Just J.Faye

Hiking & Other Adventures

Interval + Strength Gym Session

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interval + strength gym session HIIT and Tabata workouts are fantastic. You can be in and out of the gym (or your living room) in 30 minutes with a solid, effective workout, but sometimes you just want, maybe need, to spend a little bit longer in the gym. Like an hour… or more.

Mondays are usually my “long workout” nights where I do both cardio and strength training. An intense gym session is the perfect way to kick off the week. I always feel so good afterwards. Sweaty, but so so good.

During these sessions I love to sprinkle rounds of sprint intervals in between strength circuits. Not only does this make time fly by, but doing the intervals also helps elevate my heart rate throughout the workout. (Sometimes my heart rate doesn’t get as high as I would like it to during strength training, probably because I need to life heavier weights. Another story for another day.)

I want you to try this out, because you will feel so great afterwards. You’ll leave the gym with that I-dominated-that-and-can-pretty-much-do-anything feeling.

So, do some intervals. Hit the weights. Do some more sprints. Back to the weights. Then go back to th… well, I’m sure you catch my drift. Here’s the full plan:

interval + strength gym session A few quick notes:

  • Feel free to do the sprints on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, or rowing machine – whatever is your favorite! I am taking a break from running (sad face), so I have been doing mine on the elliptical.
  • Hold dumbbells when performing the Romanian deadlifts, Russian twists, lunges, and sumo squats for additional resistance.
  • This type of workout can take me anywhere from 60-90 minutes depending on the exercises and how quickly I transition. Also, I may tack on an extra long cool down and some additional ab work. If you are short on time go ahead and cut out one circuit and one or two round(s) of sprints.
  • If you aren’t sure of how to perform an exercise ask in a comment or look it up on You Tube!

These long gym sessions are so therapeutic to me. It’s like how I feel when I bake. Except, one activity debits my calorie account and the other credits. I like to keep my books balanced.

I hope you try it out! Let me know if you do.

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20-Minute Plyo Tabata

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You guysss… I have a surprise for you! It starts with a “ta” and ends with a “bata”.

You guessed it – a Tabata workout! BEST SURPRISE EVER.

20 Min Plyo Tabata This plyometric Tabata routine features 5 do-anywhere-no-equipment-needed exercises that will really get your heart pumping. You will work your butt off for 20 minutes and then you’ll be a little bit stronger, happier, healthier, and sweatier than you were before. All good things.

A Tabata is when you perform an exercise all out for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest. This pattern is repeated for 7 more rounds for a total of 8 rounds (4 minutes). We aren’t going to stop at one set though, we are going to do 5, for a total of 20 minutes, because we are not lazy, we are awesome.

However, I have this set up for 7 rounds instead of 8, so that you get in a 30-second rest between exercises. I know, I know. I am so kind.

So this is what you gotta do:

20 Min Plyo Tabata Doesn’t that seem fun? Let me tell you, it is.

Maybe you were hoping that the surprise was going to be cookies or a cake or some other sort of treat instead of this heart-pumping Tabata? If so, I hope you’re not disappointed.

Let’s compromise. Do this plyo Tabata twice this week (or any type of exercise, really) and I’ll post a tasty (somewhat healthy!) treat on Friday or Saturday. Do we have a deal?? Say yes.

If you love (or just like or even hate) this you should check out my other Tabata routines: 4th of July Tabata & Superset Tabata. You could look into all of the other workouts too. Also, don’t miss my new series: The Fit 5!

Have a fabulous week full of healthy food, cozy nights under blankets, and lots (or at least two) heart-pumping, sweaty, challenging, and fun workouts!

Do you like Tabata workouts?

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HIIT IT!

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Who is excited that it is Monday?!?!!

No one? That’s ok. Mondays are hard, but muster up some enthusiasm, people. We’re going to HIIT it!

HIIT IT

HIIT as in High Intensity Interval Training. I talked a bit about the concept in this Do Anywhere HIIT Workout post. Basically, it consists of short spurts of high intensity exercise followed by a short rest. The goal is to push it hard (70-80% of max). You can do it, though. I really believe in you.

HIIT IT

In less than 35 minutes you will get a warm up, a full body workout, and a cool down. This means you’ll get your workout in and have plenty of time to spare before the start of Monday Night Football (or whatever else you have planned for the evening). Awesome.

Plus, you’ll continue to burn calories long after the workout is over. This is because of a lovely little thing known as EPOC, which is excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, but you can also just think of it as afterburn.

Pretty great, right?

Yes, so let’s do it.

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Pre-Race Strides

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On Saturday morning I kicked off my Philadelphia Marathon training by running a half marathon. Pretty exciting.

Signing up probably wasn’t the best decision I have ever made, since I am a little untrained and haven’t run over 10 miles since Grandma’s Marathon last June. But it’s ok. I survived (clearly otherwise I wouldn’t be typing this).

This was my 4th half marathon and unfortunately I didn’t set a new PR (Personal Record). At mile 10 there was a chance that if I just pushed it those last 3.1 miles I could have done it, but I didn’t. My racing mentality just wasn’t there that morning. Oh well. #betterlucknexttime

Overall though, I’m still happy that I did it. It was a nice long run and a good course. It will be a great baseline to see how I improve over the next few weeks with some actual training.

Now that I am officially in marathon training, it’s time for me to really get down to business. The next 16 weeks will be work, but fun work and exciting work. My goal for this marathon is to finish below 3:45, which would be a 4 minute improvement over my last time. I can do it! I hope.

Are any of you signed up for a race? 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon??

If so, it’ll be good to add some strides into your training and pre-race routine.

pre-race strides

The thing that I love about doing strides is that they make me feel so good! First of all, they only last 30 seconds. Second, they really do help loosen up my legs. The goal is to stay relaxed during these bursts and just let your legs go. It almost feels like you’re flying and it’s pretty cool. When I do these I try to imagine myself in a race and it’s the last 30 seconds before crossing the finish line.

Try them out a day or two before your next race!

What? You aren’t signed up for a race? That’s ok! You can still incorporate these to the end of a normal easy run. It’s a good introduction to speed work. And then go sign up for a race.

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No Equipment Strength + Cardio Circuit Workout

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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.

no equipment strength & cardio workout

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.

dummer family reunion 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 40th 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.

dummer family reunion 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

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

Yes, I said it: Fartlek. Did the 3rd 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! fartlek training run

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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