Introducing, Pin It to Win It (PITWI)! I say “in it to win it” frequently (or in “Justice’s after work hours” speak that makes the fella roll his eyes, “on the regular”), and I’ve totally fallen in love with Pinterest lately. I’m going to attempt to recreate some of my pins – sometimes very faithfully and by the book, sometimes as more of a loose inspiration. This will definitely be a regular feature, but I can’t say how regular – as frequently as I PITWI, I suppose!
For my first PITWI feature (say PITWI out loud – you will smile or giggle or both!), I was pinspired by this bad boy – a fun take on a workout routine.
Here’s the gist: write a move and reps on a popsicle stick. Make as many as you like. Put them all in a “daily workout” cup. Pick one, do the exercise, and move it to the “done” cup. Easy as pie (an easy pie; not like, lemon meringue – that is difficult).
So, uh, I decided to take this a step further. And because I’ve been obsessed with neon lately – to the point that I label myself a “neon enthusiast” proudly – I decided to integrate neon.
Oh, what? Are those…neon-topped popsicle sticks? Yeah, they totally are.
I’m not going to lie, when I make or purchase something that looks good in every Instagram filter, I know I have a winner on my hands. Scarves, popsicle projects, makeup (that happened once)…
I wanted something that was fun to look at and use. Basically, I took the project another step further: this is a daily workout that can spread across multiple days.
Say what?
I looked at my “fitspiration” board on Pinterest and noticed I have a ton of different workouts for arms, core, lower body, etc. I like a lot of variety and since I used to kind of know my way around a gym (I ran track for a few years and I actually took conditioning – the weight room class – as an elective in middle school), I know the importance of preventing muscle fatigue. You do the same exercise day after day, you don’t get results after a bit and you’re not challenging yourself.
My idea was to categorize the workouts and then determine how many of each color to pull for my daily workout. So, my categories were:
- Blue: Lower body – Pull 4
- Pink: Upper body – Pull 4
- Yellow: Core – Pull 4
- Green: Plank (these kill me, but I love them – they are such a challenge so the reward is totally worth it) – Pull 2
- Red: All-body – Pull 3
- Orange: Fun time! These aren’t exercises, but just things to do to stay active and get in some easy exercise (play with Huckleberry, walk with a coworker, yard work, etc)
Blue – Red do each move all the way through, and repeat the cycle three times. Orange is once a day.
This is a really easy project if you want to make it yourself! Also, I imagine that if you have kids at a certain, you could get some help with some parts of it (taping and painting).
Supplies:
- Popsicle sticks
- Paint
- Sharpie
- Tape (clean lines – a must for those of us a little more OCD)
- Paint brushes (I used foam instead – much easier)
- A styrofoam board (drying rack!)
- Ruler (if you want your tops to be the same length)
- Tarp/dropcloth (I used two garbage bags over the kitchen table – it was easy to mark the length for my colored top right on the surface, which definitely saved time)
- Scissors
- Vase or some kind of cool display
Instructions:
- Determine the length for the color top – I measured out 1 1/2 inches and marked it on my dropcloth surface.
- Tape off the popsicle stick at your pre-measured spot. Make sure the tape wraps around the whole stick and there’s a little excess – this will make it easier to cut off after you’ve painted.
- Write your exercise and number of moves on the bottom half of the stick. I wrote mine on both sides.
- Separate out your sticks into your different piles.
- Paint your color on the top you’ve taped off. Make sure the paint layer isn’t too thick or it will drip (I wanted clean lines; if you want something a little funkier, skip everything involving tape and do it to it!).
- Use the styrofoam board as a drying rack to prop up your popsicle sticks while they dry.
- Once the first layer is dry, you may decide you want a second layer (the neon needed it). If so, repeat steps 5 and 6.
- Cut off your tape layer slowly. The paint may peel if you take a Band-Aid approach and just rip it off.
- Arrange in a vase or whatever display you choose (it looks crazy cool in a plain glass vase).
- What are you waiting for? Work out!
Take it to the next level:
- Go crazy with colors – ombre, patterns, whatever
- Use decorative scissors for a cool border pattern like scallops or zig zag
- Use higher-quality wood and sandpaper for a really smooth, even surface
- Use a stain for a light, all-over complementary (or contrasting!) base color
- Write only the exercise move and file one end into a point. Refab a dartboard to include different numbers. Play darts to determine your workout.
No matter what, have fun!
manuscripts & marginalia 