Living Outside The Lines: Super Bowl + Voluntary Exercise = Insanity

However, I did feel it was time for New England’s Supreme Super Bowl Reign to end, thus my decision to cheer for Philadelphia. After all, watching the game is so much entertaining if a favorite team is selected…

Becky J Miller | Exclusive to Corridor News

Super Bowl I, originally called the AFL-NFL World Championship took place on January 15, 1967, at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. That year, the National Football League’s Green Bay Packers triumphed over the American Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs, 35 – 10. Fifty-two years later, with 103.4 million viewers, the event remains one of the most-watched sporting events in the United States.

Besides hollering for their favorite team, arm-chair spectators look forward to the event for a number of reasons: gathering with friends, drinking beer, noshing on wings and other football worthy fare, watching prestigious commercial premiers and singing along the half-time performer(s). 

Super Bowl LII played at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota featured the NFC East’s Philadelphia Eagles against the AFC East’s New England Patriots. My NFL team is the Dallas Cowboys. If the Cowboys are not playing, I choose the Southern-most team.

Since neither Philadelphia nor New England is located in the South, I had no strong preference regarding the winner. However, I did feel it was time for New England’s Supreme Super Bowl Reign to end, thus my decision to cheer for Philadelphia. After all, watching the game is so much entertaining if a favorite team is selected.

Truth be told, I was really only watching the game to see the commercials. There were no friends, no beer, not that I’d drink it anyhow #tasteslikevomit, no wings, or any other “football” foods, and I could care less about Justin Timberlake. However, after his wardrobe debacle with Janet Jackson during 2004’s Super Bowl halftime show, I was concerned that 2018 could be worse. It wasn’t.

While parked on the couch with my laptop waiting for the opening kick-off, I clicked on an email from #flexitpink. The contents included a Super Bowl Workout, i.e., a graph showing how many of which exercise to perform whenever a certain event occurred during the game. For example, participants were to perform 25 mountain climbers any time either team scored.

Always up for a challenge, I printed the work out and set it on the coffee table with every intention of making it through all four quarters. I’m a quasi-competitive runner. How hard could it be? I’m no quitter, but by the time there was 3:36 minutes left in the third quarter, I was done!

This was no easy work out, y’all! Although I could not find an exact Beer Commercial count, there were at least five; equaling 50 burpees. With a final score of 41 – 33, that’s ten touchdowns. Seven of those were scored before I quit trying to keep up with the exercise plan. There were FIVE field goals; twenty-five crunches each. I didn’t mind working my abs though.

Thank God for the multiple missed extra points, those 60-second planks were almost impossible! It is sad when you begin cheering because your team MISSES a point-after-attempt. Go ahead, judge me, and then see how long you can hold a 60 second plank. It’s not so easy, huh? Especially when combined with all the other exercises on the workout challenge.

Exacerbating my exercise conundrum ever so slightly was the presence of my running coach, AKA my husband. To say he enjoyed my suffering would be an understatement. Not only was he quick to say, “Kickoff,” “Touchdown,” “Beer Commercial,” he also ever so lovingly pointed out my need for form improvement.

Umm, “chin up,” “elbows in,” “deeper lunge,” “rear down,” you get the idea. He was, however, kind enough to “let” me do girl style push-ups. #humph #whoaskedyou

My growling stomach prevailed over common sense when I ate the rest of my leftover brisket nachos from lunch and then tried to hold a 60 second plank. #verybadidea Half time could not come soon enough; I am certain there were beer commercials during the break, but I didn’t care; if the Eagles and Patriots were on break, my butt was not moving off of the couch.

Monday morning I was sure I’d miss my 3:45 a.m. alarm, but I was up and at the track by 4:30 for a 3.5 mile run. Oh but Tuesday, that was the day my muscles finally realized they’d been tricked into a workout.

Super Bowl LII may be recorded in history as the Philadelphia Eagles’ first ever Super Bowl victory, but I shall always remember it as the year I thought accepting a game day exercise challenge was a good idea. Rest assured, it undoubtedly won’t be the last time I try something crazy.

Until Next Time,
Becky J Miller
“Warrior Princess”

Becky J Miller is a contributor and is exclusive to SM Corridor News. You can read more of Becky’s columns in Lifestyle.