Day 3 - My Morning Workout

Morning is typically a pretty busy time around the house.  We have two people trying to get ready for work, and those two people are trying to get two young'uns ready for school.  It's pretty hectic, and doesn't leave much time for a decent workout.  But while my wife is in the shower, I can manage about 15 minutes for a quick workout before I need to make breakfast and lunches for the kiddos.

Typically, I head to the basement where I can turn on some music without bothering everyone.  After turning on Pandora to some kind of workout music, it's time to get to work. The quick morning workout is typically just some stretching and light cardio, just to help get going in the morning.  I've been through EA Active on the Wii, and one round of P90X, so I decided to pick and choose from the various types of cardio in those workouts.  Here is my typical routine, all done quickly and without breaks:

• Arm, shoulder and chest stretches
• Side stretches
• Back and leg stretches
• Jumping jacks - a few more each day, and fast.
• Run lunges - a few more each day, and fast.
• Steam engine - hands clasped behind the head, bring left knee up and right elbow down, the repeat with the other side.  Maybe 40 or 50.  Kind of like doing crunches, but standing up.
• "Boxing" with very light weights.  3 sets.
• Straight punches, 10 reps
• Upper cuts, 10 reps
• Hooks, 10 reps
• Shoulder press, 10 reps
• Mountain climbers, usually about 40 reps*
• Squat thrusts (sometimes the P90X version, with pushups in between, depending on how I'm feeling), usually only about 10-15 reps*
• Push ups, as many as possible
• Sit ups, as many as possible
• Cool down: Go make kids lunches.

* I broke my toe about a week ago, and am skipping these for now.

So, that's my usual morning workout.  It really gets me prepped for the breakfast-and-lunch-making to come.

Breakfast: fruit/protein smoothie

Lunch: Protein bar

Dinner:  Stir-fried lemongrass chicken.  Delicious, but in pain in the ass to make.  Lots of prep.

Exercise:  1/2-hour walk around town at lunch.  About 45 minutes on the bike in the garage.  Not sure why, but I'm on a Batman kick lately.  Decided to get the disc of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1 from Netflix and put it on my tablet.  I watched the first 45 minutes of it, and will finish it tomorrow night.  I was a big fan of the graphic novel, which I read about a year ago.  The movie seems to be extremely faithful to the book, at least so far.  I can't wait for Part 2 to come out at the end of the month.

Today's weigh-in:  221.8

Another thing about the weights.  I make sure I weigh myself at basically the same time every day, typically shortly before bed, as I'm sitting here typing these posts.  And I use the same scale, and wear approximately the same clothes, and no shoes.