By Mike Kubas
I’ve always been a fan of April Fool’s Day, at least until the internet came around, then it just became a day when you HAVE TO assume every headline is from a satire website. Yeah, I’m dating myself there, but truth be told I’ve always been a fan of a good old-fashioned prank. One year I tricked my mother into thinking that me and my then girlfriend had adopted this adorable puppy, only to be met with expletives and a firm smack on the shoulder when she learned it was a prank. Followed by more swearing and a sense of relief when I revealed to her that we did in fact adopt the dog. The thing about April Fool’s Day is the success of the prank is mostly based upon how deceptive or misleading one can be, the resulting humor being tied directly to the degree of the deception and the level of belief held by the target. Here are some pranks you may want to try on some of your fitness colleagues!
- Personal Trainers – Play Nice!
Maybe I shouldn’t lead off with this, but your personal trainers make great targets for pranks. They’re unsuspecting, distracted, and often still half asleep if it’s early. Simple things like moving their coffee when they aren’t looking, moving equipment they’ve recently set up, or replacing their protein powder with flour are all effective ways to say “April Fool’s Day” to your favorite gym employee!
2. Cardio Queens / Kings
If you wanted to get a chuckle out of a cardio hungry gym-goer you could start by placing an old baseball card in the spokes of their spin bike and speed limit signage near the treadmills! Additionally, replacing their energy chews with Starburst is one prank they might not mind at all lol. You could also try sprinkling some glitter into the folds of the clean towels for a festive conclusion to the workout! (Just don’t take them home!)
3. Gym Bros.
Placing an enormous “NO SQUATTING” sign in the most popular squat rack is an effective way to perplex some on April Fool’s Day. Mixing in confectionary sugar with the chalk at your gym is a great way to see if you can make gains with excess sugar.
4. Yogis / Cyclist / Group Fitness
An oldie is to sneak in some music that is just not appropriate for the class at hand. Some Britney Spears – Toxic in the middle of yoga, or Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You during crunch time of the spin class.
Lastly, here are some REAL finishers to your workout that you’d think have to be an April Fool’s Day joke, but aren’t!
KB Swings Pyramid – KB Swings performed in sets of 5-10-15-15-10-5 for 60 total swings! In between each set of swings, you’ll perform 10 mountain climbers (5 each side) for your “rest”!
24-12-12-24 – This one you’ll perform as many rounds as you can for 5 mins! You just need a small box/step. Start with 24 fast toe touches on the box, followed by 12 squat jumps, then 12 reverse lunges (6 each side), and finally 24 speed squats!
20-20-10-10 – This one starts with 20 speed squats, followed by a 20 second static squat hold, 10 squat jumps, and finally 10 burpees!
There you have it, a handful of fitness April Fool’s Day Pranks and even some fun ways to finish off your workout! Grab a trainer if you’re not sure on the finishers and we’ll gladly help you through it!
Have a go at a few of the pranks (hopefully not at my expense) or see if you can come up with some of your own! I’ve always been a fan of pranks but be sure they’re done at the appropriate time and not endangering anyone! Nobody wants to be doing a back squat and have a herd of sheep come trucking though the gym mid rep, that’s a recipe for injury and lamb chops.
