After a very interesting and tumultuous 72 hours, I can boldly say my family and I survived hurricane ike. The interesting thing is, it was not the hurricane that worried me. My oly fear was the safety and fear of my kiddos. However, they proved to be stronger warriors than I could ever anticipate. Nothing is more inspiring than a 9 and 14 year old, who defy fear of 80 mph winds by playing board games,and later sleeping through the storm as if nothing ever happened.

My kiddos kick major you-know-what!  Now, how will you take on the ugly faces of adversity this week? are you going to let things like a crazy work schedule, new fall classes, a shaky relationship, a crazy mother-in-law, high gas prices, an unstable stock market, or Obama or Palin’s inexperience keep you from staying on track with your training program? Really? If so, just remember, not even a category 2 hurricane could break the spirit of two young children, so why should the “smaller” obstacles in life listed above, break yours.

How do you face obstacles that may interfere with your training program? Please share them in the comments section below.

(note: I am based in Houston, TX. and am currently in one of the areas soon to be affected by Hurricane Ike)

Ok, coming from a Radio/TV background, I know the difference between “informational” and “sensational” news. After at least 48 hours of continuous coverage of Hurricane Ike’s approach to the Gulf Coast, the drama starts to get on your nerves. If you are not careful, you will let non-stop emphasis on fear bring you down, and truly attract the same negativity. However, I found another way to use the continuous news coverage to my advantage.

Certain words, which I view as words to draw fear in news viewers, as well as help create the best news reel submission for those news anchors looking for an emmy, are the very words that will keep me on track with my training, as well as keep me from going “ape-s@#$” while being stuck in my apartment.

For the next hour, this is what I will do while watching the news, and it coverage of Hurricane Ike. When I hear the following words listed below, I will perform the exercises assigned to them. It will be interecsting to see how many sets I perform:

1. Storm Surge – 20 Push Ups
2. Power Outage – 20 Bodyweight Squats
3. Eye Wall – 10 Kettlebell snatches/side
4. Flooding – 20 Jumping Jacks
5. Tropical Force Winds – 20 kettlebell swings/side
6. Hunker Down – 20 Burpees

What do you think? Leave your comments and/or well wishes below.

Jump Rope/Med Ball Slam Pyramid

1a. Jump Rope – 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350
1b. 10 lb Medicine Ball slam – 5,10,15,20,25,30,35

Alternate between both exercises (i.e. Jump Rope 50 times, then perform 5 medicine ball slams, j.r. 100 times, perform 10 med. ball slams, etc.)

This is a great full body workout that gives you the benefit of cardio, anaerobic training, interval training, as well as core training. make sure you stand tall when raising the medicine ball, in order to stretch out your abs and activate your upper back muscles. As you descend on the slam down, push your hips back, and keep your chest facing forward. As you slam the medicine ball, imagine you are going to slam it “through” the floor. I love this workout and it is definitely one of my favorites.

Warm Up:

2 Hand Kettlebell Swing x 5 x 1 minutes

Kettlebell Ladder:

Perform the following amount of reps for exercise 1a, then immediately perform the exact same amount for exercise 1b. Perform the number of reps of this superset without rest in between. Once done with first superset, rest 1 minute, and then perform superset 2 exactly as superset 1.

1a. Kettlebell 2 Hand Swing x 5,4,3,2,1
1b. Kettlebell Front Squat x 5,4,3,2,1

2a. Slow bear crawl x 10 yards
2b. 2 hand kettlebell swing
2c. Sprint back to start line

Perform kettlebell swings for the following reps: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. In other words perform 10 double kettlebell swings in superset 1. Perform 8 double kettlebell swings in superset 2, etc.