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On the heels of Halloween and with Thanksgiving in our sites, I thought I’d post this video from the guys (and gals) at Periodic Table of Videos. This group does a great job of making chemistry accessible for the layman. What’s more, they seem to have lots of fun doing it!
In this video Martyn, Samantha, and Pete compete to see who can best destroy their pumpkins via chemistry. Certainly some interesting ways in which to think about cooking the pumpkin(s).
Had a hard time finding time to work out lately. Guess it’s not quantity that matters more than it’s quality. At least that’s what I’d like to believe. Anyway, put in about 25 minutes today. Here’s the workout:
Tabata Intervals (Rope Skips) X 2 Sets
300 Workout
10 Pullups X 5 sets
10 Deadlifts X 5 sets
10 Pushups X 5 sets
10 Box Jumps X 5 sets
10 Floor Swipers X 5 sets
10 Clean and Press X 5 sets
Completed 300 workout in 16 minutes 9 seconds.
I’m too tired to really write much, but I want to keep on top of my workout journal. Got up at about 4:30 this morning. This change away from daylight savings time is really kicking my but right now. It’s probably better that I’m too tired to write too much anyway. Got a poker game in about 45 minutes — need to get a little nap beforehand. Anyway, here it is:
Rope Skips 5 X 1 Minute
1 Minute Rest in Between
Pull-ups 6 reps, 5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep
Rope Skips 5 X 30 Seconds
30 Second Rest in Between
50 Bodyweight Squats
About half an hour to complete. Not too difficult, but enough to stay honest and keep the juices flowing.
I’ve waited a long, long time in order to make this upgrade; and an expensive one it was! Whew! After dropping $600 on two black iPhone 3GS and assorted accessories (got one for my wife, too), I’ve spent nothing but time playing with the variety of apps I’ve added — playing with what Connor and Megan call “Dad’s new toy.”
As I stated in an earlier post, however, it’s the compactness and the flexibility of this device — the device that will essentially contain my life — that is so appealing to me. The fact that it’s also a phone is consequential. It’s my radio, my iPod, my e-mailbox, my workout journal, my to-do list, my GPS, my Internet, my camera, and more. It will fundamentally change the way I do things. It will fundamentally change the way I live my life.
While I’ve used no app more than Pandora, I have to say the Geocaching app has provided the most fun. I have never Geocached before, but today, the wife, kids, dog and myself headed to Watershed Park, here in Olympia, to find a couple of caches. It was a great time.
I don’t know if I’ll write any more posts about my iPhone. I’m sure at some point something else about the iPhone will fascinate me enough to write about it. Until that time presents itself, I will continue to find new and varied ways in which to use my iPhone — to get the most bang for the buck.
If you’d asked me long ago what it was I looked most forward to in life, I would have said, “Being a father.” I still rate being a father as one of the best all-time experiences. It’s also, however, one of the most challenging responsibilities I’ve faced. I find parenting to be a continual tug-o-war between protecting my children and giving them enough slack to make their own choices and experience the resulting consequences. Sometimes those consequences can be more than I want to see my children experience; as a result I sometimes find myself stepping into save them. Read More…
Simple workout today. Walked the dog for 35 minutes. Nice for me, good for him.
There are three things you’ve gotta love about working out: feeling like you worked your ass off, sweating profusely, and finishing strong to The Scorpions’ Rock You Like a Hurricane! I accomplished all three today!
I decided to focus on shoulders today, as I tend to neglect them. You’ll notice that I did box jumps in between each set of resistance exercise. I tend to dislike the rest period between sets of exercise. I overcome this dead space with some sort of cardio — it really intensifies the workout.
Here it is:
Tabata Intervals (Rope Skips) X 1 set
Power Press X 12
Box Jumps X 10
Lateral Raises X 10
Box Jumps X 10
Front Raises X 10
Box Jumps X 10
Dumbbell Curls X 12
Repeat power press through dumbell curls three times.
Finished all of that with three additional sets of tabata intervals (rope skips) with 30 seconds rest between each 4-minute set. Total time: ~ 30 minutes.
Spent yesterday with the family — catching up, if you will. The grind of working, completing my second Master’s degree (there are more interesting things to collect, aren’t there), interning as a principal, coaching, working out, and the like, doesn’t afford our family lots of quality together time. Made the worthwhile decision to forgo working out in favor of family time. Gave us a chance to hunt for pumpkins at Hunter’s Farm and go out to lunch. A quality afternoon!
Almost didn’t work out this morning as the alarm clock failed to go off. Well, it didn’t fail…the alarm clock, after all, is as smart as the person setting it. Chalk this one up to human error. Nonetheless, my internal alarm, as usual, was faithful. Almost didn’t work out regardless. It’s hard to drag the 42-year old rear end out of bed to face the morning chill that overwhelms the garage. This is, however, the only time of the day I truly get to myself. I’m finding that if I don’t start my day off in this manner I will be miserable the rest of the day. No sense in being miserable now, is there?
Here it is…
Interval Challenge #2
Burpees X 6
Push-ups X 12
Body Weight Squats X 25
Rope Skips X 1 Minute
Crunches X 45
Repeat the above sets of exercise 5 times with little to no rest in between. Took about 20 minutes.
I’ve been wanting to post this one for a long time — well, at least since I wrote it at the end of summer. I originally intended to post it as a series of articles, each article defined discretely by the sections that this paper is broken up into. As I thought it about it more, however, I felt compelled to post this paper in its entirety. Read More…
Too much coffee yesterday, couldn’t get to sleep last night as a result. Woke up just half an hour before I had to leave the house for a Saturday morning mathematics in-service. No time to work out.
I endured the tedium of solving mathematics problems with my colleagues. It’s actually not tedium. It’s fun to engage in analytic processes with other practitioners of math. Given the nature of education, we seldom get shared opportunities to engage one and other in pedagogy. Needless to say, in the back of my mind for those four hours was, “When can I get home to work out and what workout will I do?”
Well, in response to question number two, I decided to do the 300 Workout. The 300 Workout gained popularity just after the movie 300 came out. It was purported that the 300 Workout was derived as a result training the actors to look fit — soldier-like, if you will — for the movie. I don’t really know the correlation of the workout’s name to the timing of the preparation of actors for their roles. What I do know, however, is that the workout doesn’t derive its name from the movie, but from the number of total repetitions of exercise done during the workout.
Having elucidated upon my reading audience the workout of choice and the derivation of its name, I must admit that I really did the “300″ workout. Note the parentheses around the number. I actually did the 325 workout because I add 5 extra reps per set of bent-over dumbbell rows.
Enough explanation? Here’s the workout:
“300″ Workout
Pull-ups X 5
Deadlifts X 10
Plyometric Push-ups X 10
Box Jumps X 10
Bent-over Dumbbell Rows X 10 (5 per side)
Floor Wipers X 10
Single-arm Clean and Press X 10 (5 per side)
Repeat the above 5 times for a total of 325 reps. Goal is to complete all reps with minimal rest, as quickly as possible. My time: 17 minutes.
I ended the workout with crunches, 4 sets of 35 reps. I can now watch UFC 104, play poker, and enjoy food and beverage with friends tonight, free of guilt. Well, almost free of guilt.
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Nov.8,2009