Skwigg Blog

Just discovered Skwigg Blog and loved two bits from her Monster Names and Medicine Balls post:

Great workout today, very ab intensive, lots of crazy core exercises and unilateral exercises. I did dumbbell bent over rows one arm at a time while balancing on a wobble board, squat/overhead presses one arm at a time, incline hammer curls with chest press one arm at a time, medicine ball oblique twists which are kind of hard to explain - your butt is the only thing touching the floor, your knees are tucked up by your chest, the medicine ball is in your hands, you touch the ball to the floor next to you and twist your knees toward the opposite side for balance, then you touch the ball to the floor on the other side and take your knees in the opposite direction, nothing but your butt and the ball touch the floor, killer oblique contractions.

Sounds like a great exercise. And this was a hoot:

I also did the lie-on-the-floor-and-get-pummeled-with-a-medicine-ball exercise. That's the one where ET repeatedly throws the 10 or 15 pound ball into my stomach HARD, occasionally slamming me in the solar plexus or ribs just to make sure I don't nod off. It's a nice reminder that strong abs aren't just for show. They also protect your guts from blunt force trauma. And, of course, I find the lie-on-the-floor-and-get-pummeled-with-a-medicine-ball exercise extremely funny. Taking the shot is all about breathing and timing and muscle contraction. There's just something irresistibly hilarious in knowing that if you relax and laugh, your spleen will fly out your nose.

Kinda like when my almost-four-year-old daughter takes a running knees-first leap onto my stomach, but without the element of surprise. Thankfully, she's a bit small for her age.

Skwigg also has good stuff in What I Eat (mmm, Peanut Butter Banana Sundae...) and Workouts (I do pretty extensive core work, but I bet "Six Pack Attack" would destroy me). And probably elsewhere too; I've only been exploring for a few minutes.