Tag: outdoor workout

Wednesday Workout: Ramp Lunges & Total Body Circuit Bootcamp

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Hi! I hope your Wednesday is off to a fantastic start 🙂 I think you’re really going to like today’s workout… 1. because it’s no equipment necessary so you can do it anywhere and 2. because it makes the booty burnnnn! I’m always trying to come up with fun and unique workouts for my Tuesday night bootcampers. These girls are paying me money to workout for an hour, so I want them to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth AND be able to hopefully take some of the workouts home with them to do on their own.

I usually try to get to the gym during my lunch break to do MY workout so that I can focus on them during class, but last week it just wasn’t in the cards for me to get to the gym before teaching so I ended up doing it with them. It was fun to be getting sweaty and breathing heavy with them- I think they appreciated seeing me work as hard as them 😉 I also heard one of the girls asking another how class was since she wasn’t able to make it. I walked in on her going “oh, that must have been a hard workout. She always makes the workouts harder when she does them with us!” I had to laugh because although this workout did leave me sucking wind, I had planned the workout long before I realized I’d be doing it with them! It worked out perfectly, though, because this was a workout I didn’t want to miss- hope you like it as much as we all did!

Ramp lunges & total body circuit bootcamp

So, the way it works is you’re always going to be going back to the benchmark exercise, which is: lunging up the hill or ramp (we used the ramp in a parking garage!), jog down, sprint up the hill/ramp, jog down and then repeat it once more. When you finish 2 rounds of that, you’ll do each bodyweight pyramid circuit above. The moves should be fairly common moves, so I’ll spare you (and myself!) from writing out all the details 🙂 I will give you some notes in terms of reps:

  • 30 side dips- 30 to each side
  • 20 side lunges- 10 to each side
  • 30 butt kicks- each leg comes up 30 times
  • 20 1-legged deadlifts- 10 on each leg
  • 50 high knees- each knee comes up 50 times
  • 30 mountain climbers- each knee comes in 30 times
  • 20 plank w/shoulder taps- each hand taps to the opposite shoulder 20 times
  • HRPU= hand release push-up

This is a great workout to take on the road or to do outside near your home if you’re looking to try something knew and not go to the gym. I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to avoid the gym as much as possible as the summer comes to an end. We’ll have all winter long where we won’t be able to workout outside, so soak it up!

Questions for you: Have you ever tried lunging on an incline? Do you like to sprint? Are you avoiding the gym, too?

Wednesday Workout: Stair Cardio Blast & Total Body Circuits

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Hi there! I wanted to share a workout with you that I did last week. It left me incredibly sweaty, and even though it was likely due in part to the weather, I still think a lot of it was a result of the workout, which is a good enough reason to share, amiright?!

Even though I have some outdoor workouts on the blog, sometimes I really have to mentally force myself to do something other than just run. I don’t know what it is, but mentally I feel like that’s a better workout, although I really know steady-state cardio isn’t the best bang for your buck when it comes to high calorie burn both during and after your workout. But, that’s a whole post for another day! Today, let’s focus on the fact that I got outside and did a workout other than just running- a victory in and of itself!

I’ve always wanted to utilize the stairs and turf fields at the soccer fields near my house, so it was a perfect time to do that. These fields are awesome- they’ve got a baseball field and soccer field and a kiddie soccer area and playground area and everything is brand new! They’re usually packed at night with soccer leagues, but during the day it was just me and a few other random people, which was great because I was able to do my workout in privacy (for the most part).

What you’ll do for this workout (after your warm up) is do 4 sets of stair runs, all with 10 jumping jacks when you reach the top. If stairs don’t do it for you or aren’t available to you, feel free to do 4 cardio exercises for 30-45 seconds each (think: high knees, burpees, jumping jacks, jump squats, butt kicks, skaters, etc.). When the first stair set is complete, you’ll do the first bodyweight circuit 4 times through. Repeat the stairs and then do the next bodyweight circuit 4 times through. If you’re feeling good- go ahead and do the stairs for a 3rd time!
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Wednesday Workout: Outdoor Stations Bootcamp Workout

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Hi there! I’ve got a fun workout for you today. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know I starting teaching my own outdoor bootcamp in Wakefield on Tuesday nights. Per usual, I try to mix things up so that we aren’t doing the same thing from week to week. Last week I taught my first stations workout, which is generally a crowd pleaser in my normal group exercise classes. Holding true to that standard, the girls seemed to enjoy the workout and we all agree that the class flew by! It was a fun workout because besides a band and a stability ball, we used everything you’d find in a standard park as our “equipment”.

Here’s what you need: wall or step for jump squats and squats and a bench for step ups and tricep dips. If you don’t have a stability ball, you can do a regular plank and if you don’t have a band, you can do partner lat pulls or superman pulls. Easy enough, right?! I also added in an equipment free cardio blast between rounds.

Outdoor bootcamp workout

Most of the moves are fairly common, but here are a few explanations:

  • Wall squats: perform a regular squat, but go low enough so that your butt touches the wall
  • Reverse lunge & knee twist: lunge back on the right leg and then bring that knee up in front of you and cross your left elbow to your right knee. Repeat on the left after 30 seconds.
  • Sit with your legs extended out straight. Put the band around your flexed feet and pull your arms back, squeezing your elbows towards each other.

If you have any other questions on the moves, please ask! This is a great workout to do with a friend, but can also be done by yourself at your home if you don’t have access to a park.

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Have fun 🙂

Questions for you: Have you ever done a “park” workout? What’s your favorite way to workout outside?

Wednesday Workout: Run the stairs!

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As I mentioned a little while ago, this summer I’m trying to take my workouts outside. Whether it’s just a run or a walk or a boot camp, it’s just a nice change of scenery to be outside rather than in a stuffy gym. On top of that, there are so many things that can keep your mind occupied while working out, which decreased the chances of becoming bored and quitting early 😉

These are some of my favorite parts of outdoor workouts:

  • People watching is awesome
  • You can work on your tan
  • Forces you to get creative
  • Fresh air
  • Pretty scenery
  • Hills and stairs help with training

Last week, the weather was so hot and humid that my plans for a long (for me) run went out the window shortly into the run. I did manage to do 3 miles, but they weren’t pretty. Since I still had some gas in the tank and was in a mood to push myself, I went to a nearby park and used various pieces of equipment (stairs and benches) there to help give me a butt kicking finisher workout! Note: if you don’t want to run first, I’d do the bootcamp part of the workout 3 or 4 times through for a full body workout.

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After doing 10 sets of these:

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(they’re steeper than they look!)

I felt like this:

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#sweatybeastmode

I’ve thought of some other creative ways to incorporate the stairs into my workout, so that makes me excited to get out there again. I did this on Monday:

  • 1 stair run, 10 burpees
  • 2 stair runs, 9 burpees
  • 3 stair runs, 8 burpees
  • etc. until you do 10 stair runs, but instead of doing 1 burpee, do 10 😉

So, the moral of this post is: go find a set of stairs and make them your b*tch! (ok, that was aggressive, but you know what I mean 😉 ).

Questions for you: Does anyone else get motivation to workout when they’re introduced to something new or figure out something new?? What’s your favorite outdoor piece of equipment?

 

 

 

Free workout with Ultimate Bootcamp!

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I wanted to pop in quickly to tell you about a free workout that the Ultimate Bootcamp is hosting this Sunday, March 23rd at 9:45am. They want to get you pumped for Spring and thought a great way to do that was to host a free, outdoor workout. I’m not able to go this weekend, but I wish I was!

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In addition to a great workout (Athena and I went in the fall and had a blast!), you also get discounts to retailers such as Sports Authority and Reekbok AND other free treats/surprises. Sounds pretty great, right?!

The link to get more information and to sign up is here, so head on over and check it up and sign up if you’re interested.