Hill Workout

Equipment Used: A grassy hill at a steep incline Optional: Gloves Optional: Ankle weights Optional: Weight vest Optional: Rubber Bands / Resistance Band Loops

Tip: This workout can be done anywhere but the incline helps provide additional difficulty.

Hill Workout

SUMMARY ***Stretch/Warmup Wide Walking Lunges (Zig Zag Lunges) Backwards Run Side Squats (up & down) Incline Sit Ups (half) Squat Jumps (Frog Jumps) Decline Burpees (base) Suicides (half/full) Incline Walkout Push-Ups (base)

Hill Workout

This workout was created to take advantage of the natural resistance created by exercising against an incline. Although we are working out using a hill, this circuit could be done on flat ground (no excuses!). The hill just makes it tougher. Your bodyweight is sufficient enough to use for this workout but if you want an additional challenge, I recommend using some form of added weight. A set of K Bands, comfortable ankle weights or a weighted vest can really ramp up the intensity. The workout is primarily legs and cardio but it does touch on abs & upper body a bit. Be sure to stretch appropriately. The exercises are meant to vary in how you use the hill. Every exercise should start at the "base" (bottom) of the incline. The exercises marked "base" are just done at the bottom of the hill. For the Walkouts, you want to "walk" up the incline of the hill. The burpees should be done facing away from the hill & kicking your feet back onto the incline surface of the hill. When doing the sit-ups, face the incline & walk halfway up. Take a seat & start performing reps. Be careful when performing these exercises. They are very common bodyweight movements but it will be slightly more tricky to execute these on a raised & uneven surface. Take your time with them the first set. For the other exercises, perform the instructed exercise while moving up the hill towards the top. Once at the top, lightly jog back down to the base. If the length of the incline is fairly short, you may want to perform several trips to the top to complete a set. If the incline is really long and/or steep, one trip to the top (or even halfway up) may be sufficient enough to call a set. Use your best judgement & don't cheat yourself! The side squats should be done one side leading on the way up & the other on the way down. Alternate which side takes the incline. If the incline is long enough, perform suicides by putting the return points at both halfway & all the way up the incline. For shorter hills, just run to the top multiple times to complete the set. All these exercises have been used in previous workouts but we have video examples linked below to refresh your memory. Take time to review them and practice your form before hitting the workout. Good luck!

Examples

Wide Walking Lunges: Click For Video Example Backwards Run: Click For Video Example Side Squats: Click For Video Example Incline Sit Ups: Click For Video Example Squat Jumps: Click For Video Example Decline Burpees: Click For Video Example Suicides: Click For Video Example Incline Walkout Push-Ups: Click For Video Example

DIRECTIONS Lake Pflugerville Park 18216 Weiss Lane Pflugerville, TX 78660 Find your way to Weiss Ln and approach the park from either the north or south. On the map picture below, the red pinpoint marks the location of the main entrance area. There is a driveway w/ a sign stating "Lake Pflugerville Park".

FROM NORTH AUSTIN Toll Road Take Texas 45 Toll East Take the Kelly Ln/Farm to Market 685/TX-130 exit Stay straight and merge onto Kelly Ln Turn right onto Weiss Ln About 1 mile up the road, look right for the Lake Pflugerville Park entry ***There is a sign for it, shortly before the lake. No Toll Roads Get onto I-35 & Wells Branch Pkwy Exit the highway & travel east Turn right at E Pflugerville Pkwy, travel about 5 miles Turn left onto Weiss Ln About 2 miles up the road, look left for the Lake Pflugerville Park entry ***There is a sign for it, shortly after you pass the lake. Get onto I-35 & go to Grand Avenue Pkwy Exit the highway & travel east about 3 miles Turn left onto Dessau Rd Take a right onto E Pecan St / Pflugerville East Rd Turn left onto Weiss Ln About 2 miles up the road, look left for the Lake Pflugerville Park entry ***There is a sign for it, shortly after you pass the lake.

FROM SOUTH AUSTIN Toll Road Take Texas 45 Toll North Exit Pecan St / Pflugerville Take a right into E Pecan St / Pflugerville East Rd Turn left onto Weiss Ln About 2 miles up the road, look left for the Lake Pflugerville Park entry ***There is a sign for it, shortly after you pass the lake. No Toll Roads Head North on I-35 Take exit 243 toward Braker Ln Turn left onto Dessau Rd Turn right onto Farm to Market 734 E/E Parmer Ln Turn left onto Cameron Rd (Harris Branch Pkwy) After the road curve, turn left to stay on Cameron Rd Stay left to continue onto E Pecan St/Pflugerville East Rd Turn right onto Weiss Ln About 2 miles up the road, look left for the Lake Pflugerville Park entry ***There is a sign for it, shortly after you pass the lake.

Hydrate, Rest and Recover. Good luck!!!

Sagat Cosplay

SAGAT COSPLAY

The Costume

Streetfighter II will always be one of my all-time favorite games. Having graduated high school in 1997, I had about 6 years of Streetfighter II experience in the arcades during my teenage years. Growing in San Diego, home to what is probably the largest annual Comic Convention in the US, I received a lot of early exposure to "cosplay". For you non-nerds, cosplay is short for "costume play" & basically involves dressing up as your favorite character in a work of fiction. This does not necessarily mean that you have to draw inspiration from a piece of literature. Cosplay characters are drawn from video games, movies & other media forms as well. My interest in cosplay & Streetfighter naturally drew me toward doing Sagat. While not my best playable character in the game, I would have to say he's one of my favorites. Akuma would be the only one to beat him, so look out for my Akuma cosplay someday! I'm always scrambling around Halloween on what to do & this came to me as a pretty easy costume to put together. A set of kickboxing trunks, a ring robe, two hand wraps and ankle braces (not shown) were fairly cheap from Amazon. I sourced an eye patch from a local party store as well as some scar makeup (also cheap). Just under $60 achieved the "Tiger" look!

Fitness, Confidence & Cosplay

A confident person does not need to bolster their own ego by putting down others. Generally at any Halloween party or convention, everyone is there to have a good time & show off their creativity via costume. Take pride in your work and do not put down the efforts of others. The same sentiment should exist in the gym. Everyone at your chosen workout facility is there to improve themselves. Always try to help foster a positive environment and develop a sense of community. In fitness, with cosplay or whatever hobby you may be into. Cosplay can involve an element of fitness but primarily requires confidence. Even if you are lacking in the "fitness" part, pour your soul into your costume & wear it proudly. Get immersed in your character. People will look past whatever differences you may personally find between yourself & your cosplay. In the case of most superheroes or heroines, they are usually depicted with killer bodies & often times have greatly exaggerated proportions. Most people cannot even come near the actual rendering of these characters. So do not hold others up to those impossibly high standards, especially if you do not hold yourself accountable to the same rules. Positive feedback on your cosplay may boost your self esteem & help lessen the presence of any body issues. It could be the kick in the pants you need to get into better shape for your next piece. The benefits of your newly found fitness will extend into way more areas of your life than just cosplay. So the next time you're on the convention floor & you see that chubby girl rocking a kick butt Harley Quinn, go tell her how bad ass she looks and get her number. She could be the one to come back next year with a rocking body & a swarm of drooling nerds around her. And even if not, she's probably just a cool chick anyway, which is all that matters in the end (plus, who doesn't love Harley?).

Resisted Running 1

Resisted Running 1

Exercises like resisted sprints & sled pulls/pushes help you develop power which can increase your ability to accelerate. Resistance leg work recruits more hip muscles which allows you to be able to put more power to the ground. Dragging resistance while running also tends to promote arm action which is good for your technique. Correct arm action can improve stride & leg movement, all which help you dust your opponent.

We've recently incorporated a Sklz Power Sled, a few parachutes & a harnessed tire to our circuits. The Sled takes standard 2" weighted plates & has an adjustable front handle which can be used to either push or pull the sled. This helps build dynamic power in the lower body. The tire is just an old passenger car tire (free from any tire shop) with a hole drilled into it. A rope is passed through and knotted at the end to hold it into place. The other end of the rope is tied to a generic waist belt. So you just strap up and take off running! We try to perform backwards & lateral runs in addition to standard forward runnning. The parachutes strap to your waist in a similar fashion. They only provide resistance if you are sprinting forward however.

Get fast! If you're not first, you're last...

Inversion 1

Inversion 1

This was one of our first attempts at dabbling in AcroYoga. It's a basic inversion. The base lies on their back. The flyer is standing & approaches the feet of the base. The base places their feet on the upper thigh of the flyer. The flyer bends over while the base grabs the flyers shoulders. The flyer places their hands on the floor near the bases ears as the base hoists the flyer in the air. The flyer is basically trying to achieve an assisted handstand. Once the flyer is vertical, the base slides their feet to the outside of the flyers thighs & removes their hands from the flyers shoulders. This pose is pretty easy for most folks to do & doesn't require much strength or flexibility. Kiss is optional!

Namaste!

Agility Workout 1

Equipment Used: Agility Ladder At least 10 Cones Mini Hurdles (or use more cones) Waist Harness w/ attachable weight (i.e. tire/plate) Parachute Bosu Ball Prowler/Sled Timer (watch/phone/etc)

Tip: Be creative! This workout utilizes a lot of equipment but a determined mind can find several ways to make do w/ household substitutions. Several are suggested in the exercise descriptions.

Agility Workout 1

SUMMARY ***Stretch/Warmup Ladder: Push-Ups or In/Out Hand Shuffle Ladder: 2in/2out Steps into High Knee Runthrough Tire: Backwards Run into Lateral Side Steps Cones: L drill Cones: Suicides Centipede Push-Ups (Walkouts) Cones: Crab Walk (w/ Sit Ups) Bosu: Alternating Knee Planks (Side Crunch) Hurdles: Lateral Two Steps Chute: Sprints Sled: Push/Pull

Agility Workout 1

The ability to start, stop and change direction is the definition of agility. This workout was designed to help increase both raw speed and agility via several high & low impact exercises. Traditional weight workouts may grant you power but what use is that strength without coordination or function? If you participate in almost any sporting activity, some form of agility is usually required for you to be able to excel. An additional benefit to this style of workout is that it is a form of cardio. Instead of mindlessly running on a treadmill, you can perform a series of plyometric exercises, achieve a greater caloric burn and have fun at the same time. The primary drawback to this workout is that is does require specialized equipment. This equipment is readily available at any sporting goods store & can be used in other workouts as well. If you can't get ahold of the outlined accessories, get creative and improvise. The Cones & hurdles can be replaced w/ any type of marker (i.e. shoes, med balls, coolers, etc). Instead of an agility ladder, you can use twine, shoelaces or just spray-paint/chalk your chosen surface. If you lack a waist harness, tie a rope to your weight & simply use your hands to anchor it as you exercise. You can place your hands on the ground or any slightly raised surface as opposed to a Bosu ball. A parachute is not necessary. If you do have a harness setup, sprint dragging a tire. As for the sled, that is a hard one to replace. A cart/wagon filled with weight would work as a substitute however. Once you have figured out the equipment setup, lay out each "station" w/ enough room in between to safely exercise. You can use a timer and perform each station for a set time period (i.e. 30-60 seconds). An alternate method would be to run through each station continuously & rest at the end. Wait a couple minutes and then repeat. Video examples are linked below. These are all new exercises so take time to review them and practice your form before hitting the workout. Good luck!

Examples

1A - Ladder Push-Ups Video Example Begin in a push-up position at one end of the agility ladder. Perform a push-up and return to the starting position. Move your leading hand and foot over to the next rung of the ladder, followed by the lagging hand/food. Perform the exercise on your knees if you need to. Repeat push-up exercise. For an advanced version, lower into push-up position and push your entire body up and over to the next rung. Repeat until you reach the end of the ladder. 1B - In/Out Hand Shuffle Video Example Position your body with one hand and one foot on either side of the agility ladder starting in push-up position. Move one hand at a time into the rung of the ladder. Return to starting position by moving one hand at a time back to the outsides of the ladder. Try to move as quickly as possible while performing this exercise.

2A - Ladder In In Out Out Video Example Start at one end of the agility ladder. Moving as quickly as possible, put both feet into the first rung of the ladder, one at a time. Then move them one at a time to the outside of the rung. From the outside of the rung, move your feet one at a time into the next rung of the ladder and repeat. Once at the end of the ladder, without turning around, perform the same pattern moving backwards toward your starting position. 2B - Ladder High Knees Video Example Start at one end of the agility ladder. Bring each knee into your chest (at least to waist height), making sure to step into each rung of the ladder as you move toward the other end. Perform this exercise as quickly as possible.

3A - Tire Backwards Run Video Example With a tire (or other weighted object) tied around you waist using a stability belt, start with legs shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent facing toward the tire. Run backwards from one marker to another (distance can vary) as quickly as possible while keeping your balance. 3B - Tire Lateral Side Steps Video Example With a tire (or other weighted object) tied around you waste using a stability belt, start with legs shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent facing sideways. Shuffle laterally from one marker to another (distance can vary). To increase the difficulty of this exercise, move in a Grapevine motion, crossing one leg in front of the other and alternating as you move along.

4 - Three Cone L Drill Video Example Setup three cones in a "L" formation. Evenly spaced, about 5 yards apart. Start a cone that is not in the "elbow" of the "L". Sprint to the middle cone, touch the ground & then run back to the start cone. Once you reach the start cone, pivot and then run back to your middle cone. This time cut around the cone & head towards the last cone. Be sure to cut toward the inside direction of the last cone. Run around the last cone & head back to the middle cone. Run around the outside of the middle cone & power back to the start cone.

5 - Suicides Video Example Place at least three cones in a straight line equidistant from each other (at least 10 feet apart). Begin by sprinting to the first cone and returning to the starting position. Next, sprint to the second cone and return to the starting position, followed by the third.

6 - Centipede Push-Ups (Walkouts) Video Example Begin in standing position with feet together. Reach down toward your toes (it's ok if you're not able to reach your toes) and place your hands on the ground in front of you. Walking one hand out at a time, extend into push-up position. Perform one push-up, and then begin walking one foot at at time into your body until you have returned to starting position. Stand up straight and repeat.

7 - Crab Walk (w/ Sit Ups) Video Example Place four cones in a square approximately 15 feet apart (distance may vary based on difficulty). Beginning at one corner, sit on the ground with legs slightly wider than shoulder width apart and both arms placed behind your butt. Lift your pelvis off the ground, placing your weight on your hands and heals. Walk backwards on all fours to the second cone in the square, then proceed sideways to the third cone. From the third cone walk forward back to starting position. Perform 10-15 situps (vary based on level of difficulty). Repeat.

8 - Alternating Knee Planks (Side Crunch) Video Example With the flat side of the Bosu ball facing up, place one hand on each side with your legs stretched behind you in plank position. Bring your right knee into the left side of your chest, twisting at the waist, and return to starting position. Repeat the motion with your left knee to the right side of your chest. For a more difficult version, bring your knee in and extend it outward under your body.

9 - Mini Hurdle Lateral Two Steps Video Example Beginning at one end of the mini hurdles, step over the first hurdle one foot at a time placing both feet in between the first two hurdles. Repeat as you travel down the line of hurdles. Run back to the beginning and repeat as quickly as possible.

10 - Parachute Sprints Video Example Perform sprints, or runs of various lengths depending on level of difficulty with speed chute attached at the waist.

11 - Sled Push/Pull Video Example Keeping knees and elbows bent, push the sled to a preset "finish line." Turn the sled around and pull it in reverse position back to the start.

Hydrate, Rest and Recover. Good luck!!!

Workout: Deerpark Circuit 3

Equipment Used: A heavy and light pair of dumbbells Soft ground area to lie down (carpet/grass/etc) Highly Recommended: Medicine Ball Optional: Timer (watch/phone/etc)

Tip: Keep the intensity up!

Circuit #3

SUMMARY ***Stretch/Warmup Legs: Toe Taps Arms: Tricep Push-Up to Frogger Abs: Full Extensions Legs: Sumo Squat Press Arms: Cleans Abs: Opposite Arm & Leg V-Up Legs: Side Lunge Arms: Push Up to Plank Row (ManMakers) Abs: Rollbacks (weighted) All: Side Crunch to Burpee

Circuit #3 - Hope Solo Workout

This circuit is based on Hope Solo's "15 minute workout". All of the exercises are demonstrated via Nike athletes. The workout is designed to be intense and executed in bursts of activity. If done correctly, you should be dripping with sweat and be able to maintain an increased heart rate. The exercises touch on all muscle groups so you should feel it everywhere once done. If using a timer, try to clear out an area sufficient enough to be able to perform every exercise. Have your equipment (dumbbells/med ball) readily available within arms reach. Set the timer to anywhere between 15-30 seconds and roll through each exercise. Once done, rest and hydrate for a few minutes and then repeat the round. You can decrease the timer time each round if needed. Try to see how many "rounds" you can complete before becoming completely gassed. *** If not using a timer, you can perform a traditional workout by assigning a rep/set amount to each exercise. The exercises used here vary as far as the equipment needs. Dumbbells are used in some, while others only require bodyweight. Examine the example videos and use your best judgement to decide what is needed for your own individual needs. A medicine ball is not required but works better for a few exercises. If possible, having various weights of dumbbells will help you maintain a maximum amount of effort each round. A great portion of these exercises have not been used here before. Video examples are linked below so take time to review them and practice your form before hitting the workout. Good luck!

Examples

Toe Taps: Click For Video Example Tricep Push-Up into Frogger: Click For Video Example Full Extensions: Click For Video Example Sumo Squat Press: Click For Video Example Cleans: Click For Video Example Opposite Arm & Leg V-Up: Click For Video Example Side Lunge: Click For Video Example Push Up to Plank Row (Man-makers): Click For Video Example Rollbacks: Click For Video Example Side Crunch to Burpee: Click For Video Example

Hydrate, Rest and Recover. Good luck!!!

Workout: Deer Park Circuit 2

Equipment Used: Soft ground area (carpet/grass/etc) A raised, solid surface which will support your weight (park bench, steps, sturdy chair) Optional: Timer (watch/phone/etc) for calculating rest periods

Tip: This could also be modified for indoor use however, just get creative!

Circuit #2

SUMMARY ***Stretch/Warmup Jumping Jacks (warm-up) Lunges (20 reps, walking) Squats (35 reps) Bulgarian Split Squats (20/leg) Pistol Squats (15/leg) Squat Jumps (25 reps) Box Jumps (30 reps) Calf Raises (20/leg)

Circuit #2 - Leg Nuke

We decided to start our own Manhattan Project with the purpose of bombing your legs! Our project is not atomic but I guarantee your quads will be burning as if they were irradiated after this workout. As opposed to some of our other workouts, this one is rep-based. You still want to be mindful of time but this is to monitor your rest periods. You want to keep them as short as possible to keep your leg pump high. The workout is essentially plyometric so move quickly but don't sacrifice form for speed. Keep rest periods at a maximum of 30 seconds. You want to aim to complete the entire "cycle" as fast as possible. Once the cycle is complete, take a longer rest (1 - 3 minutes) and then hit it again. You should be able to finish 3-4 cycles and feel the burn. Each exercise can be done with just bodyweight but you can use a set of dumbbells or a resistance band to add stress. Your legs are the largest muscle group in your body and can take the extra weight. If you start to tire when using the extra weight, just switch back to bodyweight to finish out. This allows a group of people w/ varying degrees of strength to all workout together. Most exercises have been covered by us before but there are video examples below to refresh your memory. There are a few new exercises that may prove very difficult initially. The videos below for those exercises include a "progression" to help you work up to the actual exercise. Use the modified versions explained in the progression initially.

Examples

Jumping Jacks Click For Video Example Walking Lunges: Click For Video Example Squat Presses: Click For Video Example Split Squats: Click For Video Example Pistol Squats: Click For Video Example Squat Jumps: Click For Video Example Box Jumps: Click For Video Example Calf Raises: Click For Video Example

Hydrate, Rest and Recover. Good luck!!!