Preparing for the next PCV beach get-together? Yearning for the Dominican booty? Is there not a gym in a 100-mile radius of you? Viveres catching up to you? Feelin’ flaca after that last parasite? Are you broke af but still tryna look gooooood? Then THIS workout is for you!
Vivere: any starchy mass of food that is
served boiled, seasoned with salt and vegetable oil. Platano, yucca, potato, auyama,
ñame…
 |
| If it looks gross, it's because it is |
Staying fit during Peace Corps service takes a
special kind of effort. All the doñas want you to eat their heaping plates of
assorted viveres and drink their syrup coffee. If you want to escape the sugar,
you can’t. Because it is *everywhere*. Ketchup is tomato syrup. The meat?
Secret ingredient= sugar. They even have this dish called “beans with sweet” which
is essentially a bowl of sweetened condensed milk, beans and viveres. This
insane sugar presence is evident in the many amputees and blind folks you see
in communities that lose appendages or sight to unchecked diabetes which turns into glaucoma.
There are so many delicious vegetables here,
but people don’t eat them because being full is considered being properly
nourished. Eating a
plate of viveres costs probably about 25 cents and will keep you full the whole
day…and honestly the next two days too. Eating a balanced, parasite-free meal
of rice, beans, meat, vegetables and a side of fruit would cost probably 2
dollars and would keep you full for the average amount of time that food keeps
one full. I sometimes think that the
reasons Dominicans move so slowly and always sit is because they’re
undernourished.
Clearly
also there are no gyms in tiny villages. So I made one.
Here’s my 10 pound weight bar, my 14.4 and 15.2 pound cans of cement and my 8.6 pound water jugs. I got the jugs of oil at the colmado. I got the giant cans of beans from the cafeteria at school and I found the wire outside. I traded this dude named Henry who was constructing his house an ice cream to fill my two cans of beans with cement.
Here’s my 10 pound weight bar, my 14.4 and 15.2 pound cans of cement and my 8.6 pound water jugs. I got the jugs of oil at the colmado. I got the giant cans of beans from the cafeteria at school and I found the wire outside. I traded this dude named Henry who was constructing his house an ice cream to fill my two cans of beans with cement.
I have an ab wheel, jump rope, yoga mat and foam roller (all from the States)
Wrk Out Twrk Out:
· Abdominals
o
20
ab wheel extensions
o
20
sit ups each side with one leg extended out on the ground and the other
extended up like you’re doing a scissor kick (“Tylers” for short b/c my
sister’s bf Tyler showed me this)
o
2
minute plank
o
100
lateral side swipes (“Annas” for short b/c my PCV soul sister, Anna showed me
this)
o
50
reps using the cement can as a medicine ball
·
Legs
o
20
squats with bar and cement cans (40 lbs.)
o
20
walking lunges with bar and water jugs (25 lbs.)
o
15
Bulgarian squats each side with bar (10 lbs.)
o
30
Kettle bell swings using the cement can (15.2 lbs.)
·
Back/
arms
o
10
push ups
o
15
good mornings with bar (10 lbs.)
o
10
standing rows with bar water jugs (25 lbs.)
o
5x5
Deadlifts with bar and cement (40 lbs.)
o
15
dips
·
Idealistically,
end with 10 minutes of easy, stretching-based yoga and foam roll out your legs.
BOOM, go take a cold bucket bath, bb. You deserve it 😉
So I’m not
doing snatches and cleans and my sister is probably stronger than me right now
(uhg, sibling rivalry)….BUT my campo gym
is keeping me PEACE CORPS STRONG ©. It’s like “Army
Strong”, but better because it was obtained through love and peace and good
will and sustainable practices.
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