Daily Extras -
run 2 of the 400m carrying a weight in your R hand
run 2 of the 400m carrying a weight in your L hand
You may split these up however you like.
Workout Notes:
- This is a benchmark workout for us. You should know your last “Lil Kate” time.
- 25-30 minutes on this one is screaming fast. Most will take longer.
- Watch your form throughout this workout. The second round comes at you hard.
- Watch your back on the high sumos and keep those elbows high and your back straight.
- On the squats, watch yourself in the mirror. Get below parallel and keep your chest up.
- Snake the pushups if you like.
What I learned at IHRSA today...
1. You can't just make people cheer for no damn reason. Actually, there was probably a good reason, but nobody really knew it. What happened is, the president of IHRSA stood up on the stage at the general assembly this morning and asked everyone to look under our seats. I was hoping we were about to hear "YOU GET A CAR, AND YOU GET A CAR!" Nope. It was just a stupid sign that said "YES, on "PHIT ACT." The PHIT Act is legislation pending in Congress which will allow Americans to use Pre-Tax Medical Accounts to pay for physical activity expenses. In other words your membership to GPP could potentially be a writen off on your taxes! Kind of exciting, but the dude doesn't really explain this at all. Then, he gives a nod to a whole gaggle cheerleader types who proceed to storm the stage and, let's say BEG, the audience to start clapping and cheer "PASS PHIT!" As these camera crews appear out of nowhere to film the frenzy. Problem was - no frenzy! Ha! it was pathetic. Been chuckling about the flop all day.
2. The fiterati is convinced that the digital revolution is just around the corner for fitness. Went to a conference today where the very highly credentialed and entertaining "expert" told us all that the next big trend in health and fitness that is going to revolutionize the way we get healthy is only years away. And it will be tied to the digital revolution. It'll look like what Amazon is doing with grocery stores. That he really doesn't know what it is or what it will look like, but it's coming and coming fast. Frankly, I once heard a more convincing speech from a bum on the street of San Francisco. That dude was holding a sign that read "YOU ARE ALL GOING TO BURN." Also, he was wearing what looked like an adult cloth diaper.
3. I'm not convinced that the digital revolution will ever be a major player in the health and fitness world. I mean, it'll surely play a role as novelty, but isn't the digitization of our modern world the very thing responsible for our unprecedented decline in health? The human body is designed to be active. It needs to move or it rots and becomes diseased. Wouldn't it be counter intuitive to believe that even more technology and automation is our path to better health? I mean, it sounds good and all, but saying that seems a little like saying the path to eating fewer cheeseburgers is by eating even MORE cheeseburgers.
Plus, exercise is one of the very last things that puts us in touch with the physical. Humans crave touch. We literally NEED each other. We need to touch physically, mentally, emotionally etc. to become and stay healthy. It's a very manual thing. No digital or virtual experience can be substituted for the natural healthy process of getting in touch with our bodies and each other. Many, many diseases, stresses and illnesses can be directly linked to absence of human touch.
4. Speaking of each other, here is something I learned today. Humans are becoming more and more disconnected. Martin Lindstrom, author of "Small Data" was our keynote speaker this morning. He studies human behavior down to it's most minute detail. He's noticed a rather disturbing trend. He says today's modern human, especially humans between the ages of 10-16 are NEVER BORED! They ALWAYS have something to do. If they are ever in a situation where they are about to be bored or uncomfortable, what happens? We reach for our phones and virtually connect with something more interesting. Cool, right?
It's NOT cool.
The reason it's not cool is because humans achieve greatness most often when they HAVE TO. Most innovations that you know about were born out of the uncomfortable or painful. Pain was responsible for the invention of the wheel, for the invention of the light bulb, for the invention of ... pretty much everything. He postulated that a generation that never gets bored becomes diseased and stops progressing. It was interesting. I never really thought of it that way.
This makes me equal parts happy and sick.