Hello All,
Today’s workout is not complicated, but it was still tough! Granted I was just off work when I did this, but I still think I made the most of the effort intervals.
The Workout
The workout is 21 minutes of body weight interval training. There are 3 rounds of 7 exercises. I set my Gymboss Interval Timer for 21 cycles of 20 seconds recovery and 40 seconds effort. The exercises and my reps are as follows:
- Burpees without push ups (20,22,19)
- Plank Climber (alternating leading arm) (21,19,17)
- Squat Tap Tap (20,21,18)
- Reptile Push Ups (19,18,15)
- Side Squats (right) (26,24,23)
- Side Squats (left) (24,24,23)
- Mountain Climbers (69,64,60)
I really enjoyed this workout and I ended up covered in sweat which always makes me feel better (because I feel I have really pushed myself).
I have been neglecting my cardio this last 2 weeks and I think it’s starting to show, to this incoming week I plan to up my game with all my training again! In addition to that I also plan to clean up my diet too. Every so often I go through a phase of treating myself too much and then I start feeling bad about it and then change things for the better – so that’s my goal for this week, or in fact this month 🙂
I will be back very soon with a new workout, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Cheers
Marianne
I workout with either flat shoes or barefoot, but inside, I haven’t had any problems at all, I did notice that it is easier to do pistol while barefoot.
I also run in flat shoes not the cushy type running shoes, don’t have a problem with that either. I have really high arches and am able to land lightly on the balls of my feet, learned it from my cat
😉
Pistols are so much easier barefoot, although I have flat or flipper feet lol, not so good for running – maybe that’s why I hate running. Gotta love the light footed kitties though, so graceful 😀
Cheers
Marianne
I noticed you workout barefoot now. Do you think that is better than with shoes? I tried working out barefoot and my toes were hurting. Is that strange? Will it get better if I keep doing it? Thanks!
I started working out barefoot, or wearing my Vibram Five Fingers a good while ago, as I read some research that it improves the overall control of the whole foot, especially in balance. I don’t do any high impact exercises though as I think this, unless you are used to it, can cause pain and some problems in other joints. There is a big movement at the minute towards barefoot running, but this is something I would definitly avoid. We have been wearing shoes our whole lives, so our feet are not adapted to runnig barefoot, UNLESS, we are doing so on soft uneven terrain like sand or even grass.
Anyway, if it hurts your feet, you can gradually introduce it. BUT there is no problem with working out with training shoes on either, it’s just my indoor preference.
Cheers
Marianne
Greatings, ЎGracias! Ahora me irй en este blog cada dнa!
Have a nice day
Hi Marianne
Thanks for all the great workouts you produce. Although I don’t…actually ” can’t ” LOL,, do all your workouts, you always inspire me to try. My question is about your warmups and cool downs. Can you please share what you would do as a warmup for a kettle bell workout for eg and your cool down. I also know your not asking for workout suggestions 🙂 but I would love to see you produce a short but intense workout using hand weights one day. You seem to have such a great imagination for making exercise fun, and the fun and variety is what keeps me away from the cookie jar.
thanks for reading
x Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Keep on trying and soon, you will eb putting me to shame, I am sure 🙂
How about I put together a couple of videos for my KB warm up and cool down, so you can see it in action. Also, I will be getting some handweight as I do have some workout ideas for them. I have a video I did a while back on exercises with the stability ball and Dumbbells, which might give you some ideas in the mean time. Once I get my dumbbells I will be able to be more creative.
Hope this helps in some way 😀
M
Hey Marianne
Did this one this morning!!! I did my TGU’s first for 10 min and then followed up with this! Unfortunately when I wrote it down I had burpee’s with push-up…I thought you were being very mean with push-ups then planks and shortly after spiderman push-ups ;). Great workout – very sweaty! I must have been doing the side squats wrong or not with enough intensity because I wasn’t getting a quad burn. I’ll have to do better next time!
My numbers
Burpees with push ups (7,8,9)
Plank Climber (alternating leading arm) (16,16,17)
Squat Tap Tap (20,21,21)
Reptile Push Ups (15,17,15)
Side Squats (right) (17,18,17)
Side Squats (left) (18,17,17)
Mountain Climbers (47,48,50) both legs= one rep
Yes Heather, that’s why I left out the push up LOL, my shoulders were on fire enough as it was. I try to do the side squats with a little explosive up and over movement, so your static leg gets a real burn. Good numbers though, well done with the plank climbers AFTER the burpees too 🙂
Cheers
M
I just finished this workout and I was covered in sweat. The workout was much harder that it looked on paper 😉 The reptile push-ups were quite difficult for me (dang shoulder). Thanks again Marianne for pushing me to work harder!!
Your welcome, glad you enjoyed it. It was harder than I though it would be too 😀
M
Hola! Today was supposed to be a rest day for me but once I saw this I knew I needed to try it. I did modify it by doing 30 seconds of work and no rest (maybe 3-4 seconds) between exercise and did 5 rounds instead of three. Took me about 20 minutes. Worked up a nice sweat! Finished it off with 40 minutes of yoga and stretching.
You mentioned in your post that you have been slacking on your cardio and thought it was starting to show; well, I think you look great as is!
Alexandra
Hey, glad you enjoyed this workout. I am not a fan of short recovery periods, as I do not recover enough to enable Max effort again in the next interval which, for me, defeats the purpose of HIIT as recovery is a key element, or it wouldn’t be there. However I know that some people prefer to feel the heart rate at max the whole way through, but that feeling makes me want to give up lol.
It’s great that you do yoga, I keep meaning to start it, but I think I would be rubbish at it LOL.
Thanks for the compliment, I guess I must just be feeling bad about all the weekend treats. I am always a bit “fuller” by Mondays 😉
Cheers
Marianne
Hi Marianne, I have decided to get serious about losing some unwanted fat and get that lean look. Thought I might ask you and Andrew a few questions to help steer me in the right direction.
1) How many times a week should I workout with weights, should I keep them light with more reps?
2) Protein, how much a day. ( I am male in my mid 30’s)
3) I try to avoid carbs because they are so calorie dense. Good idea? I’m Italian and eating three quarters of cup of pasta in one meal is not realistic.
4) how much cardio a week?
5) Just acquired some kettle bells and they are killing my forearms. Did you have the same problem when you first started working with them?
Thank you for helping me reach my goals. Raff
Hi Raffaele, thanks for your questions. I will do my best to answer them. As a rough guide though, as everyone is slightly different and I don’t know what experience with weight training you have etc.
1) Try to keep your weight training short, intense and HEAVY. Do 3-4 45min sessions per week, keeping your reps lower (10 down to 3) and heavy weights.
2) For you, Andrew reckons about 200g protein per day.
3) With regards to the carb thing, if you don’t want to cut your portion size or restrict your pasta intake, then I would recommend Intermittent Fasting. Andrew and I are both finding this approach beneficial for fat loss and even strength gains.
4) Cardio, 3-4 30min sessions per week. Mix High Intensity Interval Training with some static cardio, to keep your body guessing.
5) Now for the Kettlebells, what do mean? Are they slapping into the arm on the lifts, or is it strain from gripping?
I hope this helps Raffaele 😀
Cheers
Marianne