Bahrain, Working Out

Well, I guess another week has gone by and I have failed to write. Sorry about that. Last Thursday I sat down to write the schedule and was informed that I had to plan a flight to Bahrain (about 300 miles away) for myself and 10 other people from the squadron. Bahrain is kind of a good deal trip that the squadron likes to do for the guys to get us out of the fenceline every once in a while. It's a much more progressive Muslim country which means that the guys were able to drink. They were pretty excited about that.

Unfortunately I was on medevac alert Thursday so on Friday morning I had to run back to my trailer, grab a quick shower, pack my stuff and then hurry back to the squadron for the brief. Everything was going really well. We even took off close to our scheduled time (which is pretty tough to do on these flights). It was when we were about 10 minutes out that I realized that I hadn't thrown my bag into the helicopter. I was going into Bahrain with nothing more than the clothes on my back, which happened to be my flight suit. I figured that I could just buy some clothes there to tide myself over. Unfortunately there is a policy there that you cannot leave the base in uniform. Fortunately for me, I was able to borrow some athletic shorts and a "Piggly-Wiggly" shirt from one of the other pilots. Unfortunately for me, it was athletic shorts and a "Piggly-Wiggly" shirt. So I soon found myself in the streets of Bahrain in shorts, a T-shirt, and combat (flight) boots. To make matters worse, there was a giant drawing of a pig on the back of the shirt. In a Muslim country. I promise that I will post pictures of this fantastic outfit at a later time.

Eventually, I was able to go to the exchange on the Navy Base in Bahrain and buy some clothing and toiletries for the rest of the weekend. It was a little overwhelming, honestly. Bahrain is a huge, very cosmopolitan city. I haven't seen anything like it since I left San Diego a year ago. Guam is definately not like that. There was just a lot to take in. It was nice to not be a Camp Beuhring for a while, though. Like I said, pictures to follow.

Now, for the second part of my post, I started a new workout recently and I really like it. If any of you want to take up the challenge, I'll post it here. The reason that I like it is that it's designed to be done when you're on a ship so it does not require special equipment or a lot a space. It's something that you can easily do in the privacy of your own home, but seems to have awesome results. Here it is:

Flight Deck Workout:

100 jumping jacks (50 regular, 50 half (just bringing your elbows up like chicken wings)
10 4-ct standing trunk twists
10 4-ct standing oblique crunches
40 push-ups
10 4-ct press press flings
100 4-ct flutter kicks followed by 50 hello dollies
10 4-ct fore and aft ab stretches
40 push-ups
50 4-ct seated flutter kicks
10 4-ct cherry pickers
40 push-ups - last 5 hold in UP position
10 4-ct up, back, and overs
25 V-ups / Bruce Lees
10 4-ct modified cherry pickers
40 push-ups - last 5 hold in DOWN position
10 4-ct press press flings
25 4-ct seated knee bends
25 4-ct seated bicycle crunches
50 8-ct body builders
20 diamond push-ups
20 finger-tip push-ups
20 wide-arm push-ups

All that is the goal, of course. Start out at about a fourth of that and work your way up. If you don't understand what an excersize is, ask and I'll tell you (if you want a "Mens' Health" style post with step-by-step photos of me doing the excersizes, I wouldn't hold my breath). As for the 50 8-ct body builders, by the time I get to those I'm so tired that I have to strain to get 10. It sounds like a lot, but the whole thing takes easily less that 1/2 hour. I do it every other day and alternate with 30-45 minutes on the stationary bike. Good luck. I think you'll like it, but be prepared to be very, very sore for a while.