Confession: I’ve been lazy in getting my butt to the gym. Adjusting to my new life role has been anything but seamless and my time… is a piece of wax, fallen’ on a termite that’s choking on the splinters. (This is how my mind works lately. One thought never quite finishes before a song takes over. Weird. Writing a blog has never been so difficult. [The song by the way is Beck’s Loser. Is my subconscious trying to tell me something?])
Anyway, despite this weird new mind/life I have, I did make it to the gym last week and hope to do more of the same this week as I felt revived, restored, happy and energetic afterwards. (This is not surprising to anyone I realize because we all have felt that and know that it’s good for us, but somehow can’t seem to commit to a regularly scheduled dose of ‘happy’! What’s wrong with us??)
In an attempt to inspire and to create a nation of happy-finders (not seekers) I’m sharing an awesome workout for you to do next time you go to the gym, this way you don’t have to think about what you should do, you just do as I say! What could be easier?
Before we start, the best way to get the most out of this workout is to find out your target heart rate range and work within those parameters, getting your heart rate up as high as you can without going out of your range. (I just happen to have written a blog on that some time ago soclick here to find out how to calculate your heart rate.)
30 minutes of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
15 minutes on treadmill/bike/elliptical like that Nordictrack RW900 Rower/pavement, you name it you use it.
Warm up for 3 minutes, push hard for 2 minutes, recover for 3 minutes, push hard for 2 and continue for 15 minutes.
Then stroll on over to the mats/park/grassy knoll and do the following for three sets, no rest in between exercises.
Squat to standing with leg and opposite arm raise while holding a weight.
Stand with feet hip width apart, a weight in each hand, elbows bent and hands at shoulders. Slowly lower butt down, as if sitting in a chair, keeping your weight back and in your heels. Pause and then slowly come back to standing. When upright, continue move by lifting up your left leg with bent knee while raising up your right arm, with weight, straight overhead. Lower arm and leg and go right into your next squat, lifting right leg/left arm next. Keep alternating sides until you have done 20. (If you can’t do 20, then do as many as you can and work up to 20.)
1 legged squat reach with weight (that’s the best way I can describe it :))
Stand with feet hip width apart, a weight in each hand and bring right hand down to left foot by bending left knee yet making sure knee stays aligned over left ankle, while stepping right foot back, toes barely touching the ground for balance. (The majority of your weight is in your left foot.) Return to standing by bringing right foot back in line with left foot while bringing right hand with weight to right shoulder. Then press right arm up overhead while lifting right leg with bent knee. Slowly lower back to standing and repeat move. Do 12 on one side, then 12 on other side.
Plank with leg crossover
In full push up position with wrists directly under shoulders, pull in your navel and tighten your core. Hold position and lift left leg up and over right leg, (there’s the ‘crossover’) and tap your left toes on the floor. Bring leg back to left side, and switch legs, lifting the right leg up and over left leg, tapping the floor on opposite side. Continue alternating sides for 20 reps.
Do these three moves in a row without stopping and you could see your heart rate jump up to its max, same as during your mini cardio session. You can conveniently do these legs workouts at home. (And I apologize if my descriptions of the moves are a little unclear but I have Loser playing in the background of my mind!)
