Alright Infofans, you asked for it in the comments section so we did it-
we put your favorite, and our most expendable, lab rat on a thirty day fitness regimen
to prove that anybody can get in shape, even if you don't have any equipment!
Challenge Start:
Hey guys, it's the Infographic's favorite D class personnel here.
My new challenge is actually a welcome one- a stay-at-home fitness challenge meant to show
that even if you can't get to the gym, you can still get in decent shape. And to show
that it works for both guys and girls, I asked my friend Nova Chez to join the challenge in a
head-to-head competition for most improvement. Nova is a singer/actress (use photo Nova1) and
you can check her out on instagram @novachez and on tiktok also @novachez.
This challenge is simple: we are both going to be doing an exercise routine from home that anybody
can do, the only thing you need to follow along is a pull up bar. The goal is to show that you don't
need a gym membership to get fit, and to prove it me and Nova are going head to head at the end
with a showdown to see who improved the most. Gym culture can be pretty toxic, and it can be
intimidating when you’re not in shape and tough to get the courage to go. So a stay-at-home
fitness challenge is the perfect way to build some confidence and maybe get you to that next step.
This challenge is coming at a great time because I re-triggered an old back injury and haven't
been able to exercise for a few months, plus the show asked me to pile on the ho-hos and twinkies
before we started so I could start this thing at a more even playing field. I happily obliged,
though the girlfriend wasn't too pleased when I packed on a few extra pounds on the front.
The routine is simple, and I encourage you to follow at home- though remember,
you should always speak to a doctor if you think you may have any health
issues before starting a new exercise routine.
First we start with pull ups, doing three sets of three repetitions each. Or
at least trying to- when we went over the routine Nova was having a bit of an issue with these,
but that just left room for improvement. The great thing about pull ups is that they don't
just work your arms and a little bit of your chest, they also hit your back. Plus,
you can do them in a variety of ways to target different muscle groups.
Next are some simple calf raises. All you need to do is just stand with your feet flat on the ground
and lift yourself up onto your tippy toes and then back down again. This will help strengthen
your calves, and if you're a basketball player you'll enjoy the extra ups you'll get after a few
months of shredding your calves. If you buy some free weights you can hang on to one in each hand
to add even more resistance. For us though we were doing a total of 60 calf raises in sets of three.
Next is squats- if you want a great butt, squats is how you get there. The key is to make sure
that your butt goes lower than your knees. If you need to bend forward a bit to get there go for it.
And by the way, if you're doing squats with a barbell and weights, remember that the barbell
doesn't go on your neck- it goes under your neck on your upper back. Three sets of 25 squats will
absolutely destroy your legs and butt, and build them back up to give you buns of steel.
The plank has become a popular exercise lately, and with good reason- it targets a whole mess
of muscles, but is really good for abs and your back. Seems simple, but believe me- it's not.
The goal is to do three sets of 60 second planks,
but you may want to start at thirty seconds and build up from there.
Next is the good old push up. If you've served any time in pretty much any military in the
world you're familiar with these. The key is to keep your back level and not cheat
by putting your butt up in the air. The great thing about the push up is that it's versatile,
you can do it in a variety of different positions to target different muscles.
However, we're sticking to the classic, with three sets of 15 pushups each.
Before moving on though, we're gonna hit an entirely different set of arm muscles
by switching it up to the diamond push up. For this you want to bring your hands together in
front of your face so they make a diamond pattern, and then you push up and down as normal. These are
much harder than normal pushups, though for some weird reason I seem to have a genetic abnormality
that has always made these easy as pie for me. To start though try out three sets of 5 each.
Alright, let's keep blasting those arms with dips. All you need is the edge of a couch or a bed,
sit on the edge and put your hands on the bed at your sides facing away from you.
Then lean out and simply dip down as low as you can go and raise yourself back up. It's
important to remember with all of these exercises that you want to always control your motions-
so whether you're doing a push up or a dip or even using free weights, you want to control the down
motion as much as the up motion so you're always forcing your muscles to experience resistance,
otherwise they simply won't grow. For dips we start with three sets of 10.
Next we target the lower back and the abs with some birddogs,
so named because they resemble the way that a trained bird dog points when hunting.
You want to get on your hands and knees and then bring your left arm and right knee into
your chest, and then fully extend them both out so you're 'pointing' with both your arm and leg.
Repeat without setting either down on the ground, then swap to the opposite arm and leg.
Do three sets of 15 reps with each side, so 30 total, to blast your lower back and abs.
While you're in that position, transition to mule kicks next. This exercise is simple but
helps target your thighs and butt- and guys, you really shouldn't overlook the butt because
girls like a nice bubble butt. It's as simple as it sounds- starting on your hands and knees,
stretch one leg out behind you at a time and sweep it upwards so your foot is elevated
above head level, sort of like the stinger of a scorpion. Do three sets of 15 kicks with each
leg to start turning that flabby butt into buns so hard you could crack walnuts between your cheeks.
The last floor exercise is another oldie but a goldie, the flutter kick. Again, if you've been in
the service pretty much anywhere, but especially the Coast Guard, you know this exercise and you
probably hate it. Just lay flat on your back with your hands behind your head like you're going to
do a sit up, then physically bring your upper body up a few inches like you are in fact going to do a
sit up. Hold it, and then elevate your legs and begin kicking them one at a time up and down.
You should never hit the floor with either your shoulders or legs, your butt should remain your
point of contact with the ground. Do three sets of 60 kicks and you're ready for the final exercise.
This was the one I dreaded more than any other- running. As you longtime fans know,
I famously detest running. Much to my surprise, I found out Nova shared in my hatred of running,
which made two of us versus the girlfriend who is a running fanatic. It's just so...
boring. You either run around in a big circle or you run in place on a treadmill, or maybe
you run to a destination and then back again. Great. How exciting. Totally not a snooze fest.
Anyways, ten minutes of running to start off is a great way to improve your aerobic capacity,
and this will have fringe benefits in pretty much every area of your life.
Nova and I took pics before we started- she's already in pretty good shape so
this is basically to prove that this routine can keep you in shape. Me on the other hand,
a few months away from exercise due to injury and the show asking me to pack
on a few pounds definitely took its toll (use NovaStart1 and NovaStart2 and CHStart1 photos).
And just like that, the challenge was on. Whoever had the best performance
after thirty days would win a $200 Amazon gift card so the stakes were pretty high.
Now let's fast forward four weeks and I'll see you guys on the other side.
Alright, it's been 30 days of this exercise routine, and I have to admit: it works. Not
only have I seen direct results, but, well, me and Nova's performance speaks for itself.
Our first two weeks were pretty rough, they always are when you start a new routine. Nova
had more problems with the strength exercises, and I had problems with the aerobic portion and well,
pretty much anything targeting the abs. That's the price you pay for Ho-Hos and Ding Dongs.
Which by the way, I cut completely out of my diet on my quest to get back in fighting shape again.
My morning routine started with a protein drink after waking up, and then I'd skip breakfast.
First things first I exercised- since we were supposed to do it every other day,
I started running on opposite days so I always felt like I was being active.
Now, normally I'm used to a much more thorough workout routine,
but after nearly five months off I was starting close to ground zero.
After exercising I'd walk the dog and then come home to a light breakfast-
typically either two oranges or a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.
I swapped the pork bacon for turkey bacon and went light on the mayo.
After doing some work, I'd have a snack- typically either some pistachios or a bag
of Popcorners. We're not getting paid to plug Porcorners- but we really should,
if anyone from Popcorners is watching this contact me asap
because I'll happily shill for your product as long as you supply me truckloads of it for
free. But despite not getting a single cent from Popcorners, I recommend it. It's pretty
healthy and helps curb cravings for unhealthier chips which is something I'm very guilty of.
I'd skip lunch because I'm cutting calories to lose weight, and then at night I'd either
have ground turkey- probably in pasta- or chicken sandwiches. Nothing fancy,
and no cheese- just grilled chicken, mayo, spicy mustard, lettuce, and tomato
on toasted whole wheat buns. If you want to lose weight, specially stubborn belly fat like mine,
you need to cut calories and be in a deficit- exercise alone is never going to be enough.
So how'd I feel? Your results are going to vary, especially if you're not used to a stringent
workout routine, but I felt pretty fine. Nova was really struggling with the strength portions,
specially the pull-ups, but I was breezing through them. I still had to take it
a little easy though as my back is still healing. When we got to the two week mark,
we had a little showdown to see who was in the lead and who might be getting that $200 gift card.
Unsurprisingly, I did better at strength events, with Nova doing 1 pull up- and me doing seven
without stopping. It was definitely taking her a lot longer to build up upper body strength,
but I had the benefit of muscle memory- which is why my results may differ from yours.
In the push-ups department Nova did 18 without stopping and I managed 30.
I was definitely underperforming, but I'd also been laid up with an
injured back for months so I figured this was good progress.
However, because both of us hate running, we decided we would see
who was in better aerobic shape with a swim-off. The rules were simple:
whoever could tread water the longest won. I'd love to say that it was a close match- except
it totally wasn't. (use SwimVid1, place cartoon challenge guy face over the guy’s face in video.
Also remove audio and play it at fast speed so it looks like it’s in fast forward mode), Nova
absolutely blew me away by swimming for just over a whopping 43 minutes,
and only stopping because, quote: “I'm getting kind of bored”.
How did I do? Well, I tapped out after about thirteen minutes. Yeah,
when you aggregate the scores together I may have done better at strength events than Nova,
but she was absolutely winning and looked set to take the prize at the end of the four weeks.
After my pool humiliation, I hit the aerobic portion of the exercise with renewed vigor,
determined to at least get close to Nova's score. Another two weeks of daily exercising,
and things were definitely becoming easier. I was getting back into my old groove and my body was
responding. Again, I'm used to lifelong exercise and being out of shape is kind of abnormal for me,
so don't be discouraged if you don't have the same results- you can and will get there too.
But if you've already been there, it's always easier to bounce back.
After another two weeks, Nova and I met up once more for the ultimate showdown-
who would get an Amazon gift card worth $200 of Popcorners... or at least that's what I was
planning on using it for. Remember, the winner is based on best improvement over all, so winning
one or two events doesn't matter all that much if I got blown out again in the swim portion.
In pull ups Nova had improved by exactly 100%, meaning she did two. I did nine,
edging out a slightly larger lead than at the two week mark over her. Next we did push ups,
and this time Nova banged out 25, while I hit 35. A decent improvement for both of us.
However, next was the dreaded swim test- who could tread water the longest? Now I figured
there was no way I was catching up to Nova, but if I could close the lead I'd end up the winner.
Could I add like just ten minutes to my time to get closer to her whopping 43 minutes?
(use SwimVid2, same notes as first time) The answer to that question is: no. No I could not.
I managed 14 minutes while Nova decided to show off and tread water for 1 hour and 1 minute.
Plus a few seconds- she insisted that I include that part as well. And again,
she only stopped because she was getting bored and her neck was sore from keeping
her head up out of the water because she didn't want to get her hair wet.
To say that this was a total blowout is an understatement,
the winner was without a doubt Nova who utterly decimated me. Then again,
aerobics has never been my strong point.. it's just so... boring.
So was this exercise routine worth it? Absolutely, you can see that Nova stayed in the same great
shape she was already in (use photos NovaEnd1 and NovaEnd2), while I managed to shed four
pounds and start getting back into my typical body shape (use photo Chend1). Needless to say,
the girlfriend vigorously approves of me getting back in shape, and I'm glad that
I've healed enough to get off the couch and be active again. In just one month my biceps also
grew from fourteen inches to fifteen inches, packing on an entire inch of muscle with a
pretty simple routine. However, again, my body bounces back faster and easier because I'm used to
being fit- so don't get discouraged if you don't' improve as fast as me. Trust me, you'll get there.
Honestly, while this routine wasn't a comprehensive exercise routine,
it's a great place for you to start if you're at home and don't have access to
a gym or maybe are feeling a bit intimidated about going. I highly recommend you try it,
and build on it with some free weights. There's a ton of free weight exercises
you can do from home that will rocket your muscle growth, just do a quick google search.
If you're looking to cut stubborn weight like my belly fat though,
the most important part of all is cutting calories- and believe me,
I know that's hard because I love eating. It's like my second favorite thing in the world,
with the first being the girlfriend. But if I can cut out eating junk food, then you can too.
So hop on your own thirty day routine and
then come back here in the comments section and let us know how you did!
Now go check out Living Out Of My Car For A Week Challenge! Or click this other video instead!