Gym Buddies

TV Shows About Sports: The Good, The Bad, The Nonsensical! [Why I'm not really blogging tonight]

May 14, 2012
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Praise the heavens! You can’t tell but Megan’s really upset I couldn’t find our matching leotards. The Super Bowl, the World Series, the Olympics: When most people talk about watching sports on TV they mean they’re “catching the game.” But I am not most people (in this case I am both dumber and more juvenile than most people) and so when I tell people I have to rush home to watch sports, I’m talking about watching dramas loosely based around people who are supposedly playing a sport but in reality are just terrible actors. I freaking love these shows! Friday [...]

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Gym Drama: How to Deal When Your Workout Stresses You Out

February 6, 2012

Gossip, intrigue, power plays and morality plays: From the small stuff to the life-and-death stuff (sometimes literally), gyms are a microcosm of life. Add all the hormones, endorphins, sweat and fatigue from a good workout and you’ve got a recipe for the best reality show ever – seriously, why has no one ever done a gym reality show?! – or for some serious gym drama. Love it or hate it, the reality is that because we’re all flawed human beings, we’re all going to run into it sometimes. Some of us more than others. Ahem. Over the years I’ve got [...]

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The Emergency Gym Survival Kit: My Holiday Gift to the Gym Buddies

December 19, 2011

Maxipad slippers!! If only I had thought to Google “hilarious maxi pad gifts” before I gave the Gym Buddies their presents! Ah well, there’s always next year… (Image and idea courtesy of Homemade Gifts Made Easy.) Who gives their friends panty liners for Christmas? I do! And I would have given them the panties to go with it if I’d been smart enough to guess their sizes. (Seriously I’m spatially dyslexic. My most challenging chore every night is to figure out what size Tupperware I need to put our leftovers in because I canNOT eyeball it and get it right.) [...]

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The “Impossible Push-Up” – A Personal Challenge From Tony Horton [Plus: Lots & lots of gym shenanigans!]

October 10, 2011

As you may recall, I got to interview Tony Horton, founder of P90X and P90X 2 (due out in December). (How many times can I name-drop this before it just starts looking pathetic? I don’t care. I talked to Tony! And he said I could call him “Tony”! Or “Friend”! Whatever that means! Squeee!) Near the end of our interview he said, “Well you sound like you’re pretty strong.” Even though I’m well aware of the limitations of the telephone, I still gushed, “Thank yooouuuu!” To which he replied, “Do you want a real challenge?” He said the magic word! He [...]

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How Do You Define Healthy? [Plus: 22 "Men's" Exercises Women Should Do]

September 8, 2011

This is how Gym Buddy Megan defines healthy. And also, this is hands-down my absolute fave picture of her ever. Six scrambled eggs cooked in butter, a half pound of bacon, four potatoes worth of hash browns, six pieces of buttered toast, and a 32 oz. milkshake. And that’s just for breakfast. As the world watches in horror and fascination, Susanne Eman just keeps eating — literally — at her goal to become the fattest woman in history. Says Eman to The Sun, “The bigger I get, the better I feel. I feel more confident and sexy. Why shouldn’t I push the [...]

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Exercises That Women Do Better Than Men

July 28, 2011

Why yes, we all ARE making duck-face! It’s a sickness I tell you… Not to get all Gender Wars up in here but let’s face it ladies, when it comes to exercise the men usually win. They’re generally faster, stronger and more cut-throat. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have some tricks up our technical running tee sleeves! Thanks to our natural agility, better balance, flexibility and coordination and our willingness to play nice with the other kids, there are some exercises where Girls Rule the Workout! Check out my article on Shape.com today “19 Moves Women Do Better Than [...]

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Gym Staple: LBP (little black pants) [Plus winners of the GFE Book 2 title contest! And a GIVEAWAY!]]

June 13, 2011

You like my pull-up tree? This is the spastic pull-up, you might not have seen it done before. There is frog kicking involved. Fashion mags will tell you that every woman needs a “little black dress” or LBD, a blank canvas if you will for all your sartorial choices both present and future. If you get the right dress – one that fits like it was made for you – then you can dress it up with jewelry and heels for a black-tie affair or you can throw on a jean jacket (why yes they are back!) and sandals and [...]

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The No-Laps Pool Workout [Plus more workout tips, parenting articles and photoshoot outtakes!]

June 9, 2011

Some of you saw this pic when I Facebook/Tweeted it and were wondering what the Gym Buddies and I were doing at the bottom of the pool (and some of you also wondered how I have lived this long and not learned how to be underwater without plugging my nose – in my defense, in all the other pics I’m NOT plugging my nose but they turned out blurry so you’ll just have to take my word for it.) and now I can finally tell you about our Shape Magazine swimsuit photo shoot! (Never thought I’d be typing those words! [...]

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June’s Great CrossFit Experiment [For real this time]

June 1, 2011

Andrea may look tiny but girl can squat all 3 of us Gym Buddies put together. Plus she’s a mom of 1-year-old twins – if that doesn’t say strong, I don’t know what does! Butt wink. Andrea (long A) from CrossFit St. Paul hadn’t even known me for 30 minutes when she first told me I had a butt wink. The first time she said it, I was at the very bottom of a below-parallel back squat (First thing you should know about CrossFit: it is not enough to get to parallel on a squat, they are so hardcore you [...]

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Great Hula Hooping Experiment Results! [Pics! VIDEO!!]

May 31, 2011

YOU GUYS. HULA HOOPING IS RIDICULOUSLY FUN! See? It’s making me all scream-y and caps-y. But I cannot tell you enough how much fun we had this month. Not only that but this has got to be one of the most commented-on Experiments we’ve ever done (and we’re used to getting a lot of comments/stares/crazy looks). Here’s a sample of what we heard this month: Q: I could never hula hoop! My hips don’t work that way! A: Yes, you can! You just need a big enough hoop! Make your own or buy an adult-sized one! Don’t mess around with [...]

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