The Weekend Challenge and My New Toy

This week the challenge on the Turbulence Training forums was a great bodyweight workout (a big thank you to smoketheblowfish for coming up with this one).

With a 20 minute time limit, here's the circuit that you repeat:

Prisoner Squats - 20

Jumping Jacks - 50

X-body mountain climbers - 10/side

Bulgarian Split Squats - 10/side

Narrow Pushups - 20 (hands shoulder-width apart)

Jackknife (feet on ball, hands on ground) - 10

Burpees - 10

Rules:

a) Repeat again and again and again (if you can)
b) 20 minute time limit

c) each rep is 1 Point

d) additional 1/2 Point for each Pushup Burpee

e) additional 1 Point for each Spiderman Pushup Burpee

My Results:

After the first round, I was thinking "this isn't so bad". After the second, I was breathing pretty hard. After the third, I was sweating hard and there were a few curses being uttered (something about smoking a blowfish). After the fourth, there were a few more curses (my apologies to Smoke's mother). I thought I might puke when I started the fifth. I only got 1/2 way through the X-body mountain climbers.

If you count each side as it's own rep, I came up with 150 points per round.

4 full rounds (150 x 4) = 600

partial 5th = 80

bonus for spiderman push up burpees first 2 rounds (10 x 2) = 20

bonus for push up burpees 3rd and 4th time through (5 x 2) = 10

Total score = 710

Great workout! And it's all bodyweight exercises - the only equipment required is a stability ball for the jackknives (or you could substitute a forward or diagonal lunge) and a couch or chair for the Bulgarian split squats. You could do this workout just about anywhere.

And now...about my new toy. Heeheehee. Here's a picture:

I love it! It's the Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar. Every time I walk by I have to do a chin up. It's great to have a bar right at home. And this one isn't permanently attached to the doorframe. I can take it down and put it up whenever. It took, like, 10 minutes to assemble and then I was doing chin ups. Whoo-hoo!