The recent flood of articles about romance that can best be described as “dubious” means there is even MORE opportunity for working out. Here are MORE exercises based on those elements so frequently found in sketchy examinations of romance.
Extra points if you do each exercise while holding one eyebrow up, AND giving the side-eye.
Like the previous workouts, you can do all these exercises with a mat and your own bodyweight. No additional weights are needed unless you want to use some. Extra weight ups the challenge.
Standard disclaimers still apply: nope, still not a physician. I can recommend books to read but I can’t discern your state of health or your physical limitations so by all means work hard but be kind to yourself. To put it another way, ask your doctor before beginning any exercise regimen.
Drink lots of water, read lots of books. K?
And yes! By reader request, I have a convenient PDF of all the workouts so far. Each page has two images on it, and the PDF is 1.5MB+ in size. You are welcome to print and distribute the workouts, give them as gifts, or use them as bookmarks.
Download the Romance Novel Workout PDF Collection here.
And now, Romance Novel Reader Workout, Part XVII, in graphic form suitable for pinning, sharing, printing, and pointing at!
If you have questions or suggestions for future workouts, please share, either in the comments or via email.
And remember the rallying cry of the workout: unless you faint, puke, or die, KEEP READING! AND BREATHING!
Normally I’m laughing too hard to get through the workout. I whipped through this one in a state of “high dudgeon”. A little fury does a body good!
“Dubious” articles about romance? I can’t even keep my relatives from making these “dubious” cracks.
Any link to share?
Is this workout specifically a reaction to last week’s Salon piece? That article was a particularly insidious little fucker. My “favorite” part was the following:
How witty! How original! I’ve never, ever, ever heard the entire readership of the romance genre described as middle-aged women before! How lucky for us that this man, in all the wisdom bestowed upon him by his possession of a penis, is here to render the genre respectable and to show all of us poor, ignorant, middle-aged women (and some other folks too, obviously) the Real Way to Read Romance. Because we were all doing it wrong before, you know. Thank jeebus for the penis!
these are so fab!
My current annoyance is with references to a tall woman having “Mile-long legs”. I know it is just a metaphor, but think about it. One mile is 5,280 feet. Have you ever met a woman 8 feet tall let alone 5,280 feet plus some for her either ridiculously disproportionate torso or her equally long (a mile) tall torso? Empire State Building is only 1,454 feet tall. It’s just a lousy expression which is being over used in the novel I’m currently reading. I’ve read 65 pages and comments on her mile long legs that go on forever (ahem, ah no they don’t) have been made at least 3 times. Also, he’s laid back. I’ve been told this every time the heroine sees him, so I know this. Although, he’s also smart, kind, sharp, caring, and laid back.
So for more workouts, cliches – mile long legs, legs that go forever, …
Oh, and this super tall woman wears only heels. So far 3” and 4” heels have been explicitly mentioned. Because you know, she needs them. Humpf
Great workout! I’ll try to remember it somebody organises the next kerfuffle about romance novels.
There will always be another one.