Friday, April 4, 2014

Fitness Friday

After four days of cakes, brownies and yumminess, if you're like me, you're popping tums by the handful! So I'm not going to tempt you with delicious desserts today, I'm just going to give you a great idea for an at-home workout that you can do without any tools or contraptions.

I was a Health and Human Performance major in college, so I took my fair share of fitness training classes, I also worked at a gym in college and if you know me, you know I'm up for any and all workout adventures, unless it involves dancing.  Sorry Zumba.

I take a class at the local Y on Wednesdays that always kicks my butt, and this workout takes some notes from that class, but also incorporates the simple workouts that give me the best return on my investment.

So the concept is that we build.  You start with exercise A, and then do A and B, and then ABC...  So you end up with a lot of pushups!

Exercise A: (Shoulders) 12 Pushups!
  Either on your toes or on your knees, but keep that butt down!

Exercise B: (Upper Abs) 12 Crunches
  Pull your knees up to a tabletop position and crunch up.  Don't pull your head up with your hands, let your abs do the work

Exercise C: (Cardio) 12 Burpees: Starting at a standing position, squat down and place your hands in front of your feet on the ground.  Hop your feet back into a plank, and hop back to your hands.  Stand up, and do a little hop.  That's one.  I started off stepping my feet back, one at a time, and then hopping back, but I worked up to a full burpee. 

Exercise D: (Triceps) 12 Tricep Dips
  Place your hands on a chair or a coffee table on either side of your body with your body in a seated position just in front of the chair or table facing out.  Lower your rear as low as you can without feeling strain in your shoulders, keeping your elbows facing back. 

Exercise E: (Oblique Abs) 12 Bicycle Crunches
  Bring your right elbow to your left knee, extending your opposite leg out, and then your left elbow to your right knee.  That's one. 

Exercise F: (Cardio) 1 Minute Quick Feet
  Run in place for a minute as fast as you can!

Exercise G: (Shoulders) 12 Shoulder Pushups
  Do your pushups in a downward facing dog position, bringing your forehead toward the ground and pushing back up. 

Exercise H: (Lower Abs) 12 Leg Lowers
  Laying on your back with your lower back flat against the ground, lower your legs down straight until you feel your back lifting slightly, and then lift those legs back up to perpendicular to the ground.  It might help to put your hands on the ground under your butt. 

Exercise I: (Cardio) 12 Squat Jumps
   Squat down and jump back up as high as you can.  Make sure your squats are in good form, not letting your knees go over your toes, but dropping your rear end straight back like you're sitting in a chair.  You should be able to wiggle your toes the whole way through, that means you're back on your heels, where you should be. 

Here is the progression:
A
AB
ABC
ABCD
ABCDE
ABCDEF
ABCDEFG
ABCDEFGH
ABCDEDGHI

Try to not take too many breaks in between each workout.  Just about 10-15 seconds to stretch the muscle you just worked.  Aim for 45 minutes of work.  This isn't a quick-fix workout... it's intended to be your daily workout. If you don't get to Exercise I, don't worry about it! Get it next time.  If you get through I and still have time, just do A-I again until you hit 30 minutes.  Think about doing 28 or 30 of each workout next time. 

3 comments:

  1. This is a lot like a Crossfit workout Scott has drawn up for me on more than one occasion. Usually "A" ends up being burpess. I.HATE.BURPEES.

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    1. I hate burpies too. I chose A and B as something that hurts but I can do without stopping. if A was burpies, I would be huffing and puffing through the whole workout instead of actually working out! haha.

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