See what you miss by hitting your snooze?

The crew at Lift Big Eat Big posed a challenge to their readers last week. They said, “Workout in your work clothes, to show that everyone can make time to work out.”

What they came up with was a bunch of strong and stunning chics who sent in pics of themselves in their “workoutfits”.

In the pic above is the very awesome Talia VanDoran, a very cool and even stronger feminista that I have the pleasure of being acquainted with. Check out the rest of the pics on Lift Big Eat Big’s Facebook album (which serves as pretty good proof that lifting big and eating big does NOT result in big bulky she-muscles).

Every spring I try to think up new cruel and unusual ways to punish my clients. Errr, I mean, implement new, fun, and KICK ASS ways to get an awesome workout — and a workout that breaks up the monotony of normal strength training.

This year, it’s with sledgehammers and tire training.

Don’t get me wrong, traditional strength training is my passion and my primary discipline, but even I — an experienced personal trainer — get bored with workouts from time to time. I work hard to keep my clients’ workouts moving and varied, but no matter how many different combinations of super sets or how much plyometric exercise you put into a workout, it can still get a bit mundane.

Enter the tractor tires

This week I started introducing some of my more intermediate to advanced clients to the tires and sledgehammer. They all looked at me like I was crazy.

I get that look a lot (as any trainer worth their salt SHOULD, btw).

Tire training isn’t all that well-known or popular, but those who experience it usually fall in love quickly. What can you do with tractor tires and a sledgehammer (and some rope)?

A LOT!

Check out this video of a circuit that pretty much incorporates all of the most common tire training exercises. (Note: notice how the guy in the video’s form degrades as he gets tired — I do not let clients get away with erroneous technique…ever.) In addition to these exercises, we’ll be doing LOTS of tire drag variations.

If you don’t enjoy your workout, CHANGE IT!

There’s nothing like a beautiful sunrise on a crisp fall Saturday. The minutes just before dawn are my favorite of the day. There’s something about the stillness of that brief window that calms my spirit.

How about you?

I had the idea to make this pic using sections from one of the most famous sermon on the mount paintings after hearing someone on a radio show mispronounce "mount" when referring to the sermon on the mount from the Christian Bible.

Some of their April Fools’ products have been so incredible that they’ve actually gone on to become real products…a la the taun taun sleeping bag.

WIRED is calling for this lightsaber popsicle tray to become a real product too…and I’m glad to throw my lot in with them.

This fake product consists of four Lightsaber hilts which — when frozen in juice — become four short-bladed Lightsabers. Two hilts are Luke’s, two Darth Vader’s. There is even an imaginary LED inside each handle which beams its light into the popsicle and makes it glow.

Or will it? The curious thing about ThinkGeek’s April Fool gags is that they create such a demand that the company has to go ahead and make them anyway, making them less pranks and more a kind of clever market research. Fingers crossed that ThinkGeek can get these things licensed and ready in time for Summer, and keeps the price to the currently hypothetical $35.

I’d pay $35 for that awesomeness. Would you?

Via Fashionably Geek.

Sometimes one of the most helpful things you can do for another is to let them learn stuff for themselves, at their own pace.

It’s also one of the most helpful things you can do for yourself.

~The “Universe”

Check out the R2-D2 version of the Droid 2 slated to jettison in an escape pod and land on Earth Sept 30th.

Via Engadget, photo via Geeky Gadgets.