Karen

Workout 20 April 2009:

"Karen"
Time for 150 wallball shots, 15lb ball

Results: 8'45
Previous best: 10'23 (25 Aug 08)

This is a very deceptive workout. It doesn't take much time and seems pretty easy, but if you go at it with high intensity, your lungs, legs, and arms are all screaming by the end. Don't even try to walk for about five minutes! Despite the decreased number and intensity of workouts for the past month, I'm happy with the improvement in time compared to last year. A good part of that is increased upper body strength as well as incorporating more hamstring and hip drive into the movement.

To do a wallball shot, hold a weighted medicine ball (scale the weight to your ability level) at chest level, then drop into a front squat. Drive yourself upward (stand up) and throw the ball against a wall, aiming for a spot about eight feet off the ground. Then catch the ball and repeat.

Mark Rippetoe Quote of the Day:
"One of the most basic of those rules is that, with the exception of the occasional lottery winner, you pretty much get out of an effort what you put into it. We’re all quite familiar with this reality, although we are often willing to believe people who tell us otherwise, about exercise and about life. The sooner everybody, both halves of the population, accepts the fact that effective exercise is more like training for athletics and less like lying around on the floor, more about performance and less about appearance, the sooner it will be understood that women really don’t need their own figure salon."