homeworkout

I recently joined a local choir. I have been a singer for a pretty hefty portion of my life, even majoring in vocal performance in college, but as soon as I graduated, I needed to get away from it. After taking two years off from singing in pretty much any capacity, I was itching to get back into it. But I knew I didn’t want to go in as intensely as I had before. So, I went back to my roots. I joined a local church choir that meets only a couple of blocks from my house. I am by far and away the youngest person there by a good thirty or forty years. When I first set out to join, I was nervous. I hadn’t sung in awhile and I wasn’t sure if I would like singing in that setting, but I couldn’t be happier that I joined. As I was sitting listening to those around me, I couldn’t help thinking about how this paralleled so perfectly with starting a workout regimen.

We all start at different levels. Some have a natural talent for running at the drop or a hat or just being able to lift heavier than the person next to them, but to get better, they have to train. You can’t expect to get fit by just wishing it. You can’t expect to be a good singer if you never sing. Everyone starts somewhere. Even if you are the worst singer in the world, as long as you dive in and try, who cares. The same can be said for working out. Maybe you can’t even run one mile. If you start working for it, eventually you will get there. You just have to break past that comfort zone and just try it. Just start. You could be the worst singer, runner, pretty much anything in the world, but as long as you’re trying at it, it doesn’t matter.

Here’s a little fall full-body workout for you to try that you can either do one time through for a quick 15 minute workout or twice through for a bigger challenge. Either way, it’s a great one whether today is your first day hitting the gym or not. As long as you’re getting out there and pushing yourself out of that comfort zone, you should be proud. And at the end of the day, that’s all that counts.

-sj

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.

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.

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

Love & Lunge

getting out of that comfort zone.

HIIT Happens: a Halloween Workout.