Park Workout

I found this link to a 20-Minute Fitness Workout at the park. I thought about it and this would be great for me and my wife when we go to the park with our kids. I will give you a quick overview of the workout, but please hit the link to get full instructions and pictures.

1. Warm-up - I know that this should not be said, but you would be surprised how many people don't warm up or don't stretch before they workout. It will make a difference.

2. Playground Push Ups - These are just simple push-ups on an incline. To make them easier don't push your feet out as far.

3. Monkey Bar Pull Ups - These pull ups are not as hard as they sound. Your feet will be on the ground and you will be leaning back at an angle pulling yourself up.

4. Park Bench Dips - Got to get the tris. This is a simple exercise where you use the park bench just like at the gym bench to do dips.

5. Park Bench Step Ups - Just as it says, this is step ups on the park bench. I know that some park benches are high, and the higher it is the harder it is, so look around for any step ups, whether it is on another park bench or steps up to the slide. (remember to switch feet also)

6. Slide Lunges - This is stationary lunges with your foot up on the end of the slide. Follow the link for a better explanation and photos.

7. V-Sit Ab Toner - This one is a little harder to explain also, but you sit on the end of a bench with your hands right behind you and you draw your legs in and out.

8. Hanging Ab Toner - This is the last exercise. You hang from the high monkey bars and bring your knees up as high as you can and then back down.

After the last exercise, you do all of the exercises again. The site tells you to do it each one for 30-60 seconds, but starting off I would do 15-20 then move to another exercise.

I know if you are like my wife, you are thinking why would I go out in public and workout when I could do it at the gym. The answer is simple, it is an easy way to get outside with your kids and let them have fun while you get fit. I know that this says that it is a moms workout, but don't be intimidated by that, working out is working out whether your are mom, dad, or anywhere in between.

Enjoy the workout :-)

Today is the day

One of the things that I do when I get to work in the morning, is to browse all of my sites to catch up on everything that is happening today. This might be news, blogs, or just something to start the day off right. Below are a few sites that I visit in the mornings to get my day off right.

Gizmodo
Lifehacker
Engadget
Cnn.com
TVsquad
Slashdot
WOW.com
and lately Google Blogger Buzz

It is now Friday, and I am trying to determine what I want to do this weekend. Since my daughter is not with us for a week, I am not sure what to do. I will try and run today when I get home, and a running group meets tomorrow at 6am that I am going to try and attend.

Here is part of the email that contains meeting information for the run in the morning:

This Saturday we will be meeting at the Arts Center at MacArthur Park at 6am. The scheduled distances are: 4 miles, 6 miles, and 8 miles. (We will be celebrating a couple of birthdays - rumor has it there WILL be cake!)

Directions: From I-630, take the Main Street exit and head north (toward the river). Turn right on 10th Street (heading east). 10th Street will end at the Arkansas Art Center - we meet in the big parking lot on Commerce.

Big Dam Bridge Little Rock

2009 06 28_0689_edited-1, originally uploaded by opiespank.

Here is a picture that took for a contest at my job. I thought I did a pretty good job, but I did not win. I am still learning my camera and I have had it for a few years now. It is a Olympus E-500.

This picture was taken around 9:00pm at night this past May. I used auto ISO settings, with about 3sec shutter speed. I used a tripod, and of course no flash. I could have not taken this picture without a tripod.

What do you think?

A new day..

Well, I told you that you would be seeing changes, and here they are. I don't know if this will be the final look, but I like the layout pretty good. It is simple, just like me. Now on to my life ...

Well, I had to say goodbye to my daughter for 10 days and 9 nights yesterday. She is headed to Charlotte, NC with my in-laws to visit my brother-in-law. This will be the first time that I will be without my "Peanut" for that long. I don't know how to react, I don't think that it has sunk in yet.

I have started running slowly, only ran once this week. It has been raining a lot lately so have not been motivated to get out and run. If there are any runners out there, I have been using a few programs to help me out with my runs.

One is Runkeeper for my iPhone. It uses the gps to track my location, mileage, rate, etc. I like it a lot and if I get up to running more I will get the full version for only 9.99. Once you complete your run, you can go to there web site and view stats for different runs, it keeps it all.

The other program I use is really just a web site, Runstoppable. I use this site to map out my run so when I run I know about how long it will be. You can map out different runs ahead of time. It uses Google maps api so it is very easy to use. Check it out.

For anyone actually following my blog, I hope that you will enjoy my updates. I am also on twitter @opiespank