One Thousand Jumping Jacks

Yet another long day at work today, and when I finally got home at 7:15, I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. Luckily, Terry was just about ready to start his push ups and sit ups, which inspired me to take advantage of getting home early (well, earlier than I expected). So I opted for a new workout.

A few days ago, a friend mentioned that she read that if you do 1,000 jumping jacks four times a week, you'll lose a pound a week. I responded with the following:

• The idea of doing 1,000 jumping jacks is daunting - how would you get mentally psyched up for that?
• I guess, if you did actually do 1,000 jumping jacks four times a week, you absolutely would lose weight. But would you keep it up?
• If weight loss is the goal, there are a lot more efficient ways to do it.

Then I stopped - you can't knock it until you try it, right? So tonight, yes, I did one thousand jumping jacks. It feels like exactly as many as it sounds like. I obviously wasn't going to bust out a thousand in a row, so I split it up into 100, 100, 100, 150, 150, 200, 200, with a 1-2 minute rest between each set. Here's my review:

• It was nice to be able to do these in the apartment. Nice to know for those chilly winter nights. (Plus, between sets, I was prepping our leftovers for dinner.)
• The jacks worked way more muscle groups than my typical cardio (running/elliptical): Shoulders, biceps, triceps, lats, calves, quads. I'm already sore!
• Sweat factor: Surprisingly high! I kept my heart rate up for about 20 minutes.
• On the negative side: I got so bored! Yes, the TV was on, but I had to count, so I couldn't even watch it. Maybe music would have been better.

Ultimately, I would do it again, but only at a max of once a week. If I felt the need to lose weight, I would likely go with running or other cardio, and I would skip dessert now and then (I tried skipping dessert the few weeks before my wedding and failed entirely).

It's good to try something new, even if it's not the greatest workout. At least I got my blood pumping after a long day!