Sister Saturday

Note:  I never intended this to be a weight loss blog, but since I'm working so hard at losing weight it's no surprise that I have to write about it.  If you're getting sick of reading about my struggle, I'm sorry.

Nebalee is super fit, to the point that she and her husband ran a half-marathon last weekend, which I find absolutely insane.  We've been trying to figure out how to work out together, but I. don't. run.  And she doesn't lift, not that Gymnastics Boy has me lifting anyway.

Now that she's done training for the half-marathon, we decided we'd work out on Saturdays.  She's not a member of the club I am, so it's got to be something we can do at one of our houses.  I've spent the last week running through exercises that Gymnastics Boy has thrown my way, trying to come up with a circuit for us to do.

Most of the exercises I want to do centered around my favorite piece of equipment, the Bosu Ball.  I've mentioned it in the past, but when I was talking to Mom, she was having a hard time picturing it, so here's what it looks like...

It's an amazing way to work on your core.  When Gymnastics Boy started me on it, I could barely stand upright for more than a few seconds, never mind doing any sort of movement on it.  Now, we rarely work with it in the upright position.  Nope, we use it platform up...

It's a lot trickier, but I can't wait to get my own Bosu and take it to the range.  I want to stand on it, platform up, and shoot from it.

However, a Bosu is kind of out of my budget right now, so Nebalee and I chased all over town today looking for something we could use for stability.  One of the other pieces of equipment that Gymnastics Boy has me use is a foam roller.

There are a ton of things we can do with this silly roller, so I picked it up, fondled the Bosu at the store and headed home to torture my sister.  Isn't that what big sisters do?

As I've said, she's super fit and, well, I'm far from being super fit. I'm more like beginner fit.  Gymnastics Boy has been working me hard, but I'm still a long way from being in any semblance of "fit".  I chose some of my most hated exercises and away we went.

We started with a "pyramid" of sorts; 5 burpies (with a push-up), 1 squat with a dumbell, followed by 5 crunches.  The next round was 4 burpies, 2 squats, and 4 crunches and so on.  The only time I've done that pyramid, about a month and a half ago, it took me nine minutes to complete it.  I didn't check the time, but we did it in a whole lot less time this go 'round.

We followed it up with a plank, our hands on the foam roller, which ups the ante a lot.  While in the plank position, we alternated slooooowwwwlllyyy lowering our knees to the ground for 30 seconds.

Then it was up on the foam roller, standing on it, doing squats with dumbells for fifteen reps.  That's one that I really enjoy.  Not so much the squats, but the ability to balance on a foam roll and do the squats without falling off.

We finished off the circuit with my favorite push-ups.  Normally, I despise them, but since they're the same push-ups that Demi Moore did in the water in GI Jane right before she shaved her head, they make me feel super powerful.  Instead of doing them in water, Nebalee and I did them with our feet on a chair, about 18 - 20" above the ground.  Nebalee said something about "downward dog" to "up dog", but since I don't do yoga, I have no idea what the heck she's talking about.  Besides, "downward dog" doesn't sound nearly as cool as "the GI Jane" push-ups.

We completed the circuit twice, in about thirty minutes.  Not bad our first time out.  Even though the work out wasn't as long as what Gymnastics Boy would have had me do, it was still effective.  Nebalee was a little sad that she's lost so much upper body strength, but that will come back quickly.  I was thrilled that I was able to keep up with her.

Now I've just got to figure out new and inventive ways to torture Nebalee next Saturday... *evil laugh*

As a bonus, just because GI Jane makes me happy, enjoy this little clip...