Thursday's Workout: Family WOD

On this warm Mexican morning, "Death by Burpees" sounded like a good idea.

Here's how it works: Start a timer, and with a continuously running clock, perform one burpee at the start of the first minute, two burpees at the start of the second, three burpees at the start of the third minute, and so on. You're done when you can't finish your required number of burpees in a minute's time.

Once again, the kids decided to work out with us. Big-O went full-on beast mode...

...as did Lil-O.

M got through 10 solid rounds of burpees before tapping out.

I managed to eke out 15 rounds before collapsing.

The last time I did "Death by Burpees," I failed to complete fourteen rounds, so I was pretty happy about today's PR.

So happy, in fact, that I decided to indulge in some heavy-duty taco consumption.

Mmm...tacos...

Monday's Workout: Cabo San Lucas

We're in Cabo San Lucas for the week, and we're planning on eating like rabid wolves this week, so to kick things off right, the entire family decided to work out on the balcony this morning (minus the three-year-old, who was wandering around somewhere, munching on a scrambled egg and playing with his LEGOs). 

 M got cranking on her double-unders... 

...and air squats... 

...while Big-O got his mobility on. 

I wish I could squat as comfortably as he can. 

I decided to dash off a quick home-brewed WOD: 

50 double-unders, and then 5 rounds for time of: 

5 handstand push-ups... 

 (Whoops -- nip slip.) 

10 pistols... 

...and 15 sit-ups. 

As you can see, Big-O decided to go rip off his shirt and join in the fun.

Result: 9:13. I cooled down with another 50 double-unders.

And then we proceeded to eat, swim, and do a whole lotta nothin'. (We did eat some worms, though. M'll do all the food-related play-by-play over at Nom Nom Paleo.)

Don't you love it when people bore you to death with their vacation photos?

Take Me Out to the Mesoamerican Ballgame

Medicine balls are fun to heave against a wall (note: not really), but what else can you do with a heavy ball?

Well, we could always try to revive the ancient Mesoamerican game of "pitz" (as it was known to Mayans). It is, after all, the first team sport in human history.

The precise rules of the game -- which was first played over three thousand years ago -- are lost to history, but evidence suggests that pitz was similar to volleyball – using rubber balls of different size -- and weighing 9 pounds or more. Two teams consisting of 2 to 4 players each would face off on a walled ballcourt, using their hips, forearms, racquets and bats to try to keep the ball in play. Points were scored by striking the opposing team’s wall with the ball -- but teams could be penalized if they allowed the ball to touch the ground more than once.

Later variations of the game included a stone ring mounted high up on the side of the court; a team could win the game outright by getting the ball through the ring. By 300 B.C., pitz was being played throughout much of what is now Mexico.

Sounds fun, right?

Unfortunately, there were some downsides.

The game was brutal, and injuries inflicted by the heavy ball were severe. Five hundred years ago, Spanish historian Diego Durán reported that some bruises were so severe that they had to be lanced open. He also reported that players were even killed when the ball "hit them in the mouth or the stomach or the intestines".

Plus: Losers got beheaded.

In the Mayan version of the game, it appears that the captain of the losing team -- and possibly other players, too -- would be decapitated following a loss. And with the Aztec version of pitz, the skulls of losing team members were placed in a “skull rack” next to the court -- and some have suggested that the severed heads were occasionally put in play as balls.

When I count my blessings, I often forget to be thankful for the fact that I'm not an ancient Mesoamerican athlete. My cortisol levels would be through the roof. Also: For practicing wallball shots, Dynamax medicine balls are much easier to grip than bloody heads.