weighted sit up. I hate to be stealing so much from Mountain Athlete’s video library (and you can see many more on YouTube), but here’s an example of a good weighted sit up.

Dessert: 1,000 meter row — Not that your shoulders will have the oomph to do anything but, but make sure to do this easy. The idea is just to loosen your shoulders up a bit after pushing them so hard.

 

 

Stairmasters Are Stupid

Warm up: 1,000 meter row

The Meat: 7 sets each of:

leg blaster ( each leg blaster is 20 air squats, 10 lunges, 10 jumping lunges, 10 jumping squats — no resting in between!)

3 pull ups

7 push ups

10 weighted sit ups (grab a plate — I use a 35 or 45 pounder — and lay on a mat. Hold the plate above your head with arms extended and, keeping arms extended and above your head, do a full sit up.)

 

 

Only Pussy-Men Wear Muscle Shirts

Warm up:20 burpees or 1,000 meter row

The Meat: 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 x each of:

100 meter row, weighted sit up (I describe that one above), front squat, dumbbell push press.

Rest as needed, but not so much you find this sucking up over an hour of your day.