The Lara Croft Workout

Lara Croft Quick Navigation Links:
Character Breakdown: Lara Croft
The Lara Croft Workout
The Skills of Lara Croft
The Mind of Lara Croft

Just a reminder, there’s still the ongoing quest, Activate the Book of Faces  I haven’t been plugging it much, lately but we are quite close.  Just 10 more likes and we’ll reach the goal of 50 Facebook fans, which means an extra character post over the weekend.  Go like the page, and share it with your friends!  Remember, if we hit 100 likes, I’ll do a vlog post as well!

Anyhoo, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get down to business with Lara.  In both her original games and her reboot, Lara lives a very active life.  We see her running through caves, tombs, temples, and other locations, dealing with unsure footing, risky ascents, and fearsome fights.  Lara is lithe, but strong, and has the endurance to reach her goals without fail.  We even see a large obstacle course in her backyard for training, complete with cargo nets, jumping obstacles, and other manner of challenges.

As I have before I cannot recommend getting involved with Mud Runs more.  They present unique, fun challenges that you don’t find in everyday life.  I participate in the Tough Mudder, but there’s also the Warrior Dash, the Spartan Race, and other awesome, local runs to check out.

At any rate, as with most smaller, more svelte characters, I’d recommend the Fighter Diet(man, we need to do a big guy again soon, I want to use that diet plan more…).

Also, make sure you always warm up before exercising!  I did a video tutorial on how to warm up properly, so check it out!

Note: This workout is divided into four level in order to easily plug into the RPG Fitness system!

Equipment Needed:
Chinup Bar
Towel
Newspaper

Cardio:
Level 1(beginner):
Walk at a brisk pace for thirty to forty minutes.  Make sure to keep your heart rate elevated.  Once this seems relatively easy, move on to level 2.
Level 2(intermediate):
Begin to work jogging into your walks.  Jog for a minute, walk for four.  Every five minutes stop and do twenty jumping jacks.  Keep increasing the jogging:walking ratio until your jogging for the whole half hour/forty minutes.
Level 3(Advanced):
Now you’re going for speed.  See how many miles you can squeeze into your run.  Continue to stop every five minutes, but this time, instead of doing twenty jumping jacks, do ten burpees(without the jump or the pushup).
Level 4(Tomb Raider):
Still going for speed, but this time your burpees have a pushup when you hit the ground, and when you’re coming up, instead of just standing, perform a tuck jump(jump as high as you can in the air and pull your knees to your chest).  Also, do fifteen instead of ten.

Strength: 
Level 1(beginner):
3×10 Chair-assisted pullups(palm away)
3×10 Kneeling pushups
3×10 Bodyweight squats
3×25 Crunches
3×1 Newspaper Crumples – Open a single sheet of newspaper completely.  Pinch one of the corners in one hand, and hold it straight out in front of you while standing, so it’s hanging without touching anything.  Now, without touching the paper with your other hand, crumple it into a ball in the outstretched hand.  Repeat on the other side.  This is a basic hand strengthening exercise to get you ready for the next levels.

Level 2(Intermediate):
3×10 Pullups(palm away)
3×10 Pushups
3×10 Bodyweight squats
3×25 Bicycle crunches
3×30 Seconds chinup bar hangs – Just grab onto your chinup bar and hang free for thirty seconds.

Level 3(Advanced):
3×15 Pullups(palm away)
3×20 Pushups
3×10 Tuck jumps
3×50 Bicycle crunches
3×30 Seconds towel hangs – Drap a towel over your chinup bar, grab onto either end, and hang for thirty seconds

Level 4(Tomb Raider):
5×20 Towel Pullups- Like your towel hangs from before, but do pullups!
5×20 Clap Pushups – Push up fast and clap your hands!
5×20 Tuck Jumps
5×50 Bicycle crunches
5×30  Seconds leg lifts – lie on your back, hands at your sides, life your legs six inches off the ground, and hold ’em there.

Schedule:
Day 1: Cardio
Day 2: Strength
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Strength
Day 5: Cardio
Day 6: Strength
Day 7: Rest

Again, these workouts, along with all of my workouts, are a rough outline.  As you get more comfortable with them, and with exercising in general, feel free to shake things up and try new exercise substitutions.  Tomorrow we take a look at the skills of Lara Croft!  Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter,  like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!

Dan “DaRatmastah” Wallace