Rock the Rock

Last night, Jon and I tried rock climbing. I bought a deal from Amazon Local for $25 at Blue Ash Climb Time. It included the Belaying lesson, shoes, harness, and all the climbing we wanted. I've been looking forward to it since its good for grip and upper body strength. For those who have never done this, basically the person on the ground works the belay. You have to keep pulling the rope through the device so there is no slack. For me this was the work out. My right bicep was burning. Once to the top, the climber makes sure the belayer is ready, and just lets go. This was the scariest part. I hesitated before letting go. Yet, after a couple of times, this became my favorite part. What can I say? I enjoy falling. Explains my love of roller coasters and sky diving. This is also a great trust test. Don't go with your worst enemy, unless of course you plan on being their belayer. We tried different walls, including the ones that are slanted. At one point I ran over to the guide and asked if he had scissors. My middle finger nails were long and getting in my way. Pretty sure this earned me some street cred. Turns out this is a common problem, and he had some nail clippers handy. Jon is a natural. I think in a former life he may have been a monkey. He thinks he's good because of his survival instinct. Meaning, "Don't let go." This is definitely something we will be doing again. I hope to do it pretty regularly (maybe every couple of weeks) as part of my training.

Jon bouldering - climbing without the rope

This morning I took out my old buddy, Kingsford. He is a 20lb charcoal bag wrapped in 2 contractor bags taped up with hot pink duck tape. Then stuffed in a military laundry bag purchased from the military surplus store in Northside for $1.99. He's tied up with rope I bought from Lowes for $10. I have no idea how I tied it up. I just conjured up my Christmas wrapping skills and made it so it had a handle. Jon was actually pretty impressed with it. He even asked where I learned how to do that. Shoot, I got mad skillz. The finishing touch is my spray painted, hot pink Spartan helmet. I made a stencil out of cardboard by printing it on paper, cutting it out, tracing it on said cardboard, and then cutting out the stencil with a box cutter. My stencil scares Jon. Its stored in the basement and he's worried about what else will be Spartanized.

I left the house with Kingsford on my shoulder, iTouch on my right arm, and my GymBoss on my left. Its a mile walk to the park. I jogged from time to time and always jog up the hills. I also switched Kingsford between shoulders and different holds. Once to the park I did my interval training. Not only was my usual maintenance man there, but also 3 other city workers. All of them watching me as I tossed Kingsford over my head, planked, ran around picnic tables, burpeed, etc. I mean, literally watching me like you would watch a TV or the Reds game. After three bouts of 8 count intervals, I made the mile march back home.

Below are my intervals. 60 seconds on, 15 second rest. I unintentionally focused on my shoulders. Yesterday, I caught the Insanity Work Out infomercial on TV, so I watched Shaun T a bit. Mostly because I wanted to see what kind of exercises he was doing. I mean, if Shaun T is doing it, then Nicki G should be doing it. I added Mountain Climbers and side step push ups to my intervals this morning. Wow. Mountain climbers are a doozy. Perhaps I was still a little sore from rock climbing but those will definitely find their way into my rotation.

Squat to Shoulder press with Kingsford

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Push Up side steps (both directions)

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Chest Press with Kingsford

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Mountain Climbers

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Burpees

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High Knees

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Rows with Kingsford

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Plank

100 Crunches, 25 Leg Lifts, 25 Bicycles

Lap around the picnic tables

(The picnic tables are set so that they make a nice round lap around the bottom of the park. I run to each, jump up on the bench, run across, and go to the next)

Water and short rest