Workout Archives - Page 7 of 8

No Equipment Strength + Cardio Circuit Workout

July 29, 2014 by Jenna

It is always great to be able to sneak away from Minneapolis and go on little weekend getaways. This is especially true when it’s spent up north with lots of family, good food, relaxation, and sunshine, which is precisely how I spent my time this weekend.

The downside (probably the only downside) to weekend travel is figuring out how/where I can squeeze in a workout or two. You know, in between sleeping in, brunch, beers, and relaxing. It truly is a rough life.

But really, it does give me some anxiety.

This weekend I was in northern Minnesota at a family reunion (it was so fun, but more about that later, I’ll discuss the workout first) and fortunately my mind was at ease because I fit in my 10-miler on Thursday morning annndddd because I was scheduled (per my Mother’s reunion agenda) to lead a Saturday morning bootcamp with the family.

I was a bit nervous (so I guess my mind wasn’t totally at ease) that A) people wouldn’t show up for the bootcamp and B) whoever did show up would think it was dumb, too hard, or not challenging enough. I even had a dream Friday night that my sister and cousin were the only ones that came and they ended up quitting mid-way through. Sad.

Luckily, none of that happened. People came! We met out by the lake at 9:00am and had a great workout together outside.

To sum it up, this workout is composed of four rounds and three sets of each round. 30 seconds of a resistance training exercise is followed by 30 seconds of a cardio/plyo exercise. This workout keeps your heart rate elevated and helps you hit the major muscle groups.

The great thing about this workout is that absolutely no equipment is necessary. We did this out by the lake and the only thing I needed was the stopwatch on my phone to time the 30-second intervals.

Meaning, no more fretting about weekend travel workouts! You can do this workout anytime, anywhere. Do it on your next vacay. Or today at home!

Another great thing about this workout is that anyone can do it! Progress or regress the exercises as needed (feel free to put a question in the comments if you need help with this) for whatever works best for YOU. Push yourself during those 30-second increments and make the work count. You will (as I did and some of my family members too) feel it the next morning.

The workout above is a little bit modified from what I went through on Saturday. We did some more ab work and added on some hills at the end. Yes, hills! We were not messing around. You are welcome to tack on some hill training on the end of this too if the mood strikes you, but the outline above is a great workout as is.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves – you know, after it was all over – which was a huge relief for me.

Dummers can party hard and work hard. Look at this: strong, sweaty, and smiling.

The rest of the weekend was an absolute blast. I was even able to fit in two 5-mile runs on top of Saturday’s morning bootcamp (bonus!). We went out on the lake, ate too much good food, had a bean bag tournament, golfed, drank beer and margaritas, made s’mores by the campfire, celebrated a 40^th birthday, played volleyball, and enjoyed time together as a family. Some of these people I hadn’t seen since our last reunion three years ago!

We are planning to have the next one in two years, potentially in Laramie, WY. But no matter where it is, it will be amazing. I’m already excited.

Here are some fun pictures from the weekend.

My favorite is the top one of the three brothers. They are three handsome and amazing men, who met beautiful women and raised wonderful families. I love them all so much. The bottom picture is just the Ed (my grandpa’s) branch of the Dummer tree.

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Fartlek Training Run

July 22, 2014 by Jenna

I have another fun running workout for you: Fartlek training!

Yes, I said it: Fartlek. Did the 3^rd grader in you just giggle? Mine did. I mean, how can you not?!

Ok. I am terrible. Moving on…

So, Fartlek: what the heck is it?

It’s a Swedish term meaning “Speed Play”. It is very similar to interval and tempo training, but is unstructured. The key is to play with different speeds throughout your run. The random sprints and middle distance running keeps your body guessing and works both your aerobic and anaerobic systems. Instead of set intervals (example: 1-minute at “5K pace” + 1-minute recovery) the speeds and distances vary (example: “run hard to that tree” + “walk to the next sign”).

Sounds kind of fun, right? It is.

Fartlek training was developed by Gösta Holmér, the Swedish cross-country coach, in the late 1930s. The Swedes were continually dominated by the Finns through the 1920s and didn’t have fancy training equipment or facilities at the time. With Holmér’s new Fartlek method the Swedish runners could do their training basically anywhere, like through some intense Swedish trails, while working to increase their speed and build their stamina.

Fartlek training really paid off for Gunder Hägg, a Swedish runner, who set 10 world records in 3 months in 1942 and broke 5 more world records after that. #success

So let’s be like Gunder and Gösta and Fartlek!

You can also do this workout on your own and/or inside. I do strongly recommend doing it in a group and running outside, because it will be more fun. Group running builds camaraderie. Plus, you’ll then have other people to compete with a little bit, motivating and pushing you more than you maybe would have if you were by yourself. Most of my fellow running friends are faster than me, which forces me to become a better, faster runner – I still have a lot of opportunity to improve, so I better keep on keepin’ on.

All in all, Fartlek training is a great way to add in some spontaneous speed work during a normal run, building speed and endurance. Lace up your running shoes, grab a friend, and go Fartlek it up!

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Super Fun Stair Workout

July 14, 2014 by Jenna

How do you take the stairs… Do you go up them one-by-one? Skip a step? Run up them to get it over with faster? Walk up slowly? Avoid them at all costs?

In this workout we are going to sprint, jog, and lunge up stairs. It’s awesome.

I will explain this a bit in case the graphic is confusing (I apologize if it is). First, do a mile warm up run. Next sprint up the set of stairs and jog down it. Repeat this 8 times. Then slowly jog up and down the staircase twice. Now we get into some lunges! Lunge up leading with your right foot (you may need to skip a step or two in order to make it challenging) and jog down. Repeat this leading with your left foot, then do two sets of forward lunges up, alternating legs. Do two more sets of jogging up and down the staircase and then round it all out with 15 push ups. Repeat this all two more times and then do a 1/2 mile cool down jog. You should also stretch afterwards. Always, always stretch!

I have done this workout a couple of times and I am not kidding when I say that it is super fun. However, it’s the most fun when you grab a couple of friends to do it with you, because then you can high-five and cheer each other on. High-fiving and cheering make anything more fun. Plus, working out with friends is fun in general.

I did do it by myself once and that was cool too. But still, grab a friend. Just because.

Not only is this workout fun, it is also challenging and very effective. Your heart rate is going to jump during those sprints and still be elevated during the jogging and lunges too – lots of calorie torching going on here! Also, be prepared to feel this in your glutes, calves, and abs the next day.

Yeah, it’s a good one.

For those of you Minneapolis-ites… Minneapolis-uns… Minneapolans… who live in Minneapolis, the staircase below the Hennepin Ave Bridge right by DeLaSalle High School downtown works great for this workout. It’s about 42 steps total and does not have heavy traffic. I’m sure there are a lot of other great staircases out there though. Check around your local bridges or maybe look around schools for some bleachers. Just be careful, don’t be sketchy and don’t trespass.

A couple of pointers:

Do a couple of warm up jogs up and down the staircase to get used to the height and feel of the stairs before starting the sprints. Decide how you want to approach the sprints, jogs, and lunges. I ended up skipping a step for the sprints, going step-by-step for the jogging, and skipping two steps for the lunges.
Push it hard on the sprints up then jog down slowly to decrease your heart rate a little.
Make sure to push through your heels during the lunges. This will help to engage more of your glutes.
Keep your core tight during the lunges, especially the side lunges. This will really work your obliques and will also keep you stabilized so that you don’t strain your lower back.
Do elevated push ups by placing your hands on the bottom stair.
Take quick rest (30-60 seconds) before and after the sprint sets if you need it. I would also recommend bringing a water bottle along and leaving it at the bottom of the staircase, especially if it is super hot out. Hydration is important!

So now go hunt down a staircase and try out this workout!

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Basic Full Body Strength Workout

July 7, 2014 by Jenna

How was everyone’s 4^th of July weekend?! Did you go anywhere? Did you eat hotdogs and watch fireworks and sit by a lake? I hope you did, plus much, much more.

If you were anything like me you may have spent the weekend indulging in burgers and beers and brats and baked beans (alliteration!). That’s ok. Indulgences are good every so often. Plus, it was all so delicious annnddd it was America’s birthday so…. YOLO!

Am I right?

I was luckily able to fit in some exercise between the s’mores and strawberry shortcake. On Friday morning I coaxed my mom, sister, and sister-in-law to do my 4^th of July Tabata workout with me. They didn’t come willingly, but they did do it… and I think they even enjoyed it a little bit. Then on Saturday a bunch of us (“Bass Lake Bandits”) participated in the Nisswa Firecracker 5K that I had mentioned on Thursday. I was originally just going to walk the 5K with everyone, but I felt good and ended up running the 10K instead. It was actually my first 10K race, which is silly considering I have done 5K’s, half-marathons, and marathons. It was a beautiful morning for a run and we were all rewarded afterwards with an ice cold PBR.

Side note: how cute are we?! Don’t you love our matching red, white, and blue headbands?

Despite those two good workouts, my caloric intake definitely still outweighed my expenditure. I’ll say it again: delicious, America’s birthday, YOLO.

Maybe you were better-behaved than I was, maybe you weren’t. Either way, let’s start out the week with an awesome workout to help negate some of the cookies.

This is a very basic strength training circuit that hits all the major muscle groups. If you are a beginner to strength training focus first on technique and proper form. Once perfected, you can work towards increasing the weight. Improper form can develop into muscle imbalances and injuries. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Here are some instructions on proper technique. If you have any questions, please leave a comment so that I can help!

While you are performing the exercises concentrate on the muscles that you are working. Are your biceps burning a little during the bicep curls? Can you really feel your glutes during those squats? If so, you are doing the right.

Once you have form perfected, feel free to increase the weight of the dumbbells. If/when you do this you may decrease the reps from 15 to 10-12 or even 5-8 if you are going really heavy. However, please, please, please ensure that you have the correct form with the increased resistance – utilize mirrors or workout with a friend or ask the cute guy at the gym to watch your form (the cute guy, not the meathead guy, unless of course you are into that).

You can also enrich your proprioception and stabilization by utilizing a stability ball, BOSU ball, or performing the standing exercises on one leg instead of two. Again, be careful here. When you add this type of challenge, keep your core engaged and your movements slow and controlled.

I recommend choosing either the heavier weights or the unstable platform, not both at once. Advance slowly, gradually add in new challenges, and keep proper form. Overtime your body will adapt to the challenges that you are placing upon it. It will then grow stronger and you will need to continue to challenge it. Then it will grow even stronger… and the cycle continues.

Now go get at it.

Here are some added pictures from my wondrously relaxing 4^th of July weekend!

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4th of July Tabata Workout

June 30, 2014 by Jenna

I don’t know about you, but I had an awesome weekend. It just really felt like summer. I needed one of those. It reminded me how great it is to be alive and young. So much fun.

And this coming weekend: 4^th of July! Who is excited?! A short workweek followed by a long weekend. What’s not to love? I hope you are all planning on lots of sunshine and lake time and BBQs and watermelon. I am. That is fo sho.

Inspired by the 4^th of July, I put together a little tabata workout.

July 4 = 7/4 = 7 rounds of 4 exercises. Get it?

The awesome thing about tabata is that it is super quick and extremely effective. Remember this HIIT workout when I explained the benefits of this type of training? The science around tabata is the same.

This workout will take you less than 20 minutes. It is quick, but it is not easy! It actually is harddddd. In order to make it worth your time, you have to push it – really make yourself work. You should be huffin’ and puffin’ and sweatin’. Then afterwards you will feel amazing. Your metabolism will be all revved up and you won’t feel as bad about indulging in hot dogs, s’mores, and flag cake.

Do it a once or twice this week to prep for all the lake/pool time, delicious food, and cold beverages.

Maybe you are going out of town and won’t have access to a gym. That is no problem! You can basically do this workout anywhere. The only thing you need is a timer, because if you can easily and evenly count to 20 seconds through all these exercise it means you are not working hard enough. Luckily for us, there is a plethora of timer and stopwatch apps.

I will be doing this workout outside of my cabin on Friday morning before throwing on my swimsuit and chilling by the lake. Maybe I will get the rest of my family to join in. The sound of loons will be our background music.

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20-Minute Running Intervals

June 23, 2014 by Jenna

Summer is finally officially here and with it comes a flurry of activities. The days are longer. The weather is nicer. It is important to spend this time outside and/or with friends.

Sometimes between the dinners, happy hours, picnics, fests, and other social activities it gets difficult to squeeze in a proper workout. It’s hard to fit everything in. But we need to try. Dinners, happy hours, picnics, fests, and other social activities are not calorie-free and usually involve some extra indulgences. Plus, I don’t know about you, but working out always makes me feel healthier, happier, and more energized.

Let’s make sure we find a little bit of time for exercise, so that we can have a lot of time for fun, so that we keep our lives exciting and in balance.

20 minutes. That’s all we need.

A warm up, a couple sets of jog+run+sprint, and a cool down. Quick and effective – that is the magic of intervals. It is a difficult workout, but it is so efficient.

I really appreciate efficiency.

For my warm up I usually start at 3.5 mph and increase it by .5 mph every minute. This helps to wake my legs up a bit and slowly bring up my heart rate.

Play around with the jog, run, and sprint speeds a little bit if you are unsure of what your paces are. The jog should be a slow run to help your body and heart rate recover a little bit after the sprint. The run should be slightly on the higher end of your typical running pace. The sprint should be an all-out effort. I typically do 5.5 mph for the jog, 7.0 mph for the run, and 9.0 for the sprint.

Try to push yourself a little bit with the paces. The last sprint should be the same pace (if not faster) as the first. This will be a difficult workout, but it only lasts 20 minutes. You can do it.

I prefer doing intervals and speed work on the treadmill because I am terrible at gauging my pace and don’t want to be staring at my GPS watch to keep track of timing. Plus, sometimes it’s good to have some treadmill workouts on hand for when there are lightning storms or when it is way too hot to run outside (especially sprinting). Safety first, people. However, this workout could definitely be done outside if you are in the mood for some fresh air and extra Vitamin D.

So 20 minutes. That’s all and your workout is done. You could wake up 20 minutes earlier to do it before work, squeeze it in during your lunch hour, or fit it in between work and whatever fun evening activity you have planned.

Sometimes it is possible to do it all.

Happy, happy summer!

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