Fitness Junction

This week:

• Knowledge Corner: Deck of cards workout

• Monthly Challenge Update: January - The Two Day Rule

• Meme Center: Too much protein? That's an oxymoron

Knowledge Corner: Deck of Cards Workout

Feeling the need to mix up your workouts with something new? Look no further than your standard deck of cards. It is a simple, effective, and versatile way to create new workouts that can be done anywhere. The suits will correspond with an exercise and the number on the card dictates the reps (face cards equal ten and aces equal eleven). Start by picking four exercises, assign each one to a suit, and then work your way though the deck one card at a time. After you draw a card, do the exercise and reps prescribed by that card, i.e. if you matched burpees with spades and you drew the seven of spades, do seven burpees and then flip the next card. The goal is to get through the whole deck with as little rest as possible.

The world is your oyster with the deck of cards workout because you can pick any four exercises to combine. Here are three examples:

Full Body (Bodyweight)

• Spades/burpees

• Clubs/squats

• Diamonds/pushups

• Hearts/situps

Full Body (Single Kettlebell)

• Spades/swings

• Clubs/goblet squats

• Diamonds/clean and press right arm

• Hearts/clean and press left arm

Core Focus (Bodyweight)

• Spades/flutter kicks

• Clubs/Russian twists

• Diamonds/mountain climbers

• Hearts/crunchy frogs

For an added challenge, you can keep the jokers and assign them an exercise such as run a lap, plank for 1min, etc. If you are a beginner, or short on time, you can always do just half a deck or you can cut the reps in half for each card.

Trivia

Speaking of burpees, do you how the infamous exercise got its name?

• A. Named after a Latin expression that roughly translates to "fun times"

• B. Named after the township in Canada where it was invented

• C. Named after the researcher who invented it

• D. Named after the burpee monkey, an endangered species know for its vertical leaping ability

January Challenge: Two Day Rule

I messed up this week. I let work get away from me on Monday and Tuesday and didn't do my Spanish practice either day. I kept telling myself I'd get to it after I finished just one more thing but ultimately forgot to get it done. Life happens right? No sulking allowed though and I made up for it with extra practice on Wednesday and Thursday. Progress, not perfection.

To learn more about the idea of the Two Day Rule, check out this thread.

Meme Center

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Trivia answer: C. Named after the researcher who invented it. His name was Royal Huddleston Burpee Sr (1898-1987) and he is responsible for much pain and suffering worldwide. Thank you Dr. Burpee!