Weird Workouts
I'm not a crazy excerciser, but I do enjoy it, it's more like a hobby than a lifestyle. Apparently I have e a small fascination with trying non-traditional workouts. Here are some I've tried and my thoughts on each.
Running Barefoot
I just started running barefoot and after my first run, I'm fairly certain I'm going to stick with it. What struck me most was that when I paused during the run, my legs felt like they wanted to keep going. It was similar to that feeling you get after coming off of ice skates. Also, 'barefoot' means wearing the thinnest shoes I could find: Water socks!
Burpees
Counting down from 10 burpees in under 8 minutes feels pretty similar to doing the sprints. Upper body workout is a plus!
Starting Strength
The program teaches you the fundamentals of power-lifting. While I didn't see pysical changes from my trial period, I did like how they did their sets. 3 warmup sets with reduced weight and then 3 sets with real weight. You start slow and increase by 5 pounds until you can't anymore. It's remarkable how quickly you can increase your strength. The workouts take about 25 minutes and due to the design of the sets, you're left feeling like you really did significant work.
Tabata Sprints
Apparently some guy in Japan put some subjects through the following workout: Jog for 5 minutes, then alternate, 6 times, sprinting for 20 seconds and walking for 10 seconds, then cool down with a 5 minute jog. That's a 13 minute workout that you feel for half the day. The theory centers around EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consupmtion). Combined with a decent diet, I lost 13 pounts in 6 weeks. Downsides, not a whole lot. I stopped because it got cold outside and I started running on grass, which got messy. I'll probably pick this up again.
Pull-ups
Pull-ups are a pereneial favorite of mine. I can do a handful, but once I tried to improve it by doing countdown workouts. One downside is that in between sets, you have nothing to keep you occupied, so it's easy to get distracted.
Shovelglove
An internet fad that I tried for a few weeks. I had to use really motivating music, but in the end, I was never sore and I ran out of motivating music.
3-mile run
There's a convenient 3-mile run in my neighborhood. The distance seems to work for me, though one I tried ramping up the frequency and it really took a toll on my body. I imagine it had to do with pounding concrete.
Traditional 3 sets of 8
Lifting free weights in the manner of 3-sets of 8 was pretty straight forward. Not much to think about. In high school and undergrad I had plenty of time so working out for 45 minutes wasn't a big deal. I never really kept track of time spent or results achieved, but I was able to gain mass.