Bodyweight Exercise

 The beauty of bodyweight exercise is obvious.  It doesn't require any equipment for the most part.

Recently, I've been reminded of the benefit of this type of workout. To add a little something new, I made handles suspended from heavy rope so that I can do bodyweight rows. 

Normally, you'd do rows with dumbbells, but bodyweight rows add an extra challenge. 

I attached them to my pull-up bar. This movement provides counterbalance to the pushup motion. 

Here's a sample bodyweight workout.  Give it a try!

40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest

Pushups (as many as you can in 40 seconds)

Squats

Rows

Lunges

Hollow body hold

Repeat this  circuit 3 or 4 times.

If you have a pull-up bar, use that for a round instead of rows.

Having a Fixed Heart

 "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD."  Psalm 112:7

I have noticed, that when my mind wanders from the things of God, I find myself anxious, disturbed, angry, or upset in some way; however, when I get into the Bible and fixate my mind on the things of Jesus Christ, I am calmer, more focused, and more loving and caring toward others.

Where's your trust?  Where does your mind spend most of its time?  Here's a friendly challenge.  Keep your Bible in front of you every morning or evening.  Memorize a small piece of Scripture.  Remember that, if you are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you are a missionary here.  This isn't our permanent home.  Every believer in Jesus Christ is destined for a much better future.

"O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee."

Sandra and I discovered that Tropical Smoothie Cafe will make any smoothie without the added sugar.  This is good news because I travel for work, and I'm always on the lookout for healthier options.  Anyway, their website lists the ingredients in each smoothie, so I made my own knockoff the other day.

It's called a Chia Banana Boost.  I can't remember the exact ratio of ingredients that I chose, but it went something like this ....

1 tabls of chia seeds

1.5 frozen bananas

3 tabls of natural peanut butter

almond slices

1/4 cup rolled oats

cinnamon

3 smaller dates (pitted)

1 serving of collagen (added 10g of protein)

It wasn't bad.  It enabled me to get some chia seeds in which I don't often do.  It ended up being about 27g of protein.

Psalm 112, Strength/Cardio Mix, and Tracking Down Electrical Issues

"Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion."  

Psalm 112:4, 5

No matter how dark life gets, I will always have the light of Christ in my life.  Because my God is gracious, I want to choose gracious behavior.  Because my God is full of compassion, I want to choose an attitude of compassion.  Because my God is upright, I want to be upright, even though uprightness is becoming less popular (even in professing Christian circles).

I appreciate the instruction and encouragement of these verses.  It's good to lend and share what God has given to me.  Putting others first and being generous are great antidotes for bitterness and selfishness.

Today's workout routine consisted of a run that mixed strength and cardio.  I started off with a 3-minute warmup session and then performed 8 pullups.  

I followed this with a 12-minute run after which I did 20 pushups and 20 air squats.

I followed this with another 12-minute run and then did 20 more pushups, 10 chin-ups and 15 crunches.

After all that, I did a 5-minute cooldown session.

My work took me to a tractor far out in the middle of nowhere.  I followed the GPS on my phone to the "edge of forever" and then turned left into a hay field.  After 2 hours of testing, I found a power wire that had high resistance somewhere in the harness.  Solution?  Replace the harness.  By the time you spend the labor to expose and test the harness, you may as well replace the whole thing.