Sunday Circuit

I didn't get out into the gym until late. Busy doing work at my desk but knew I would make it out before sundown.

It was bright. And hot. Two fans, a few wasps, and a bunch of lizards lounging and watching.

First up, biceps. Supersets. Three exercises: curls, db side raises, and hammer curls. Fifteen, 12, and 12 pounds, respectively. Three sets. Jumped rope to the count of 60 between each set. A good way to spike the heartbeat.

Next, triceps. Same routine with supersets and jump rope. Dips, cable pulldown, and overhead db. Body weight, four plates, and 15 pounds, respectively. Made it through two sets.

On to legs. Db squats with 15 pounds. Lunges the length of the garage and back, 12 up, 12 back. Then hit the floor to do work hams on the disk. Followed it up with 50 bicycles to zing the abs hard, about 30 crunches, and then slipped the disk under my back and burned about 20 more crunches out of my midsection.

303 calories. Felt like it should have been twice that. A great, great sweat. About 40 minutes total, including set up and tear down.

Favorites on the playlist All India Radio, Brandi Carlile, Alana Davis, Madonna (of course), Berlin, and The Cranberries.

Learning the Ropes

Spring. Time to get back into the exercise groove.

Over the cold months, it was hard to get motivated to get out into the garage and lift, run, jump, squat, and push. Instead of shocking my body, I made reentry easy and tackled two things at once -- I weeded and dug up rocks in the yard. And dug up more rocks in the yard. And pulled roots. To me, yard work is great total body conditioning.

But it's time to get into the gym, and as always, I want to see results fast.

An article in The Wall Street Journal reminded me that jumping rope is super for all over conditioning. It's easy, requires just two things really -- a rope and shoes. The article, Learning the Ropes, can be found here. For a video of the basics, YouTube offers the following video instruction:

Hate to skip off, but...