Tag: burpees

Wednesday Workout: Burpees, burpees, burpees. I <3 Burpees!

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This week’s “Wednesday Workout” isn’t necessarily a workout, but rather an ode to burpees! It’s no secret around here how much I love burpees; in fact, there’s RARELY a time where I teach a class that doesn’t include them. Lately, I’ve been learning all sorts of new ones that I’ve been bringing into my classes and based on my member’s reactions to them, they love to hate them!  Which is why I am writing this post for you today: I want to share my love of burpees and all my favorite types of burpees with you! I am hoping you’ll either incorporate them into your workouts that you do or teach, because they really are one of the best cardio workouts.

*Side Note: I thought it would be fun to incorporate both step-by-step pictures AND video’s for my favorite burpees- let me know what you think! I apologize that the video’s are blurry; it must be something internal because the camera wasn’t moving when the videos were taken and I took a couple “test” videos and those came out just like these. I hope you can ignore that and focus on the burpees instead 🙂

1. Basic, most common burpee- this is the one I did up until just months ago. Starting from standing, place your hands on the ground, jump or step your feet out so you’re in high plank position, jump or step your feet back into your hands and do a nice, big jump at the end!

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IMG 0183 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.

2. “Real” burpee (or, CrossFit burpee)- Start out just as you would when you do a basic burpee, but instead of jumping out into high plank position, jump out and drop your whole body onto the ground. From there, lift your whole body up, jump your feet in and perform a big jump at the end.

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IMG 0184 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.

3. Surfer burpee- Perform a “real” burpee, but instead of jumping your feet in and doing a big jump at the end, push yourself up from the ground and land in a “surfer” stance. Drop back down to your stomach, jump up and land in a surfer stance at the other angle. I love these because they work your legs A LOT when you land in the low squat “surfer” stance.

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IMG 0185 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.
4. Frogger burpee- Perform a big forward jump, drop down into a “real” burpee, push yourself up and do a 180* jump so you’re facing the other direction. Jump in that direction, drop down into a “real” burpee, and continue on.

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IMG 0186 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.

5. Burpee/Push-up/Side plank/Tuck Jump- I have no idea what to call this burpee, but I recently learned it from someone at a work conference (not a workout conference, mind you, I just talk about fitness all the time and found someone else who loves fitness!). For this one, you start out doing a basic burpee, but when you jump out to high plank, do 1 push-up then open up to a side plank, come back to center and do 1 push-up, open up to a side plank on the other side, come back to center and do 1 push-up and then jump your feet in and instead of just jumping up, do a TUCK JUMP at the end of the burpee. Killer!

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IMG 0187 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.

6. One-Legged Burpee- Follow all steps as the “basic” burpee, but instead of jumping out with both legs, tuck in one knee and only jump back with one leg. Alternate legs jumping back for each burpee. You can also hold a small bender ball in between your knees here, too!

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IMG 0188 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.

7. Angled Burpee Jumps- Start out with a “basic” burpee, but when you jump your feet out into a high plank, jump them out to the left. Jump them back into the center (at your hands) and then back out to the right, back to your hands, back out straight, and then jump them in and do a big jump at the end. So, it goes: down, out left, in, out right, in, out center, in, jump up.

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IMG 0189 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.

8. Burpee w/squat landing- This is similar to the “surfer burpee” in that you don’t perform a big jump at the end of the burpee. Instead, when you jump your feet in, you stick your landing in a nice, deep squat. In addition, lift your hands so you have to balance in that low squat. After your landing is “stuck”, place your hands back down, perform a “real” burpee and then push yourself up and stick that low squat landing.

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IMG 0190 from Monique Gagnon on Vimeo.

Your turn!! Share with me: What is your FAVORITE burpee? Least favorite? Did I miss any?

Wednesday Workout: 6 Moves Circuit + 2 Focus Moves

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Hey everyone! I am trying to get you a workout and a recipe every Wednesday… let’s see how long I can keep it up! As I’ve mentioned, last week I went to one of my favorite instructor’s boot camp class at the Wellington BSC. I love her because she is a super tough instructor, but not tough just because we do the same move for a million reps, but rather, because she is always bringing in fun, new moves and is always changing it up!

Since I loved the class so much (and it totally kicked my butt!!), I decided to take the general format and bring it to my UXF Burn class at the Central Square BSC. I changed up some of the moves, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same!

6 moves circuit + 2 focus moves

The idea was that you keep the 2 focus moves (focus/core moves because they are full body exercises that get your heart rate up without having to do cardio) at 60 seconds each as your starting point. The whole class stays together for these. For the circuit moves, people were able to go more at their own pace. I did make 2 of the rounds be 30 second intervals for the 6 moves instead of 15 reps to keep everyone together, but for the last round, I timed them to see how quickly people could finish. Congrats to Graciella for finishing first!! 🙂

Here are some notes on the moves:

  • Heavy weighted squats- we used a barbell here (like in BodyPump) and I encouraged people to go much heavier than normal!
  • Deadlifts- we used the same barbell for these as we did for squats
  • Squats w/weighted chest push: hold 1 weight (or a medicine ball!) with both hands at chest height. As you squat down, push your arms out to a full extended position. As you rise up from your squat, pull your arms back in. This is great for your shoulders and chest!
  • Frogger Burpees: take 1 big jump forward, and then bring yourself down into a REAL burpee, meaning your whole body is on the ground. Push yourself up, jump to turn around, and do a big frogger jump back to your spot (and then go right into the burpee). Holy sky-rocketed heart rate from these!

To finish off class, we did an Ab Tabata consisting of the following 2 moves: Mountain Climbers and Plank Jacks. I also threw in some more of my favorite ab moves (leg lefts, in and outs, swimmers, etc.). And then, because I wasn’t ready to quit just yet, I made them do a “Power Blast”, to leave class energized and awake! Our Power Blast was a sumo squat straddling the bench, and then jumping both feet up onto the bench- 20 reps. I wanted to do Donkey Kicks over the bench, but we ran out of time:(

I hope you like this workout! Let me know if you need clarification on any of the moves! I am totally loving REAL burpees lately, so class members, take that as a warning 😉

Questions for you! What moves are you loving right now? What is your “go-to” hard class to attend? Ever done a frogger burpee?

Wednesday Workout Time! Full Body Circuit Workout

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Hi! Wednesday’s are wonderful because once they are over, you know you are so much closer to the weekend!

Remember how I said how I taught some pretty tough workouts last week? I thought it would only be fair for me to share one with you, right?!

I taught this in my UXF class on Wednesday and it.was.awesome!

Full Body Circuit Workout

I liked this workout because it never got boring and even though there were some things I really dreaded (weighted burpees and weighted jump squats), there were lots of things I really liked (Lunge w/oblique twist and monkey sit with biceps curls), which made it go by really quickly! We got through 3 rounds, including a warm up and a few extra abs at the end. For the 3rd round, I did drop it down to 45 seconds instead of 60 to save some time.

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For the weighted burpees, refer to the top two pictures above. Crab walk is bottom left and monkey sit with biceps curls is bottom right.

Couple of notes:

  • Weighted jump squats- you can either hold the weights by your sides and do small jumps, or you can just hold one weight with both hands and squat, touch it to the ground and when you jump up, push the weight up over your head to get that extra big reach.  If jumping is too much, just squat with the weights!
  • Double Knee Strikes- this is a Dynamax move:) This YouTube video shows the first part, but instead of throwing the ball after the 2 single knee strikes, bring both knees into your chest, then start over!
  • Wide leg lifts- instead of holding your legs/feet/heels together when you lift and lower your legs, bring them into a wide V. This works your obliques more!

I think that about covers it! As always, let me know if you have more questions:)

Questions for you: Ever done any of these moves before? Do you prefer to lift heavier weights for a small amount of reps? Or light weights for lots of reps?

Scenes from Saturday

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Happy Weekending, everyone!

Ok, these were from Thursday, but I’m still counting them as “Scenes from Saturday” because I wanted to share them…

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{Beautiful run along Memorial Drive in Cambrige before teaching. Teaching class. Sweet Charlie snuggles. Flour granola- yum! My beautiful “M” necklace from my sister.}

Scenes from Friday…

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{Mom and dad came for lunch! Drinks and apps with Jessi at Olives in Charlestown.}

Finally scenes from Saturday!

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{Teaching a killer kickboxing class. Burpee seeds! A match made in heaven. Garden shopping at Home Depot. Lunch at Chipotle with Danielle. Seeds and other gardening supplies. Charlie on a leash- don’t ask. Final product of my potted plants! Before & after of the area beside our apt. My garden. Grocery goods & a delicious Sam Summer. Dinner- Chicken parm burgers & roasted broccoli.}

Questions for you: What was your Thursday, Friday or Saturday like? Do anything worth sharing?

Cardio, Strength & Core Circuits… Wednesday Workout Time!

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Happy hump day, Burpees to Bubbly readers! How is your week going so far? Mine started off a bit rocky, and for no real reason, either. Monday just kind of sucked! Traffic, bad drivers, low class numbers, post-weekend depression. Anyone else ever feel like that on a Monday?

Anyway, I thought you might be in the need for a new workout today to spice up your weekely workouts. Yes? No? Maybe you can at least take a couple of moves or the general theme of the workout and put your own moves in to make the workout more fit for your level. Regardless, I’m going to share it with you:)

Cardio, strength & core circuitsI did this workout in a couple of different classes over the past couple of weeks and it was killer! In class, for circuit 2, we used the bench for cardio, so I changed up the moves in the above workout to be doable without a bench.

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Squat & OH Press

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Dokey Kicks- they love to hate me when I make them do these:)

As the notes say, you can do just circuit 1, just circuit 2, circuit 1 followed by circuit 2, OR do 2 rounds of each. Whatever you do, make sure you don’t forget the “meat” part of the circuit sandwich: burpees and push-ups!! My favorite;)

If you have any other questions on the moves/exercises and how to modify (whether that would be making it more challenging or less challenging), please let me know… I am more than happy to help!

Questions for you: What is the move you love to hate the most?! (burpees, for me… but I really don’t hate them at all!) What is your all time favorite exercise? All time LEAST favorite exercise?

Hope you have a wonderful day!