Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Slas

Slas also known as the Salt Lake Astronomical society hosts several star parties throughout the month, these are a great idea for anyone looking to have fun and look at the stars at the same time. Below is a link to see the Slas calendar of events.

Events Calendar

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

P90X

I recently saw the infomercial about Power 90 Xtreme and they do a pretty good job selling the product (it looks like it might actually work) so I am giving it a shot. The first workout I tried is Ab-Ripper X. For a few months now, I thought I had figured out what I call the best sit up workout. After trying Ab-Ripper X I quickly discovered that I was wrong, Ab-Ripper X hits my workout out of the ballpark, my abs were sore for the next 3 days.
It has now been just over a week and I haven't missed a day, if I'm not mistaken each of my muscles has been sore fore at least a while and I am beginning to see muscles on my abs that I have struggled with for years because of the new workout moves that I have been introduced to.

Best sit up workout

I have been doing sit ups for a long time now and have discovered many things that work well and other things that dont work quite as well. through this process I have come up with what I like to call the "best sit up workout, it burns my abs every time I do it. Following, you will find the steps to my best sit up workout, complete 30 reps of each of these with little to no rest between reps.

1. Bicycle crunch- with your fingers inter-digitated behind your head hold a crunch while at the same time peddling as if riding a bike and at the same time moving your elbows from left to right to help you exercise the top part of your abs. (this is one of the best full abdominal exercises)

2. Bent leg hip raise- legs up in the air, put feet flat against each other and knees bent pointing away from each other (this will make a diamond like shape), arms and hands flat on the floor for balance, now simply raise hips off the floor and lower them back down. (burn should be felt in lower abs)

3. Straight leg hip raise- similar to previous exercise, with legs straight in the air pointing towards the ceiling and arms and hands on the floor for balance, simply raise you hips, reaching tows toward ceiling, then go back down. (maximum height while still keeping upper back on floor is best)

4. Legs up arms up crunch- like a crunch except you hold your legs pointed straight up in the air and with your arms up in the air ,by crunching, try to reach past your toes as far as you can, (your abs should be burning by this point)

5. Oblique crunches- There are 2 different ways I like to do this. The 1st way is like crunches except your legs are twisted off to one side. The second way ( I like this way better) get up on your left hip and butt, left arm from elbow to hand on the floor for balance, right hand behind the head and legs off of the floor, now do a sideways sit up touching your right elbow to you thigh if you wnat. Do 30 reps on the left and 30 reps on the right.

6. Full abdominal crunch- similar to a crunch except you bring your legs up into your body with each rep. (always focusing on exercising your abs)

7. Leg Raise- opposite of a crunch, bring your legs up so your lower back is of the ground and then go back down. (never touch the ground with your legs)

8. Ab twist- sit upright with legs bent and off the floor, put hands together and twist from side to side touching the floor on each side. Speed is key with this exercise. (Do 50+ of these, this is a real killer)

Your abs should be sufficiently worked out by now and you should be feeling the burn whether you are used to sit ups or not. I do not always do the last 2 workouts.

Some of the names of the exercises may not be proper names, I plan to research this as well as add video or pictures to better explain the exercises.