A great refresher. The Trinity – a web analytics framework according to @Avinash  

The end of your workout. You’ve got only 1 exercise to go. You’ve got only 10 minutes left. By now you’re drained, eager to head home to eat a feast (whey protein and fast digesting carbs, of course). But that last exercise – the one that has you feeling ripped, as if you couldn’t do one more rep – is the reward and perfect ending to any workout. I find them fun because though they’re all low resistance / low weight exercises. They get that heart rate up and always burn you out before heading home. Here are my top 5 end-of-workout exercises spanning the major upper body muscle groups. 

100’s – Arm Blast 

Primary muscles worked: Biceps or Triceps

Secondary muscles worked: Forearms

How it works: Grab a straight bar or rope on the cable machine. You’re gonna do cable curls or tri pushdowns (100’s works for both), but here’s the catch: you’re only going to need like 20-30 pounds of plates on the stack. Start performing controlled curls (or pushdowns), and do as many reps as you can in a row until failure – your target should be between 50 – 70 reps. When you can’t do another, rest the difference between your completed reps and 100. For example, if you completed 50 reps, rest 50 seconds and continue your quest to 100. If you completed 70 reps, rest 30 seconds and then move on. If you do 90 reps, rest 10 seconds, then push forward. Pretty straight forward, but you’re sure to be burned out by the time you hit 100. 

Medicine Ball Overhead Toss

Primary muscles worked: Shoulders

Secondary muscles worked: Back

How it works: This works sitting or standing…I prefer to be seated, usually because of low ceilings. Grab a relatively light medicine ball – let’s say 10 lbs – and hold it close to your chest. With palms facing out, thrust your arms straight up, tossing the ball high in the air straight above your head, watching it as it comes back down into your hands. Bring the ball back to the top of your chest and repeat this overhead toss for 12 – 15 reps. Repeat this for 3 sets. In the end, you’ll feel the action primarily in your front delts. 

Back Extensions Reverse Flyes 

Primary muscles worked: Back

Secondary muscles worked: Shoulders

How it works: Before you begin, place two 5 – 10 pound dumbbells on the floor closely in front of the machine.. Lock your ankles into the machine, with the front of your legs and waist pressed up against the pads. Lean forward at the waist, bending your head and body towards the floor. Use your lower back muscles to pull your torso back up towards the starting position, ending in a 45 degree angle to the floor. Perform 10 reps. After completing your 10th rep, bend down and grab the dumbbells. With your body in the 45 degree angle (legs still locked in), spread your arms out to the sides. Your arms should be perpendicular to your torso as you lift the weights back & to the side. You should look like a T shape now, if viewing from behind. Bring your arms slowly back down in front of your chest…repeat the T shape side raises until you’ve hit 8-10 reps. By this time, your back and shoulders should be fried. 

Pushup 3’s 

Primary muscles worked: Chest

Secondary muscles worked: Triceps

How it works: This is a simple one. We’re just talking pushups here, though with three variations to hit all parts of your pec muscles. Make sure you have a bench near you before you begin. First, drop down and perform 10 regular pushups, with your hands slightly wide of the shoulders. Immediately switch to position 2 – put your hands on the bench (feet still on floor) and complete 10 reps, pushing your body towards the bench. Immediately move to position 3, where your feet should now be on the bench and your hands on the floor. Push your body up and down, with your head moving towards the ground. After another 10 reps, you’ll have completed 30 total. Your chest and triceps will  be feeling it. 

The Ab Wheel

Primary muscles worked: Abs (and obliques)

Secondary muscles worked: Triceps

How it works: First, you need one of those wheels with the handles poking out of the sides. Some offer spring action (easier), others do not. Place your knees on the ground, bending over & grabbing the handles of the wheel on the ground in front of you – should be about even with your shoulders on the floor. Keeping your arms completely straight throughout, roll the wheel forward to the point where your chest and legs are just about parallel with the floor. Using your abs, pull your body back to the starting position. My recommendation is 3 sets of 30, but it’s challenging. A variation includes rolling the wheel to either side as you move forward, working the obliques. When you’re done, the abs are gonna feel it all over. Your triceps too, as they’ve been stabilizing the movements through the entire exercise. 

Ok now go home. 

2 random thoughts, written with love. 

On Theory 

We’re not salesmen. I don’t make a commission off of a signed SOW. Our role is simple – you have a business problem…which is why we’re talking. If you’re transparent, genuine, and honest with what your problem is, we can best help you. More insight into your situation = delivery of the best work from talented strategists, designers, developers, big thinkers, etc. It’s a positive correlation that gives us the best chance at solving your business problems…and making you (appear) successful.

On Direction

Sometimes clients just don’t know what they want. They don’t know the deliverables. They don’t know who they should be talking to. They don’t know the costs. This happens each day. Why? The internet has a lot to do with it. Old route: TV, print, OOH, radio, experiential, hand shake. Now…the internet scares clients. Social media scares clients. Mobile scares clients. Do you know why most clients don’t know what they want? Because they’re scared to give wrong direction. Funny, because in digital you have the most unprecedented chance to test, converse, re-concept, pull down, and prove success better than any communications in the world. And yet 140 characters can bury you…a frightening double edged sword. But that’s what we’re for. Trust that we’re the informed safety nets that can calm your fears. We owe you recommendations. It’s ok that clients don’t know. And expected. Be honest with your concerns and we’ll guide you. 

Might be giving it away a bit, but what the hell. A few months ago I posted about Behavioral Advertising & an experience I had in the shower. Sexy. Honestly…it was a fun time. Behavioral / Targeted Advertising is both exciting & controversial, which makes for interesting back & forth, depending on who you’re talking to. 

Read an article on iMedia talking about creating ads that consumers trust. Yes it’s over a year old, but not much has changed. Summing it up, we’ve got the common theme of advertisement transparency, privacy, data, and targeting. There’s two seemingly fundamental trains of thought: Group 1: People who realize targeted advertising can provide a more rich, helpful online experience. And Group 2: People who immediately jump in the uneasy / privacy concern / don’t bother me boat (that’s a big group). Based upon my shower article, it’s pretty clear which group I’m in. But let’s dive deeper. 

Transparency is huge. In one camp, you’ve got the ostentatious world of “slap me in the face” ads. You clearly know you’re being advertised to, no matter if it’s TV, print, or digital. Then you’ve got that sneaky area. This is the world of in-line contextual ads…hell even product placement & sponsorship could fall into this camp. Usually the brand or advertised information is weaved in so seamlessly, that no one even knows they’re being advertised to. (know it’s old, but WRIGLEY field?) 

So how transparent do we have to be with people? The age of Social is defined by conversationalism & pull vs. push. Brands are speaking with consumers more openly than ever. And it’s working. We make fans & followers every day, creating a lovely balance of relevant dialogue with some subtle brand / product integration (hopefully done very delicately & totally in line with your established content & messaging strategy, of course). I bring that up because even when you like / follow a brand, how far do we have to go in telling users that they’re being advertised to. Yes we have promoted Tweets right now (tells you it’s advertising), but does a 16 year old kid or 48 year old woman know what that means? They might just like Nike or Martha Stewart. Saturday morning cartoons have been pushing kid friendly commercial for decades. They’re not gonna close their eyes every time a 30 second spot airs. 

But digital is different. It’s held to a high standard because it’s so controllable…by the advertiser & the people. Though we love serendipitous discovery, we usually have a reason for being online. So what is it about ad transparency & being honest with a consumers time, particularly from an experience standpoint? A recent worldwide eMarketer survey on Online Ad Actions informed us that while fear of virus was the #1 reason for not clicking an ad, the second most popular reason was that users didn’t want to be taken away from the page/site they were on. Damn what great insight. Many of us know it, but it’s always good to hear it reinforced. A few things to consider when delivering an honest ad experience with respect to the users’ time: 

• Tell me what’s going on – as Katz points out in his article, consider callouts explaining the process – why we being served the ads, letting users decide if they want to continue receiving them, how the ad experience can be improved, etc. This gives control back to the user and allows them to continue enjoying their experience, as they originally planned (hopefully the savvy user appreciates this openness). 


• Keeping me on the page – people don’t want to be taken away. A few years back, display ads started informing users that by clicking a banner, they wouldn’t be taken away from the page. Creatives may have cringed, but data guys probably loved it, particular for testing purposes. Main takeaway – transparency was put out there. The user’s original intention was respected. I’m cool with that. 


• Content vs. Advertisements - this is the fun part. We’re at a point today where branded content is weaved into our digital experiences so naturally that we don’t even know it’s sponsored. If the creative is good…if the content strategy is solid…if the messaging is relevant…if something valuable is being given to the user, satisfaction should be there. Banner ads are billboards now. If you’re ok with their purpose, then fine, keep doing it for awareness sake. But if you really want to drive into the (general) engagement realm, then relevant content integration is the way to keep people happy. Transparency…well that could be a little cloudy in this case. But if done right, i’d be more pleased to see something cool or valuable (since the marketers already know what my preferences are) & might care a little less about honesty. 

Be honest with your people. Bring them valuable content. Don’t serve me a lawn care audio ad when I live in New York City. I know you know about me, and I’m ok with that…just don’t bother me :)