A Morning in My Life

At 8:00 this morning our daughter had swim team practice. From where we live it's a ten-mile drive to the pool, so it makes sense to just hang out there until the hour practice is done rather than make two trips. But it also makes sense to take advantage of that hour as well. Here's how the morning went.

7:00 wake-up, throw on a t-shirt and shorts, drink a big glass of cold water, and eat breakfast that I prepared the night before. Today for breakfast I deviated from my norm and tried rolled spelt flakes for the first time (eaten raw and with milk like cereal) instead of rolled oats. They were okay, but I like the rolled oats better. I always top the oats (or in this case spelt) with raisins and 2 teaspoons of flax seed that I've soaked overnight. The oats are a hearty slow-release carbohydrate, the raisins offer a serving of fruit and natural sweetness, the flax seed offers healthy omega-3 fat, and the milk offers a decent dose of protein among other things. I've been eating this mixture almost every day for the past several years and never seem to tire of it.

On our way out the door at 7:35 I grabbed a 25# dumbbell and an old skateboard that our kids no longer use.

At 7:55 I dropped off our daughter and took the skateboard and dumbbell to a shelter house that sits just 50 yards from the pool in a semi-shaded area. From there it was time for a warm-up that went like this:

--bodyweight squats (did 12 prisoner-style squats this morning with hands behind head)
--leg swings (12/leg)
--walking lunges (20)
--close-grip push-ups (10)
--Standing stick-ups (10)
--Waiter bows (10)
--Plank (30 seconds)
--Deadlift motions without any weight (10)

I repeated this set and by 8:07 was all warmed up for the main workout as follows:

Set 1:
10 pull-ups from the rafters of the shelter-house
15 box-jumps onto the seat portion of the picnic tables in shelter house
10 push-ups, but with feet on skateboard. (While holding the top position of each push-up I would pull my knees to my chest and then back to the straight position and do another push-up.)

Rest one minute and repeat set 1 but with 8 pull-ups instead of 10. (This set really gets your heart pumping! I always try to have the most intense exercises in the first set, which is why a solid warm-up is very important.)

Set 2:
15 dumbbell rows per arm (standing parallel to the picnic bench, put right hand and right knee on bench, pull dumbbell up with left arm 15 times. Then switch to opposite side.)
15 Kettle-bell swings using the dumbbell instead of a kettle bell (since I don't own a kettle-bell)

Rest one minute and repeat set 2.

Set 3:
5 chin-ups with knee-ups (again using the rafters)
10 ab-wheel roll-outs using the skateboard instead of an ab-wheel.

Rest and repeat set 3

Finisher:
10 short hill sprints (The hill is literally only about 8 yards long, but that was perfect. Sprint up the hill, walk back down and repeat 10 times.

By 8:27 I was done and sweating profusely. But I also had another half hour of precious time which I used to catch a few rays of sun and then cooled off in the shade of the shelter house while opening up my laptop and doing my daily devotions. It was an hour very well spent.

Note: While doing this routine I saw numerous people out jogging around the park like I used to do. I doubt that I'll ever be joining them again. The kind of routine described above is way more convenient (I can work out almost anywhere!), in most cases is way more intense, offers way less repetitive wear and tear on joints that we need for a lifetime, is way more of a full-body workout, combines resistance and cardio components, and offers way more variety to boot. For those who really enjoy running, and many do, I say "way to go!" I'm glad you're out there doing something. But for those who don't enjoy running or want something more effective for fat-loss, there really are other ways to get in and stay in great shape.