Category: Workout

Wednesday Workout: 20 Minute Full Body DB AMRAP Workout

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Good morning! I hope you’re all having a good week so far.

Today’s workout is one I did a little while ago when I was doing my one of many at-home workouts. Speaking of, when did I become such an at-home workout person?! I used to always go to the gym for my workouts, but I feel like now that we have a spin bike and some heavier weights I can get a pretty decent workout in at-home. On top of this it saves me SO MUCH TIME, which if you read my post on Monday, you’ll know that time is of the essence these days. Even though I want to get bigger and stronger muscles, having some additional free time is more important so therefore I cut my workouts short to allow for that. I don’t believe in the “I’m too busy” excuse trap because I feel that if it’s something we really, truly want to do we will make time. So I’m not too busy to get to the gym for long, intense strength training sessions, it’s just that I would rather do short workouts (but effective) so that I have more time to do other things.

Anyway, that rant really had nothing to do with today’s workout, lol 🙂 For this workout, you’ll just need a set or two of dumbbells (or a Kettlebell would work too) and a mat. You’ll then set your timer for 20 minutes and get to work, moving from one exercise to the next resting as needed, but trying to rest as little as possible so as to keep the heart rate up so that a primarily strength workout becomes strength AND cardio. Two birds, one stone!

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I think all of these moves are pretty standard B2B exercises, but if you have questions don’t hesitate to ask!

Here’s to hump day!

Questions for you: Do you prefer at home workouts or do you prefer going to the gym?

Wednesday Workout: Bodyweight EMOM w/8 Minute Rounds

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Good morning! Before I get to the workout, I wanted to remind you that there are a few spots left for my Kickboxing Bootcamp at Janji on Newbury Street tonight at 6:30pm. You can sign up here.

Now, onto the workout! If you’re not familiar with the acronym EMOM, it means “every minute on the minute”. What this means is you have 1 minute to complete the prescribed exercise/reps. However much time is left after you finish the prescribed exercises/reps will be your rest time. If you’re like me, the first minutes will seem like a breeze and you’ll be thinking you don’t need that rest, however, by the last rounds it’ll seem like there isn’t enough rest!

For this particular workout, I give you 8 minutes for each EMOM round. Additionally, I give you 2 exercises per EMOM round which means you’ll do one exercise on the odd minutes and one on the evens:

  • 01= odd
  • 1-2=even
  • 2-3=odd
  • 3-4=even
  • 4-5=odd
  • 5-6=even
  • 6-7=odd
  • 7-8=even

While this workout doesn’t require any equipment, if you find you’re finishing the prescribed exercises/reps with more than 20 seconds to rest, I suggest adding something to intensify the exercise. This can be done by increasing your reps, adding weights, etc.

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15 Burpees/10 HRPU

20 jumping lunges/ 15 leg lowers

20 jump squats/ 10 plank knee tucks

As you can see, if you don’t have weights or simply don’t want to use them, it’s a great workout for that. You can also drop it down to just one or two EMOM rounds if you’re running short on time. I’d love to hear if you try this!

Questions for you: Have you ever done EMOM workouts? 

 

Wednesday Workout: Spin Bootcamp

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Hi there! As most of you know by now, I was able to purchase a used bike from The Handlebar indoor cycling studio back in December. While I am not a regular spinner, I do enjoy it and it is something I want to get more into as I get more practice, which is exactly why I bought the bike. That, and the fact that it was an incredible deal and the perfect piece of cardio equipment for our apartment. It seriously makes working out at home SO much easier!!

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This workout was one that I did quickly on a Sunday- a day I don’t normally workout, but I was feeling energetic so I took advantage of that and busted out this workout. It can be any length you want, although the songs you choose & how many you choose to use will ultimately determine how long the workout is. The format of the workout is fun because you’re switching things up by song, so mentally you know you just have to get through the song before you can switch to something else. I think this is why it flew by for me- I kept having good songs pop on my playlist which kept me going!

Here are a few screenshots of what’s currently on my most recently downloaded songs- you’ll notice some older songs, which are always fun in my BAGSxBEATS classes!

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But, feel free to use whatever is on your playlist that gets you going! Here’s the outline of what I did:

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As you can see, you can alternate this pattern of on the bike/off the bike for as long as your workout time allows. In terms of your time off the bike, I would do about 16 reps per exercise and repeat until the song ended, but if you would rather go by time you could do that as well. There is obviously tons of room to play with this workout, so if you try it I want to know what you did differently or the same! I promise you won’t be bored with this 🙂

Questions for you: Are you motivated by music during your workouts? 

Five on Friday {1.27.16- LOTS of fitness-related events!}

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Good morning and Happy Friday- After a bit of a rough week, I am very happy to finally say TGIF! I have lots of fitness events to share with you today, so I hope you enjoy them!

  • Resolution by PMC– Tonight, I am heading over to Everybody Fights to participate in this year’s Resolution by PMC fundraising event. If you are interested in donating to this amazing cause (100% of the proceeds go to the Dana-Farber cancer research institute), please head on over to my page.

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  • MoveWith Class at Janji– On Wednesday, February 8th I will be hosting another class at Janji’s popup store on Newbury Street. Similar to last time, it will be a 45 minute kickboxing bootcamp. You can sign up here. Hope to see some of you there!

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  • Save the Date!- On Wednesday, March 29th I’m going to be hosting another MoveWith event… this time it’ll be a (hopefully!) much bigger event with a live DJ and free food and drink samples with companies I work with. I am SO excited about this, but you’ll have to wait a bit for more details 😉
  • Cycle for Survival– Next weekend, I will be participating in the Cycle for Survival fundraising event at Equinox. This event is really amazing because 100% of the funds raised go to cancer research for rare forms of cancer, which receives far less funding than the more well-known cancers. If you’re able and interested, you can donate here and if you want to ride you can register here. I’ll be riding as part of the New Balance team and am so honored to be a part of this!
  • Winter fitness series event- This Sunday, I will be teaching an hour long cardio kickboxing class at Legacy Place. The class is FREE and registration is not required, but it is recommended. You can sign up here.

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This weekend should be more lowkey than last weekend, which I am greatly welcoming! We are going skiing tomorrow and then Sunday I’m teaching and then it’s time to buckle down and focus on finishing up my re-certification for my AFAA cert. I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Questions for you: Do you ski? Where do you ski around here? Do you have any fitness events coming up? What’s on the agenda for the weekend?

 

Wednesday Workout: 3 Circuit Total Body Blast

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Good morning! I have a few other draft blog posts that I need to finish up, but until I muster up the time/energy to post those, a workout post will have to do. While I haven’t been consistently following any sort of strength plan that would foster big muscle growth, I have been having fun trying new formats, exercises, classes, etc. However, I’m starting to feel like I’m ready to settle down a bit and create some sort of specific training plan to follow … at least for a little while.

The thing with me is that I get bored with workouts pretty quickly, so I tend to find myself jumping around rather than seeing something through to the end. There’s nothing wrong with this by any means- heck, as long as I’m working out consistently then I’m feeling pretty good, haha. But, as I’ve mentioned before, having no sort of plan makes it hard to see any sort of growth progress, or gainzzzz as I like to say 😉

I think another factor that makes it hard for me to stick with a consistent strength-focused workout plan is that those workouts tend to require a bit more time, unlike the HIIT style workouts I generally gravitate towards. When I’m not teaching, I like to be in and out of the gym as quickly as possible so I can use the extra time doing other things. Which is why workouts like the ones I’ve been posting have been my workout style of choice as of late. This workout left me pretty sore the next day, which I have to attribute to the leg-heavy aspect of it.

The way it works is you’ll complete the designated reps of each of the 3 exercises within each set for a total of 3 times before moving on to the next set. Each set/circuit has 3 exercises: legs, cardio, upper body, but like I said, the leg exercises were killer so I felt that the most the next day.I think with warm up this workout took about 30 minutes to complete.

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Explanations:

  • Step up-> lunge back- I’ll walk you through this one since it sounds more complicated than it actually is. You’ll need a step or some sort of elevated surface that’s safe to step up onto and you’ll want to grab either 2 dumbbells or 1 kettlebell. From there, step up onto the step with your right foot & drive your left knee up (engaging the core). Then, you’ll step back off the step with your left foot and bring your right foot back to come into a reverse lunge- both feet are on the ground. So it’s step right, left knee, left step down, right step back into reverse lunge. Then you’ll repeat on the left.
  • Push-up ->: knee tuck: Do 1 push-up and then when you’re back in the high plank position bring your right foot into your chest then the left foot. If you want to do your push-ups on your knees, just make sure you come up to your toes when it’s time for the knee tuck.
  • Banded side-step goblet squats- For this, you’ll need to put a resistance band around your upper calf area, right below the knee and grab a kettlebell & hold in the goblet position. Step your right foot to the right and sink into a deep goblet squat. Step your right foot back to the center and then step your left foot to the left and sink into a deep squat.

If you have extra time (and energy!), at the end you can do a finisher of 8 lateral ball slams using a Dynamax ball, 8 toe touches & 8 sit-up and toss for a total of 3 rounds. And then I think it’s pretty safe to say you’re all finished 🙂

I really loved this workout and plan on doing it again- I’d love to know if you try it!

Questions for you: How long do you normally spend at the gym or when you workout?