Tag: workout

Wednesday Workout: Jumping Jack & Total Body Blast

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Happy Wednesday, friends! How about the nasty weather yesterday? On the one hand it was nice to be WFH, but on the other hand it made it hard to want to work; nasty weather like that just makes me want to curl up and watch movies all day (even though I don’t know the last time I’ve ever done that!).

Today’s workout is great for a rainy day when you don’t want to go to the gym/leave the house. I did this a few weeks ago with a pair of dumbbells- easy enough! The way the workout works is that each circuit will have jumping jacks, a lower body exercise, an upper body exercise and a core exercise- a classic full body workout. You’ll complete each circuit 3 times and it took me just about 30-35 minutes which was perfect for an early morning workout.

jumping-jack-total-body-blast

I think everything should be fairly standard, but the one thing you might not recognize is the table top crunch, which I got from Lauren. To do this you start on your back with your feet in the table top position and a weight in your hands. You want to make sure you keep your core tight and your lower back pressed to the ground as you crunch up & pretend to place the weight on your shins. SLDL= single leg deadlift. If you need explanation on anything else, just let me know in the comments!

I really enjoyed this workout- I hope you try it!

Also ,the weather looks decent for tonight and tomorrow night so if you’re planning your workouts, consider joining me for my 5K bootcamp tonight and fighters conditioning tomorrow night. Both are in the seaport district by Gather/District hall and tonight is at 6pm and tomorrow night is at 5:30pm.

Questions for you: Do you take advantage of rainy days and curl up to the TV or with a book if your schedule allows for it? Do you still try and get a workout in? What’s a cardio move you like?

Wednesday Workout: 20 Minute AMRAP with weights

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Hi there! Happy hump day 🙂 Are you having a good week so far? I’m so excited to write these posts for you because even though I have no idea if you’re enjoying them, benefiting from them or even reading them, I like adding the workouts I’ve done and enjoyed to my online “catalog”, aka, my blog 😉

I mentioned in another post recently how I’ve been enjoying tabata style workouts, especially when I’m tight on time because I know that they always kick my butt. The other day when I was at the gym during my lunch break I knew I wanted/needed just that: a short, butt-kicking workout. I’ve also been trying to bring back weight training on a more consistent basis so I made sure to pick appropriate exercises.

20-minute-amrap-with-weights

By all means, nothing fancy, but it got the job done- in just 20 minutes (ok, like 25-28 with warm up & cool down 😉 ).

I’d love to know if you try this!

Questions for you; Do you enjoy these posts or do you skip the blog on my Wednesday Workout post days?

Wednesday Workout: Treadmill & 2 Upper Body Circuits

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Lucky for you guys, I’ve gotten back into creating and doing my own workouts, which means I have things to share with you! I did this one at the Westin Annapolis hotel we stayed at while in Annapolis over the weekend. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I got to the gym, but quickly realized whatever it was going to be had to be quick because it was HOT in there! I started with the 1 mile treadmill run and then decided to throw in a quickie tabata round since I was bored out of my mind staring at the wall as I ran, but still wanted to get my heart rate up a bit.

To finish up the workout, I threw together 2 quickie circuits, upper body focused since my legs were still sore from a bodyweight workout I had done earlier that week (definitely need to share that one with you!).

All in all, I was in and out of the gym in just 30 minutes, which was perfect for a “travel/hotel” workout.

Treadmill & Upper Body Circuits

Treadmill Notes: I did my 1 mile as follows:

  • 7.0 for mins 0-1,
  • 7.2 for mins 1-2
  • 7.4 for mins 2-4
  • 7.6 for mins 4-6
  • 7.8 for mins 6-8
  • 2 minute walk break and then the following speeds for the tabata:
  • Round 1 was at 9mph
  • Round 2 was at 9.2mph
  • Round 3 was 9.4mph
  • Round 4 was 9.6mph
  • Round 5 was 9.8mph
  • Round 6 was 10mph
  • Round 7 was 10.2mph
  • Round 8 was 10.4mph

At first the tabata speed felt too easy but by the end I was huffing and puffing!!

Let me know if you give this a try- it’s a great quickie workout 🙂

Questions for you: Do you prefer short, sprinting bursts or just a continual steady state pace?

Wednesday Workout: 2 Upper Body Circuits & Cardio Blasts

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Good morning! I don’t know about you, but I am ready to have mornings where the weather is warmer than 35-40* when I wake up. While I appreciate that it’s lighter out, warmer temps would be more encouraging for early morning runs 😉 Since the weather was chillier than I’d like to run in first thing in the morning this past Saturday morning, I opted to keep my workout inside. It actually worked out well since my legs were still sore from a lower body focused workout I had done on Thursday- it was pretty killer, if I do say so myself!

Anyway, I woke up Saturday not really knowing what I wanted to do for a workout, but I knew it couldn’t be long which is why I worked out at the house instead of going to the gym. I was on a tight schedule since I had to leave by 9:45 for my bridal shower and knew I would need extra time than normal to get ready so I decided to forego the gym. I don’t know about you, but between the time it takes to get to the gym, get started on a workout, pack up after and get home my whole workout experience takes longer than I’d like it to.

All you need for this workout is a set (or two) of dumbbells and a stability ball- easy enough, right?

Upper Body Circuits & Cardio Blast

Please make sure you do a good, dynamic warm up before jumping into this! Once you’re warmed up, grab your dumbbells & stability ball and get going 🙂 You’ll do 4 rounds of circuit 1 and then 50 reps of each cardio exercises. Then, you’ll move to circuit 2 and then finish with 25 reps of each cardio exercise. I was done in about 45 minutes!

Here are some explanations or links to videos for some exercises that aren’t very common on B2B:

  • Clean & Press– This video will give you the general visual of a clean. Think about sinking low in the legs, hinging through the hips with your back flat and arm extended straight towards the ground. Focus on using power from the legs to bring the weight up- it should come up weightlessly rather than you curling it to bring it to the racked position. Once you get it in the racked position, press it up to the ceiling, bring it down to the racked position and then shoot your hips back & let the weight pull you back down to the starting position. Try not to put the breaks on to stop the momentum.
  • Stability ball chest fly
  • DB Pullover
  • Front raise & upright row- With a light set of weights, perform a front raise, making sure to not bring the arms higher than shoulder height. Bring the weights back down and then perform an upright row by leading with the elbows (think about someone pulling your elbows up to the ceiling by strings) and stopping the weights at chest height. It’s almost like you’re zipping up your coat, but with 2 hands.

Hope you give this a try!

Questions for you: Do you prefer to take the time to get to the gym for your workout or do you prefer saving time and working out at home?

Wednesday Workout: Jump Rope Tabata & Full Body Circuits

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As part of the BoxFIIT Certification I’m doing, I have to film myself doing all sorts of exercises to validate that I can, in fact, do them (and teach them). Most of the exercises- a combination of boxing moves and strength exercises- pose me little to no trouble because I do them all the time. Goblet squats? Easy. Lunges? Piece of cake. Jabs? Got it. However, over the weekend I had to film myself jumping rope, which is a little more outside of my comfort zone. I don’t feel good at jumping rope and get frustrated because I end up whipping myself with the rope so much.

After filming myself, though, I realized my issue: I don’t practice this enough so it’s no wonder why I struggle with it. We tend to skip things we aren’t good at, right? Which is exactly what I do when it comes to jump roping. But! I’m changing that. I vowed to practice jump roping more frequently to help me get more comfortable with the action of jumping over the rope. Which is precisely where this workout came from! And, I have to say that later in the day RM commented on how I looked like a good jump roper- I smiled and said “thanks! It’s something I’m working on” 😉

Jump Rope Tabata & Full Body Circuits

You’ll want to perform the reps on each leg or arm. If you have any questions on the moves, let me know. A great resource for the Pallof Press and the Waiter/Overhead Carry is my girl Stephanie’s post, which you can check out here: Train Your Core.

I hope you check this out and enjoy it. I loved it, but it could’ve been because I was outside on my patio in the beautiful, warm sunshine-y weather AND I was rocking out to Spotify, which I just recently downloaded. So far, I’m obsessed 🙂

Questions for you: What exercises do you avoid because they’re hard or you don’t feel good at them?Â