Yuumoushin.com (勇猛心)

A few friends (people I met through Crossfit Seattle) and I have been using Saturday mornings as a way to try different, less-used Crossfit workout routines. This week we chose to give “Ivan the Terrible” a try. We like to keep things more group-oriented, so we made a few modifications (discussed below). Truth be told, even with the modifications, I think “terrible” is a bit misleading. Anyway, I thought I’d post it here for anyone interested in trying something that doesn’t require any specific tools or gym facility.

“Ivan the Terrible”
90 seconds of jumping rope
50 lunges
50 push-ups
50 sit-ups
90 seconds of jumping rope
40 lunges
40 push-ups
40 sit-ups
90 seconds of jumping rope
30 lunges
30 push-ups
30 sit-ups
90 seconds of jumping rope
20 lunges
20 push-ups
20 sit-ups
90 seconds of jumping rope
10 lunges
10 push-ups
10 sit-ups

Modification 1: If you finish the sequence (90 seconds of rope jumping followed by lunges, push-ups, sit-ups) earlier than the other members in your group, you “wait” by jumping rope. The 90 second count for the next set begins when everyone starts together.

Modification 2: for every missed revolution during the 90 seconds of rope jumping, you have to make it up at the end of the workout with burpees.

I try to keep my Halloween costumes simple, and I tend to use what I already own (or at least limit what I have to buy). My second year after moving to Seattle, which was my first Halloween party after my return to the US from Japan, I went as “Blingula.” My buddy crafted 24K gold fangs off of a modling of my upper jaw (so they fit perfectly on my canines, and attach with a little dental glue). My motto was: “I sucked your bling, not your blood.” The year after that, I went as a gym teacher. Last year I was a Japanese traveler, and took full advantage of my geta, and some other clothing I picked up when I was living in Japan. This year, I went as a rapper. I have a bunch of older, bigger clothing, and still have a few du-rags (for when I braid my hair) so I went with that.

It’s clear that I don’t put too much time and effort into Halloween (although, Blingula was a task as I had to get a molding of my jaw made first, and it took my dentist buddy a while to mold). But there are those individuals that spend days, in some instances, weeks, planning and molding the “perfect costumes.” Wired had a post over on their site, which captured that Halloween devotion through pictures (not all are great, but for a few, you can tell it took an enormous amount of time and energy to create). Check out the “Best Geeky Halloween Costumes” for yourself. I like the Predator costume; that took some time for sure.

And a few pics from my previous Halloween adventures:

Blingula

Gym Teacher

Japanese Traveler

Rapper