Social Workout

Bravo!

April Body of Work Challenge Final!

Sound the national anthem. Step up onto platform. It's time, at long last, to announce the results of the April Body of Work Challenge. It was an incredible performance: 30 Days. 287 Participants. 2075 Workouts. 47 Finishers!

Thank you to all, and congratulations! All of our finishers will be winning fabulous prizes, including free Yoga-Paws, and a gift certificates to Eskimix. (Details at bottom.) To see these lucky people's names, and to generally gaze in awe on the the full sweep of the B.O.W.C., please see our fully updated B.O.W.C. Attendance Sheet.

Choosing only five Big Prize winners among our finishers was tough and bittersweet. It was a very close finish, with many people rising to the challenge in the final days of April. To get there, our judges gathered this past week for hours of deliberations and hilarious re-readings of many posts and comment threads. We heart you all.

Still, a judge must judge, and five among the final 47, we agreed, worked out a bit harder, or otherwise made us all laugh or cry a bit more. Without further ado, then, we give you your B.O.W.C. prize winners:

• The Grand Prize for General Heroism - (A Year of Free Membership at Crunch) Goes to CJ.
• The Rebootie Prize for Best Workouts - (The Voltaic Systems Solar Charger Backpack) goes to BODY ELECTRIC
• Reykjavik Prize for Hot Blogging - (One month supply of Siggi's Skyr, the finest yogurt on the planet) - goes to K.BEN
• Mindbelly Prize for Smart Eating - (Dinner for two at Rouge Tomate) - goes to LONDONTRANSPLANT
• The Gymsanity Prize for Big Heart - (Two sessions with NYC super-trainer Brian Schneider) goes to MR. MOHAWK

Bravo to everyone! And on to May!

Wake Up Call

On Partying

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Spring has returned to NYC, hooray! Things are moving slowly at Social Workout HQ this morning, however. Last night's Launch Party and B.O.W.C. victory bash too much fun. Thanks to everyone who came out. Full report, with pictures, and B.O.W.C. final results coming right up!

Site News

The Challenge is Over, Long Live the Challenge

Lot's going on today at Social Workout: One challenge ending, another starting, and behind the scenes various technology enhancements soon to be rolled out for your review and critique. Naturally, we took the opportunity go on a  corporate field trip very early this morning to the final day of New York Ashatanga Yoga coachella at the new Chinatown YMCA. (Our impressions: Lot's of extremely flexible people. Women smiling like they lived in Northern California. Thin yogi guys, bare-chested with tattoos. Very different scene than, say, the Steel Gym, where we worked out last night hoping to find a bodybuilder to come to our launch party. We chatted with Victor Martinez, for example, who won the "Arnold Classic" in 2007. Big guy.)

So, catching back up with the day, we'd like to first massively congratulate our B.O.W.C. finishers. It was an amazing, inspiring month. Some of you are probably wondering what comes next. Here's the plan: We'll be doing final tabulation of B.O.W.C. attendance today, and our judges meet over the weekend, and early next week, to determine prize winners. Everyone's a winner of course, but we do have to give some stuff away -- which we'll do next Thursday at our Official Launch Party. (Please recall the witty title: "Jane and Arnold Invite You to: When Women did Aerobics, Men Pumped Iron, and Yoga Was for Weirdos." Get your '70s gear on, and come prepared to sweat (if you like) or simply socialize.) We'll also post the results on the site one week from today.

Meanwhile, the May Edition is off and running. We've made some changes to the "blog form" to allow people to track their progress a little more elegantly. If all goes well, we'll be releasing these in the next day or so, and looking forward to getting everyone's feedback. Since life has been crazy, we're going to keep the May Edition open to new participants through our party. So, if you're on the fence, come along....

OK, now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Wisdom of the B.O.W.C.

Read This, See That

Book tip of the day: Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Writes Berlinesque, "If you or someone you know needs some scientifically backed motivation for making exercise a regular part of your life, this book will do it!" Meanwhile, lot's of positive buzz on the blog of late about Enlighten Up!, the new indie yoga documentary -- and this just in from Leonie: "Nick Rosen used to live in the apartment below us in Tribeca. I can tell you: He was NOT the Yoga type of person." We figured it was about time to just run the trailer...

Sequels

If it ain't broke...

While we're making announcements, we thought we'd pass along a bit more exciting news. Without going on and on, suffice to say we've been very inspired by the B.O.W.C. When we launched the site, we didn't fully realize we were getting into the Challenge business. But now that we're in it, we don't want to stop. Hosting a community of "fitness bloggers," (or "floggers," ha!) seems to generate just the sort of intel sharing and gossip and mutual, collective inspiration that we always dreamed of generating. We're excited, and so, without further ado: For all those who missed the B.O.W.C., and/or for those B.O.W.C. freaks who just can't get enough, SocialWorkout.com is proud to present, in collaboration with NASA, Jack LaLanne, and the State of California, (from B.O.W.C. Sequels Unlimited), the...

Back by popular demand, and clinically proven to make you sleeker and more compassionate than ever.... With new and improved, soon-to-be-released software! And an even more industrial strength collection of prizes. You don't need to be a poet, or a fitness nut, nor to have endless free time. Everyone brings something to the party, and everyone wins. Run, don't walk. Call your friends, co-workers, and distant relatives. Join us!

One further, important note for loyal readers and B.O.W.C. vets: In running the old B.O.W.C., we've also become very aware of the ways we could do these challenges a little better -- major or minor tweaks to the site that would make the whole thing even more useful and user-friendly. (If our blogging has not always seemed quite so anaerobic, please forgive us, and know that we've been busy tinkering with the software, talking to these guys, and working on various Cool Features.) But more on all that later, including urgent requests for your feedback.

Ask the Trainer

And When Exactly Do I Look Like the Girl in the Magazine?

Kwalsh writes: "I'm feeling frustrated because I killed it with my ab routine today- I do stuff in reps now that I wouldn't even attempt before- but I don't see it..."

K., I hear this often, especially from new recruits to fitness, and more often women. Intial excitement turns into frustration. Too often they miss out on the bigger changes in their bodies because they are spending too much time staring at the mirror naked. You are getting compliments, you are fitting into clothes that you haven’t before, your energy has skyrocketed, and on and on! These are the rewards of your hard work. Can you do more? Yes, but at what price?

Start mini rant: Are you looking to have the body of a magazine cover model? Don’t waste your time and energy. The image you seek is not real. Magazines want to make money. They are banking on our fears and desires. Special lighting and airbrushing go a long way. Teenage girls are getting more cosmetic surgery than ever! The athletes that are true to their image have earned it through dedicated diet and exercise and fortunate genetics. The Hollywood image is a less than reasonable goal.

Right. Rant over. That said, here's how we step up our training...

Locker Room

Wisdom of the B.O.W.C.

Two practical tips from the front lines...

• For those with "a litte more junk in the...chest," one B.O.W.C. regular says try the Shock Absorber sports bra. "No bouncing, EVER."  Available from Amazon, but don't miss the racy Bounceometer on their excellent website.
• Let's say you've been working out a lot, maybe doing some kind of wacky 30 day challenge, and then one day you come home from the gym and notice you've got an itchy rash ALL OVER the place. Hello Milaria, a.k.a. sweat rash, otherwise known as "heat rash," and not to be confused with Malaria. Do not panic. Other than unconfirmed report of a British infantryman (1908 Hussar division) succumbing to sweat rash while on swamp detail in Equatorial Guinea, the condition does not appear life threatening. Indeed, it is common. Nothing to be ashamed of. Solution: Cool showers, loose clothing, Calamine lotion. Avoid Bikram yoga and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Workout Post

Yoga Days

Yesterday, I stretched in a way I haven't in a long time. I attribute this in part to the fact that I did actually make it out of bed before 7AM, and so the day was poised for greatness.

New York