The Booster Gold Workout Program: Part 1

Since my last couple posts have been very comic-centric, I feel its time for me to post about something health related. As you may recall, I'm training to be a muscle-y Booster Gold at Comic-Con next year. I've very recently started a new workout program to accomplish this goal.

First off we have the issue of cardio. Cardio is very important in any work-out program, its they way you actually lose weight. It is very important to do something that you enjoy and will keep doing regularly throughout the course of the program. You all know I love running, but with the weather getting colder and my sore lack of anything that resembles a car, I've had to turn to something else.

I've racked my brain for something cheap (preferably free) that I would really enjoy and could hopefully involve as close to a full body work-out as possible. One notion that I kept coming back to was taking dance lessons. I've always enjoyed the idea of learning to dance but I could never get myself motivated enough to take a class. Of course, I live in a small town and all the dance classes are full of small children, and I'm not too fond of being considered the "creepy older guy."

Then I remembered a gem I found online after watching the most recent Hanson (yes, the MMMBop kids) video. "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" is an incredibly catchy song that actually has a not too difficult dance associated with it. With the combination of how fast the dance becomes at full speed, it provides a perfect cardio workout, and do this four minute song five times and you've got yourself a 20-minute full body workout.



In order to combat the problem of potentially getting tired of this, I've been tagging a more difficult dance to the end of each work-out. This is a fun way to challenge myself, while still enjoying myself. And seriously, its amazing how many choreography tutorials you can find on youtube. Recently, I've been learning the dance from Lady Gaga's "Telephone."



I do this workout five times a week, for me this is Sunday through Thursday. This way I have plenty of cardio but I don't tire myself out too much. Be sure to check back in next week for the other half of the Booster Gold Workout Program, and come back later this week when I check out the new Jimmy Olsen back-up feature in the latest Action Comics.

Picking Up The Pieces

About three months ago I was involved in a pretty horrific accident. One that, quite honestly, I'm pretty lucky to have walked out of. My car was destroyed, but little did I know that my spirit took a pretty good beating as well.

It is at this time that I'd like to give all of you a little advice. If you're going through something tough emotionally, do yourself a favor and don't throw getting into shape on top of all your other problems. You'll drive yourself crazy and do a lot more harm then good.

Over the course of the past few months, I've put myself thorough so many things to avoid dealing with the fact that I'd recently had a near-death experience. I've experienced Insomnia, which of course led to oversleeping. I've done a lot of overeating, which, when you're trying to get healthy, is only a gateway drug into bulimia. I've lost that spark I used to have for life and haven't been motivated to do anything. The two blog posts I wrote here during that time are the most creative things I'd accomplished.

It wasn't until today when I caught myself talking about death with my brother when I realized just how far I'd fallen. Today I spent a lot of time thinking about what it really meant to almost die. At the end of the day, I've not done too much to be remembered for. Up until now, had I died in the accident, sure, my friends and family would grieve me, but I would have made no impact on the world. That terrifies me.

If I do one thing with my life I want it to be making a difference. I don't care how or what it concerns, I just want to help make the world a little more self-aware about something and make it a better place to live. That starts here.

So now I'm going to cope with this the way I cope with most everything else in my life. I tell the world about it, dust my self off and get a new goal in mind to pursue relentlessly.

I'm continuing my quest to rid the world of the unhealthy geek stereotype. I'm going to restart my healthy eating routine, not all at once, but slowly work my way back there. I'm going to start sprint training, and write an accompanying blog post about what that is exactly. I'll also be consuming a ton of media and doing what I do best, regurgitating it in reviews full of my Joss Whedon vocabulary and hopefully witty jokes. Take that near-death experience, you can't take me down that easily!

A League of Outsiders

I'll admit it. When I picked up my copy of Justice League of America #44 back in April, I was one of the first to cast a stone or two at the newly formed Justice League. I mean, at first glance, it really looks like a team of misfits. Allow me to break down the team for you:

• Batman, as played by Dick Grayson


• Donna Troy, who I do love, but can only really be described in layman's terms as a B-List Wonder Woman


• A shirtless, blue alien guy going by the name of Star Man, and isn't there already a Star Man that is neither blue or shirtless?


• and last, but certainly not least, a giant gorilla man, seriously, I'm not making this up

I mean, as much as I want to like this team, its hard to deny that it looks like someone just scooped these heroes out of the bargain bin. Needless to say, I was pretty skeptical. Even Etrigan couldn't take them seriously, and I mean, let's face it, he's kinda bargain bin-y himself. However, following the battle with said rhyming demon, the "Justice League" discovered Jade, the recently alive daughter of the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, that innately has Green Lantern-like powers. They were almost immediately joined by the Justice Society of America and I am then led into a JLA/JSA crossover arc, with a JLA team that I'm not entirely sure I'm feeling yet.

I'm not the hugest fan of team crossover comics in the first place, but two pretty lackluster teams made it ever less appealing. With that said, I'm not entirely sure why I stuck with this comic for the ride, but I did.

The next issues featured a pretty epic fight between Power Girl and, a very welcome addition to the Justice Leauge, Supergirl. Adding an "S" to the group definitely gives it at least an appearance of legitimacy. But then again, it is Supergirl, not the big guy, I think you all know the one I'm talking about.

Finally, after much Green Lanterny-ness, the arc came to a close. On the last couple pages Batman offered Jesse Quick of the JSA an invitation to the League, which she quickly accepted. I'm not entirely sure if Jesse Quick was always a cool character or if they just made her seem that way just before her League debut, but either way, I approve of the speedster.

At the end of a pretty satisfying cross-over, we had the final rooster for this incarnation of the Justice League of America. Let me break it down for you one more time, now with my fresh perspective:

• Batman, still Dick Grayson, apparently that's not changing


• Donna Troy, now kinda the only Wonder Woman, what with Diana going through God knows what in her own comic


• The new Star Man, who I still don't know too much about, but after wiki-ing him up, it could be cool to have an openly gay member of the JLA


• Congorilla, who I'm still not entirely sold on, but he does sorta fit the magical character slot


• Supergirl, personally, my favorite member of the Super family


• Jade, a green skinned hottie that packs a mighty punch, with a giant green energy fist, of course


• and Jesse Quick, she may not be anywhere close to the most high-profile speedster, but she does seem like she'll be a pretty great addition to the team

After I saw the full rooster of this Justice League, I finally realized what bugged me so much about it in the first place. This doesn't at all feel like the Justice League, it feels like The Outsiders. No, not that current batch of losers, my Outsiders, the Outsiders with Nightwing at the helm. That was a comic that I really loved. Which brings me to my final verdict.

At the end of the day, this is actually a pretty well-rounded team. They have their bat, their Wonder, their Super, their Lantern, their speedster, their magic person and their random Hero thrown in for flavor. As long as I can accept that this will never be the Justice League I read that involved the big three, I think I'll really dig this comic. This has the makings to be very similar to the Outsiders comics I read a couple years back, which could actually be pretty amazing. I'm really glad I didn't jump off this ride before it even really got started.

A New Beginning

My name is Terry Bartley and about five months ago I started training to run a marathon. I set this goal primarily as a gimmicky way to motivate myself to exercise and eventually become healthier. Throughout the past several months, I've ran more then I ever had in my life and even successfully ran my first 5k. However, I really didn't appear to be getting in better shape.

Although I'm convinced I'm in better shape now then I've ever been in my life, I still kinda look a little overweight. I've been doing something wrong. After a little research, I found out that, apparently, although running long distances will increase your endurance, they don't really lower your body fat percentage. That comes from a different kind of training. Thus, I've decided to try for a slightly different goal.

Last year, I went to Comic-Con, ya' know, the biggest geek-fest in the world. I really loved it and have already made plans to attend next year. "What exactly does this have to do with exercise?" you may ask. "Everything," I reply.

At next year's Comic-Con, my friends and I have decided we want to dress up as the Justice League International. We've not worked out all the details yet, but we do know that I'm going to be the fame-mongering Booster Gold and my friend Ty will be Blue Beetle (Ted Kord edition).

I'm sure some of you out there still don't quite get how me cosplaying one of my favorite B-List superheroes connects to fitness. To you, I respond, "Have you even looked at Booster's abs? I mean seriously, look at them!"

In other words, the most important part of my Booster Gold costume, and consequently the hardest part, is getting into Super Hero shape. Which brings me to what this blog will be turning into. I'll be chronicling my first ever foray into real fitness, weight training and all, and also keeping you up to date with my other Comic-Con "training."

Between now and next year's Comic-Con, I hope to be adding more writers to this blog, which can only be described as something that has never been done before. I'll be putting together two things that I love, fitness and pop culture reviews. A place where readers can get opinions and rants on the latest and greatest T.V., movies and comic books, among other things, and work-out tips. If nothing else, I'll be firmly discrediting the "unhealthy geek" stereotype. I hope the world's ready for another Super Hero, or at least someone that looks like one.