biking

a post-halloween workout for all you guys and ghouls

Aside ~ ~ loveandlunge ~ Leave a comment

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  Actually, I love all holidays.  I’m always down for a good celebration.  But, they can leave me feeling pretty dang tired the next day.  Even though I got much less sleep than I anticipated, I still got up at 7 and got my butt over to the gym (thank you sweet lord for that daylight saving’s time extra hour).  I knew I was a little worse for the wear and wasn’t going to be able to bang out any high intensity craziness, so I decided to focus on strength and avoid all the jumping and ups and downs that I usually do.

I used to feel like I had to do a crazy intense workout for it to count.  If I didn’t workout at my max during my time at the gym, it was a waste and should probably only count as a rest day.  This is a stupid mentality.  Your body can’t go at its max 100% of the time and its crazy to think that it can.  So, this workout is perfect.  It’s definitely difficult, but it lets you work while not having to spend a year at the gym.

Halloween Recovery Workout

Repeat each circuit 3x through resting for a minute between rounds.

  • 15 squats (weighted or not)
  • 30 walking lunges (15 each leg, 5-15lbs)
  • 30 step-ups (15 each leg, 5-15lbs)

REST

  • 30 ab bikes
  • 30 mountain climbers
  • 15 leg raises

REST

  • 15 squat & press (5-15lbs)
  • 15 lateral raises (5-10lbs)
  • 15 push-ups

This will leave you feeling the perfect amount of worked out especially after a long night.  No jumping is the key here, so feel the burn and take it slow.  Let those muscles work.

Also added bonus: Here’s the little Boo as a Rufferee for Halloween!

image2

-sj

HIIT Happens: a Halloween Workout.

Aside ~ ~ loveandlunge ~ Leave a comment

I officially finished Kayla Itsine’s BBG 2.0 this week and I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things.  I loved doing both guides and will use them again in the future I’m sure of it, but now it’s time to switch it up.  My fitness has done a complete 180 since starting the guide and I couldn’t be happier about it, but I was getting a little bored of the usual 7 minute circuits 4x through.  I needed to change up the pace a little bit and refocus.  Plus, I want to get back into running more because it’s something that makes me feel really accomplished whenever I do it.  So, today’s workout was a beautiful marriage of strength training and cardio.

It all started with an easy 3 mile run.  I told myself I could go at any pace, but I just had to run straight for 30 minutes and when I was done, I felt great and kicked it through to finish the 3 miles total in a little over 21 minutes. image2

Then, I brought my heart rate down with 15 minutes of light elliptical work before heading over to the weight area to get my HIIT (high intensity interval training) on.

image1

Full-Body 15 Minute HIIT workout!

For this HIIT workout, I used the app Seconds (you can get it for free in the app store) and set up 5 rounds of 30:30 intervals, pressing play again to start a new round after a one minute break.  That means 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of recovery.  For the recovery portion, I chose to do 30 seconds of active cardio recovery by jump-roping.  Don’t have a jumprope? Don’t worry about it, do high knees, jumps in place, jumping jacks or a combination.  Anything to keep your heart-rate up.  After each circuit, there is a minute of rest.

I highly encourage you to listen to Thriller, Disturbia, Ghostbusters, Monster Mash etc. during this workout to get the full halloween effect.

  • 30 sec Burpees, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec squats, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec box jumps, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec jump squat, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec squat and press (5-10lb weight), 30 sec Jumprope

1 minute rest.

  • 30 sec push-ups, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec snap jumps, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 1 minute plank (think of it as 2 30 sec intervals)
  • 30 sec weighted burpees (5-10lb weight or regular if needed), 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec tricep dips, 30 sec Jumprope

1 minute rest.

  • 30 sec mountain climbers, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec burpees, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec step-ups (weighted or non depending on preference), 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec split jumps, 30 sec Jumprope
  • 30 sec squat and press, 30 sec Jumprope

Recover or Repeat.

I repeated this workout two times through for a total of 30 minutes, but if you want you can just do it once for 15 minutes of HIIT goodness.  I promise your heart will be pumping and you will be sweating.  It’s a total body killer that will leave you feeling amazing.

-sj