5X Tabata

Working out first thing in the morning on a Friday is the best decision ever made! It starts the weekend off on a healthy note, you don’t have to worry about it later in the day (especially after a long work week), and you’ll have plenty of energy for your Friday night festivities! Plus, it’s been shown that those who exercise earlier in the day make smarter food and/or drink choices at night..just sayin’ :).

It’s not like me to come to the gym early in the morning without a workout planned; I always stress to my clients and group-ex participants to never enter the gym without some type of plan practice what I preach.! Luckily, while waiting for the bus I went on Facebook only to find a Tabata workout staring back at me! Thanks to Lindsay, with a few adjustments to her workout, I was all set and ready to glistensweat!

Repeat the following 5 rounds of 4 exercises, 2 times through (equalling 8) for a complete tabata workout! Remember, proper form and safety cues!

Tabata 1:

• burpees
• sideways shuffles
• jump squats
• jumping jacks

Tabata 2:

• medicine ball toe-taps
• medicine ball squat toss
• mountain climbers
• alternating jump squats

Tabata 3:

• high knees
• push-ups
• medicine ball hop-overs
• “square” jumps (imagine a square is drawn, jump to each corner)

Tabata 4:

• jump rope (with a real rope)
• bench jumps
• speed skaters
• wall taps (stand in front of a wall, jump and reach as high as you can)

Tabata 5:

• plank jacks
• in & outs
• russian twists
• bicycles

A total body workout that incorporates cardio and strength done in less than 30 minutes? YES PA-LEASE!

Have a great weekend!! If you’re looking for fitness certifications-check out IFTA!

Back In Action!

Today was  a great day!

• work meeting
• energy-packed muesli to power me through a morning full of to-do’s
• strength and conditioning class
• home to relax and make dinner (recipe to come!)
• back to work to teach Spring Break a Sweat and Absolutions!

Spring Break a Sweat is a circuit/interval-style class. The participants tonight were full of energy and ready to sweat! There’s nothing better than having an upbeat, high energy group of participants- it really makes the class fly by! Tonight’s class featured:

15 minutes of:

• butt kickers & high knees
• plyo step touches and plyo hamstring curls

35 minutes of :

• 1 minute challenge: alternating lunges and squats, push-ups and mountain climbers
• pyramid: biceps curls and triceps kickbacks (10 down to 1)
• 30 second challenge: plie squats and jumping jacks (2X)
• pyramid: chest press and triceps skullcrushers (10 down to 1)
• glute extensions and fire hydrants

Everyone was a glistening mess afterwards! Success!!

FitBit*

Have your participants count the repetitions of each exercise for 2 reasons:

1. as the instructor, you’re repeating safety cues and encouraging them so you may count one too many (or not enough!), and
2. gauging the intensity level of the class is shown if you’re participants can/not talk

On the 12th Day of Christmas..

On the 12th Day of Christmas K.E.P.T. You Fit gave to me..

12 BURPEES! (With or without the push-up)

11 sets of 20 second Planks

10 Squat Jumps (Beginners- make sure your form if perfect before adding the jump! You may be only able to complete 2-3, but work your way up. Intermediate/Advanced- try touching the ground every time you squat and reaching your arms overhead when you jump)

9 sets of 15 second Triceps Extensions

8 Speed Skaters/ side

7 Plié Squats and Biceps Curls

6 sets of 15 seconds of Jumping Jacks

5 Walking Lunges w/ Shoulder Press (both legs= 1 rep)

4 Kettlebell Windmills

3 sets of Bent Over Rows

2 sets of Push-ups, 30 seconds each

1 set of 60 seconds of Squats

Congratulations! You’ve completed the 12 days of Christmas workout! Finish the last round today before things get too crazy!

On the 11th Day of Christmas..

On the 11th Day of Christmas K.E.P.T. You Fit gave to me..

11 sets of 20 second Planks

10 Squat Jumps (Beginners- make sure your form if perfect before adding the jump! You may be only able to complete 2-3, but work your way up. Intermediate/Advanced- try touching the ground every time you squat and reaching your arms overhead when you jump)

9 sets of 15 second Triceps Extensions

8 Speed Skaters/ side

7 Plié Squats and Biceps Curls

6 sets of 15 seconds of Jumping Jacks

5 Walking Lunges w/ Shoulder Press (both legs= 1 rep)

4 Kettlebell Windmills

3 sets of Bent Over Rows

2 sets of Push-ups, 30 seconds each

1 set of 60 seconds of Squats

On the 7th day of Christmas..

On the 7th day of Christmas K.E.P.T. You Fit gave to me..

7 Plie Squats and Biceps Curls

6 sets of 15 seconds of Jumping Jacks

5 Walking Lunges w/ Shoulder Press (both legs=1 rep!)

4 Kettlebell Windmills

3 sets of 10 Bent Over Rows

2 sets of Push-ups, 30 seconds each

1 set of 60 seconds of Squats.

At-Home Circuit

Need a quick at-home circuit workout? Here ya go!

This circuit workout can be done in 15-20-30-45 minutes, depending on your time allowance. It’s a mix of cardio intervals, resistance training, plyometrics and fun (the most important component!).

Remember proper form and safety cues! Have water near-by and don’t forget to stretch post-sesh.

• 15 push-ups (FitBit*)
• 30 seconds high knees
• 30 seconds butt kickers
• 8 each lateral/front raises
• 30 seconds jumping jacks
• 15 hammer curls (biceps curl but palms face each other)
• 30 jumping lunges (or stationary)
• 15 triceps dips
• 45 seconds mountain climbers
• 10/arm plank rows
• 15 plie squats and overhead presses
• 1 suicide (no space? try squat jacks. a jumping jack, but sink into a squat)
• 15 reverse flies
• 20 jump squats (or stationary)

Repeat the circuit 2-3-4 times through and WahLah-a complete total body workout without leaving your house! I did this workout yesterday 3 times through and it took me about 35 minutes.

FitBit*

I challenge you to do AT LEAST 1 full push-up (on your toes)! But by all means, don’t limit yourself to just ONE-with good form, push yourself a little harder every time you complete a workout with push-ups. Keep building on that ONE full push-up and before you know it, you’ll be doing ALL of your push-ups on your toes!

The Don’t-Wear-Gray Workout

The title of this post is just a forewarning! This workout combines strength training with cardio intervals and plyometrics..bring on the sweatinessglistening!

There are 4 circuits; complete each circuit ~2-3 through (time allowing). You can either go by repetitions or time, your pref. 🙂

Circuit 1:

• assisted pull-ups or bent-over rows
• push-ups with knee tucks (push-up-bring right knee towards chest then left knee=1 repitition)
• lateral hops (see FitBit!)
• medicine ball wood choppers

Circuit 2:

• plie squats (dumbbell skims the floor!)
• jump squats
• lateral/anterior raises (1 side raise, 1 front raise=1 repitition)
• reverse crunches

Circuit 3:

• 30 second-1 minute wall sit & curl to press (while hanging out in your wall sit, biceps curl dumbbells then overhead press & reverse)
• mountain climbers
• squat thrust burpees (no push-up)
• triceps extensions

Circuit 4:

• alternating jump lunges
• hanging knee raises
• incline stability ball planks

How’d you do?! If you kicked butt, you should be very, very tired by the end! As always, proper form and safety cues before taking the exercise(s) to a more intense level!!

FitBit*

Lateral hops involve a side-to-side jump which works your ABductors and ADductors more (outer/inner thighs); beginners should start with jumping over a jump rope or an imaginary weight-intermediaters should place a weight vertically to jump over; advancers should jump over a low step or plate. The more advanced you get, the wider and/or higher you’ll be able to jump, making the exercise harder!

Total Body Tabata

HIIT is a huge trend in training this year and if you haven’t tried it-today’s your day! This weeks featured workout is a total body tabata routine. A typical tabata workout alternates 20 seconds of max intensity, followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds, totalling 4 minutes of pure hellbliss! You can use this format with both strength and endurance workouts.

Why is HIIT so popular? It’s considered by many to be one of the best training formats where you’re burning fat, not your own muscle tissue. This is because HIIT utilizes more fast twitch muscle fibers (type 2) which helps maintain lean muscle during cardio workouts.

Here’s a tabata workout that uses equipment: 20 seconds at a challenging weight choice -10 seconds of rest, 8x=4 minutes (each exercise)! Obviously, taper each exercise to meet your fitness needs! As always, proper form and safety cues! *This is quite lengthy-feel free to couple exercises together if you’re in a time crunch!

1. push-ups (start on toes, then drop to your knees like i did..)
2. squat jumps *body weight or light medicine ball
3. b.o. rows *dumbbells or barbel
4. jumping alternating lunges *body weight
5. overhead triceps extensions
6. stability ball hamstring curls (during the 10 seconds, try a hip press)
7. stability ball biceps curls
8. lateral/anterior raises
9. v-ups

You willshould be sore the day after after this workout! I only do this so you’ll think of me :). Cheers!

Power of 3’s

Hello! I’ve been in Lexington Kentucky for the past 4 days attending the NIRSA Regions 2 Conference! It was an amazing experience, especially for me and other students who want to further their education in a recreational setting. If you’re involved in recreation, I highly suggest becoming a member and getting involved! Please ask me any questions you have!

It felt good to get back in the swing of things; with fall break the weekend before and then KY, things have been all over the place. Today’s workout was greatly needed!

• Set 1: 18 push ups, 15 jump squats, 1 min. jumping jacks= 3x
• Set 2: 15 bent-over rows & reverse flies, 15 reverse lunges w/ a knee (per leg), 1 min. jump rope= 3x
• Set 3: 15 biceps curls, 18 plie squats, 1 min. lateral jumps= 3x
• Set 4: 18 triceps kickbacks, 15 step ups w/ glute extension (per leg), 15 side crunches= 3x

18 is such a random number-don’t you agree? It took roughly an hour to complete the entire circuit. As always, proper form and safety cues!

IFTA Raleigh Fitness Weekend HITBI

I’m so blessed :). This past weeekend, NCSU hosted the Interactive Fitness Trainers of America Raleigh Fitness Weekend event! Such a great opportunity to network with professionals, meet new instructors from all over, and take tons of different classes that you might not be able to take anywhere else.  I, along with my boss and another instructor at U.Rec., was asked to be a presenter and teach a class-how cool AND honored??! For me, this was a dream come true; to not only be in the presence of my idols like Gay Gasper, Petra Kolber, and Greg Sims but also to be able to network and talk about how they got started in the fitness business was surreal. I can only keep practicing and being persistent to be on their level one day..

The class I taught was High Intensity Total Body Intervals; a weightless workout that interspersed short, intense intervals with toning exercises using the best tool God gave us-our body! Here’s the deets:

Lower body:

• single-leg squats (pulses, tap forward-side-back)
• single-leg power jumps
• squats (pulses, jumps)

Upper body:

• push-ups
• staggered push-ups
• triceps push-ups
• triceps dips

Lower body:

• forward/reverse lunges (pulses, knee lifts)
• clock lunges (forward-side-reverse, pulses, knee lifts)
• plie squats w/ calf raise (pulses, jumps)
• bent-over, single-leg hamstring curls

Upper body:

• diamond push-ups (they LOVED these!)
• lateral “walking” push-ups
• can-can triceps dips
• side-lying triceps push-ups

Core:

• dead bug

The class flew by and I had a blast teaching it! The participants had high energy (for it being Sunday at 11am), they were interactive and personable with me, and they even asked for a copy of my workout! MY PERSONAL WORKOUT! How honored I felt to almost be “a master trainer”; it’s a feeling that I have and will yearn for and I’m determined to achieve it again and again..