Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Alternate training for complete fitness

Although cycling is my primary passion and outlet for fitness, I'm not above trying new and inventive ways to maintain TOTAL fitness. Two of my favorite sources for excellent physical training tips and techniques ARE...my brother Jim and his best buddy Phil. Each has their own fitness blog: Jim's is http://trainingroutines.blogspot.com/, and Phil's is http://phils-fitness-journal.blogspot.com/, and I recommend checking both as each has some unique exercises. I guarantee you will walk away sore!

One technique I found brutally clever was working out to a deck of cards!! How does that work, you ask? Well, let's say we break down the deck accordingly:

* BLACK cards represent push-ups
* RED cards represent sit-ups
* FACE CARDS represent 5 minute sprints
(Obviously, you can substitute any exercise in these slots.)

Now, shuffle the deck and throw a card out on the floor. It's the 4 of Diamonds. That means you would do 4 sets of sit-ups at whatever rep count you picked for sets. Once those 4 sets are complete, throw out the next card. An 8 of Clubs. That means 8 sets of push-ups at the designated rep count. (Yeah, that one's gonna hurt.) When finished, throw out the next card... and so on, till you complete the deck. Sounds awesome, right?

Go one, you know you wanna try it! Seriously, it's diverse ideas like this that can bring a unique challenge, and maybe just a bit of fun, back to your work-out.

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