Good morning! Have you guys ever heard of the Spartacus workout? Matt heard about it from his younger brother Drew, who has been doing it to stay in shape while traveling around on the road for his year-long South Pacific tour.
Matt did the workout for the first time last weekend using some weights that he got for Christmas, and seeing how I always love a challenge, I decided to join in on the fun. It’s basically a high intensity circuit training type workout that incorporates cardio and strength at the same time by doing a lot of compound moves (moves that work both your arms and legs simultaneously). You can find details of the whole workout on Men’s Health’s webpage. I know most of my readers are female, so don’t be scared that it’s on Men’s Health — a lot of the moves are ones I have already been doing for years — it’s not some intense male body building thing or anything. 🙂 It was no problem for me to do the same moves as Matt — I just used lighter weights.
Matt and I have settled into a nice routine where we run 2 miles outside to warm up (first mile slower, second mile fast), and then arrive at our little apartment gym to do the Spartacus workout. It’s been really fun actually — I like working out together and it’s been good for me since I don’t do nearly enough strength training usually on my own!
So far, we’ve been doing the official first 10 moves (you do each move for 1 minute straight, rest for 15 or 30 seconds, and then move on to the next one) and then we kind of create our own for the next 10 since we haven’t learned the official ones well enough to do them without the use of the internet.
Whew! It is a SERIOUS workout. We did the workout on Friday and again yesterday and I’m definitely sore today — and we haven’t even been doing all of the moves yet!
When we got home, I whipped us up some lunch.
This looks kind of gross but it was REALLY good. Basically an everything but the kitchen sink salad to use up some stuff in the fridge!
The salad was a bed of spinach and kale, topped with some white kidney beans, tuna salad (made with plain Greek yogurt, mustard, and olives), avocado, green beans, feta cheese, and some balsamic vinaigrette. Sounds weird but it was a great combination! Plus some toasted pita on the side for dipping.
We had our:
- Protein — tuna, beans
- Healthy fats — avocado, salad dressing, olives
- Carbs/fiber — whole wheat pita, beans
Plus lots of nutrients from all the veggies! I also had an unpictured clementine. 🙂 A great post-workout meal!
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I’m off to school — have a wonderful day, friends!
