The park as my gym

When we were out lounging at the park and soaking up some rays – I got the sudden urge to also workout. I thought, “why not?” I see people working out at the park all the time – be it individuals or groups doing outdoor boot camp classes. Plus, kids do it all the time – don’t they call it a jungle gym? Plus, it was such a nice day that working out on the soft grass and in the sunny weather didn’t quite feel like “working out.”

As you might know, I’m quite the avid Bodyrocker – which gives me a plethora of exercises from which I can put together a nice little workout and without the need for any equipment. So I pulled out my iPhone, wrote down some exercises and used the handy dandy Gymboss Interval iPhone app to help me keep time.

You can program this however you like – it’s pretty nice. And perfect for on the go.

Luckily, the park we went to was fairly light – just a few people here and there. So I could focus on my own workout and not think about people watching me (I don’t do so good with an audience). It was fun – I definitely will do it again and the best part…my workout was done for the day!

Jump tuck!!

Update: More faux fitness training

So if you’ve been following along (if not, click here and here), you know that I’ve been pretending to be a fitness trainer – and have been teaching some of the Korean employees at our gym some hardcore workouts (via Bodyrock.tv).

I’ve done two more sessions this week – and each time – a new person has joined along.  It’s kind of fun. 

The workouts are short, but intense.  And they seem to be EXHAUSTED afterwards – which is what I’m shooting for -a Korean sweating (really sweating) at the gym…shocking, I know.  🙂

Here is our workout from Tuesday:

Six pack abs workout

  

And here is the workout we did on Thursday:

18 minute S&M workout (I had Micah do the explaining of what ‘S and M’ meant) 🙂

 

If you are even mildly interested – I encourage you to just check out the Bodyrock.tv site.  Click on ‘home workouts’ and watch some of the videos.  Whenever I’m feeling lazy, I will click on a new workout I’ve never done, watch the video – and that always gets me off my butt.  Remember, you don’t need a gym to do these workouts.  You don’t even need any special equipment.

I’m off to choose our workout for Saturday!

Update: Our Korean gym workout date

A couple of posts ago, I talked about how our Korean gym employees wanted me to put them through one of the workouts they routinely see me doing at the gym.  Read the earlier post to see the type of workouts I do and the workout I chose for them.  Go BodyRock.TV!!

So Saturday morning, we headed to the gym.  Keep in mind, Micah and I went out for dinner and drinks with my co-teachers the night before.  Uh…let’s just say we weren’t in the best condition for doing a hardcore workout, but we pulled through.  🙂

Unfortunately, two of the guys didn’t show up.  But Min Hee, the one who was most excited about learning, she was there right on time.  I gave her a print out of the workout, along with pictures to describe each of the exercises. 

 

First, warm-up time.  Five minutes on the exercise bike. 

 

Walking her through the workout and how to correctly do each individual exercise.  I also showed her ways to make them a little easier in case they were too hard.

  

Burpees!  Her first time doing them.  Excuse the butt shot…ahem, Micah.

  

One leg dead lift, followed with a jump in the air. 

 

All in all, she did a really great job.  She was able to keep up the whole time.  She was super tired afterwards (as were we), but felt good about the workout.  Yeah…she was actually sweating…alot!

While we were doing side crunches, an older Korean woman came over and thought maybe I was teaching a class.  She plunked herself down along side us and started to try and follow along.  That lasted about uh…10 seconds and then she just watched…and then walked away.  Funny.

Oh, Micah did a great job too, considering he wasn’t planning on doing the entire workout (and he hadn’t eaten anything that morning).

Go Min Hee!!!

Micah – you’d never know he felt like throwing up right about now.

So Min Hee wants me to teach her more workouts.  So, time permitting, I’ll hopefully get to show her a few more different ones.  The difficult part is that her English is pretty limited, so it requires that I show her exactly what to do – rather than just relying on pictures and writing. 

We’re here to pump them up

So a funny thing happened last Saturday when Micah and I were working out at the gym.  I was just finishing my workout when one of the gym employees came up to me and asked me (in her limited English) about what I had been doing.  Apparently, the gym employees thought I was a professional fitness trainer and had asked Micah about me.  He told them that I wasn’t, but that I follow these workouts on BodyRock.TV. 

There are four employees that work at the gym that we’ve gotten to know fairly well.  They are really interested in my workout routines – and so this Saturday, Micah and I are going to train them!  Yep, we are going to put them through a BodyRock workout.  We’ll first show them all the exercises and how to do them correctly – and then – workout time!  I honestly think they are going to die (not literally of course).  I say this because in general, Koreans really don’t workout very hard.  I’ve mentioned this before, but 95% of the Koreans at my gym don’t run on the treadmill.  Many don’t even break a sweat. 

So, this should be fun!!  Earlier this week, I chose the workout we’ll be doing.  It’s not complicated, but it’s challenging (they’ll be sweating for sure!)  And Micah and I did the workout as well, just to make sure we knew what we were doing.  You can check out the video below or click here to see a detailed description of the workout.

Umm…yeah.  She is very very comfortable with her body :-)  But don’t let that distract you.

A little more about these BodyRock workouts:

Let me tell you, these workouts are intense.  But they are awesome.  I don’t use the treadmill or exercise bike anymore (unless it’s for warming up) – and for the past few months I have been doing these hardcore cardio, full-body, body-weight only workouts.  I just stumbled upon a BodyRock video on YouTube one day, and for fun, decided to try it out.  And I’ve been doing them ever since.  Plus…all the workouts are FREE!

These workouts are no joke.  But don’t be intimidated if you are a beginner – there’s always a way to change up a difficult move or do less reps (example: do pushups from your knees).  And 90% of the workouts don’t require any special equipment – they rely solely on using your bodyweight – which believe me, is enough. 

Most of the workouts are interval style (basically tabata training) – meaning, for example: 30 seconds of exercise #1 at maximum effort, followed by 10 seconds of rest.  Then 30 seconds of exercise #2 at max effort, then 10 seconds of rest.  Etc. etc.  And I especially find it appealing that most of the workouts are less than 20 minutes…some even 12 minutes. 

And these workouts aren’t for the ladies only.  I think anyone can benefit from doing them.  I definitely have gotten into great shape (possibly the best shape I’ve ever been in).  But like always, you gotta be consistent and workout at least 3 or 4 days a week.  (But remember…these workouts are 20 min or less).  And eat healthy – yada yada. 

Alright, alright – I think you get the point.  I’ll post an update on how our workout with our gym friends go.