SNOWMAGGEDON

So, the NOMOSNO movement wasn’t the rousing success I hoped it would be, as Mother Nature decided to go ahead and lay down a crapton of the white stuff upon us…

…no use bitching about it, and I’m trying to make the best of the situation.

I wish I could take the credit for creating these, but they were found in front of another apartment complex.  Aren’t they adorable?

Anyway, the weekend is usually the time I get to try A LOT of workout action in, but the Blizzard of 2010 tried to throw a wrench in that plan.  My car is completely snowed in, and they are just now plowing the parking lot.  The office is completely closed and the apartments fitness center isn’t all that accessible, so I was basically without a gym.

Whatever.  Nature can try all she wants, but she isn’t going to completely f*ck with me.  I worked out around her.

SATURDAY:

These past few weeks I have taken to getting long walks in over the weekend.  Initially they were just a way to get my mileage in for the 100 Mile Challenge, but they become very theraputic for me as well.  Those walks became times to clear my mind and forget about whatever stressors I was dealing with, all while burning calories (win win, eh?).  I wasn’t going to let nature completely take that away from me, so yesterday morning, while the snow was still falling, I went out for my walk.

I armed myself as follows:

• T-shirt, with a sweater overtop of that, with a hoodie overtop of that, with a jacket overtop of that.
• Sweatpants, topped with another pair of sweat pants, topped with 38w jeans (I’m proud to say I am now down the 36w jeans, but I had to go back up due to the padding underneath.
• Two pairs of socks, with plastic grocery bags in between each pair.
• Old sneakers (probably not the best choice in hindsight, as they had NO traction).
• A scarf (a Calvin Klein scarf, no less…still had to bring on the style!)
• iPod (duh).

Overall, I was hoping I would like a well insulated ninja, but in all honesty I probably looked more like a dumbass.

WooT!

So I set out and walked 4.2 miles, and it took me about 2 hours.  That’s fine though, because the calories I didn’t burn in my slow pace were hopefully burned by me trying not slip and fall (which I succeeded at!).  The roads hadn’t been plowed, but the snow that was on them was packed down quite a bit, which made for some slick spots (especially walking around the mall).  It was very cool being one of the few people out, and to be able to walk in the middle of normally busy roads without fear of being mowed down by traffic.  Weather likes this also seems to bring the kindness out in people, because I had one person offer to give me a ride to where I needed to go (which I declined), and I saw a few people out trying to help cars get unstuck.  I tried to help push a Mustang on its way, but those efforts were futile.

Saturday also saw me attempt to some Yoga.  I’ve had the YRG (Yoga for Regular Guys) 50+ DVD for some time, but haven’t really attempted to do anything with it in over a year.  Since I didn’t have anything else to do, and I made it one of my weekly goals, I figured it was as good a day as any to knock it out.

Overall, I didn’t do too bad.  I did the Fatburner disc, which for some reason I thought was a 50 minute dvd, but it only ran about half an hour.  I suffered a FAIL when I tried to do a move called the Broken Table.  I attached a clip below to show you:

YRG Broken table

That doesn’t look to bad, right?  What that clip doesn’t show (I couldn’t find one that did) is a move where you take the outstretched arm and leg and bring them in and do a crunch.  How anyone is able do that without falling right over is beyond me, but I couldn’t do it.  Ugh.

SUNDAY

Oh Sunday, Sunday, Sunday…

Today was the day I was supposed to have my second road race, the Bear Run 4-Miler.  I was really excited about it, but it was cancelled.

Seriously, nature, f*ck you!

But, since this weekend has been about improvising, I thought I’d try another new workout. Enter The NerdFitness Beginner Bodyweight Workout.

Steve Kamb at Nerdfitness has created a pretty nifty bodyweight workout for those who don’t have access to a gym or don’t have access to workout gear otherwise.  Since for all practical purposes I don’t have any of my gyms available to me right now (and I don’t feel like leaving the house).  Here is a video run through of it:

Nerdfitness Bodyweight Workout (by the way, I’m trying to figure out how to embed the video into the post, as soon as I do I will update).

Here is the routine in written format as well:

• 20 body weight squats
• 10 push ups
• 20 walking lunges (the video shows regular lunges though)
• 10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug)
• 15 second plank
• 30 Jumping Jacks

I did the above routine twice, with two exceptions.  I did the pushups on my knees because I can’t really do regular push ups yet (100 Pushup Challenge starts tomorrow, WooT!) and I used a 5lb weight instead of the milk jug.  After the workout I also jogged in place for 30 minutes, just to say I got some cardio in.

With that aside, this is definitely a good workout (plank is hard as sh*t, btw) and I highly suggest you try it out.

That’s all I got for today.  Now to catch up on some blogs, some writing assignments and maybe dig my car out.  Ugh.  How are you all doing this weekend?