10 minutes - Walk/jog to warm up
1 minute - Medium intensity jog or walk
1 minute - Faster, increasing speed every 10 steps until sprinting
1 minute - Skipping (that's right--skipping is a great calorie-burner)
2 minutes- Jog/walk to recover
Repeat
1 minute - Bounding--slow running that involves leaping diagonally to the right and then left, landing with soft knees in a slight squat
1 minute - side-to-side jumps over a rock or log - either with feet together (harder) or one leg at a time
1 minute - Skipping
2 minutes- Recovery
Repeat
1 minute - Fast run
1 minute - Plie squat jumps (in a wide squat, jump up and click the heels together and land in wide squat with soft knees)
1 minute - Skipping
2 minutes- recovery
Repeat
1 minute - Brisk walking
1 minute - Long jumps - jump forward with feet together, landing with soft knees. Repeat
1 minute - Skipping
2 minutes- Recovery
cool down - 5 minutes walking
Workout Time: 45-50 Minutes
Another thing I use to spice up my workouts is the Cardio Coach CD. This is a guided interval workout that's about 35 minutes long and is excellent for gym workouts. I use this CD regularly to get through my intervals--it's nice having someone give me a workout and then talk me through it with some great music.
Simple Strength Training
In getting back to basics with strength training, you might focus on lifting heavy, eliminating rest periods (by supersetting) and spicing things up by changing your exercises each set. In the following sample workout, alternate each exercise for 12 reps of 2-4 sets, depending on time, energy and boredom level.
Chest/Back Supersets
1. Pushups: On knees, on toes, decline off step or ball
2. Back Extensions: On ball with hands behind back, hands behind head, arms straight out in front
1. Chest Press: on ball, on flat bench, on incline
2. Dumbbell rows - increase weight with each set
Shoulders
1. Overhead press with rotation
2. Front raises
1. Upright rows
2. Rear delt flyes or shoulder rotations
Bicep/Triceps
1. Barbell curls
2. Dips
1. Dumbbell bicep curls:straight curls, hammer curls, curls with rotation
2. Kickbacks
Leg workouts are a different story. I'm not a fan of lower body workouts and don't want to spend a lot of time doing them. To keep them simple and effective, choose basic exercises that hit the major muscles and follow a pyramid format like the following:
Set 1: 15 reps, 12 lbs
Set 2: 12 reps, 15 lbs
Set 3: 10 reps, 20 lbs
Set 4: 12 reps, 15 lbs
Set 5: 15 reps, 12 lbs
Below are some basic exercises for the lower body.
- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Lunges and/or one-legged ball squats
- Inner thigh squeeze (with physio ball between knees)
- Side leg lifts on the ball
- Hamstring rolls on the ball
If you have a BOSU, you can do many of these exericses while standing on the dome for an added challenge.
Finally, abs. I don't spend a lot of time working abs because it bores me. If you're the same way, using a BOSU or a ball during strength workouts will help you get some great core work in. For added work, these are some simple but challenging moves:
- Forearm plank - 3 sets, holding each for 30 seconds to 1 minute
- V-Sit - 3 sets, holding each for 30 seconds to 1 minute
- Bicycles - 2 sets of 16 slow repetitions
It's great that we have so much information available about exercise and, sometimes, we actually find something useful. However, if you're confused about what to do and how to fit all this work into your life, get back to basics. Keep things simple and it'll be that much easier to make exercise a routine. Oh and don't forget to reward yourself for a job well done!
For examples of many of the exercises listed and for free workouts, visit my Workout Center.
