Rainy Day Workout
I can’t believe the Olympics are over!
It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve really gotten into it -I’ve always loved the Olympics but am not usually home during the day, so I missed quite a bit of the last couple summer Olympics. Since I’ve been here playing with Liv, I’ve kept the games on during most of the day and have been able to catch a lot of incredible events, even the ones I didn’t know existed.
Beautiful.
I loved watching, and many times when I heard the national anthem during the medals ceremony, it brought tears to my eyes. It’s truly inspirational how hard these athletes work- watching the Olympics also helped me power through a training run on the treadmill.
I haven’t been training for my race like I should be, even though I only have one “run day” each week. I told myself I’d go into it with a laid-back attitude, and it’s gone a little to the extreme. It’s been wicked hot here, and I get soooo bored on the treadmill. I haven’t really been running as planned. I was secretly hoping I’d be able to do the half marathon, but it’s looking more like a one-way train to 10k city. I’d rather run a shorter race and feel good about it than a longer race without training properly and risk injury. We’ll see how it goes. Until the weather gets nicer, it’s easy to make weather-related excuses. Fall is the BEST running weather, so I’m really excited to get into some 5ks with the family.
Something that’s been easy to stick to?
Strength training.
With my current fitness schedule, I strength-train twice a week and look forward to it all the time. It makes me feel strong, and recently I busted out some moves on the Smith machine like the good ol’ days. I especially love my new gym– I dress like a grunge-ball and get in a quick, awesome workout.
Here’s the circuit I’ll be doing this week on Tuesday and Thursday, in addition to a little HIIT:
I call it the rainy day workout because you can do it anytime, anywhere, with just a couple of dumbbells- no excuses 😉
Some form cues:
1) Watch that front knee to make sure it doesn’t extend past your toes, engage your abs and exhale as you twist.
2) Do 10 curls first, then 9, then 8, and so on.. but instead of doing 1 at the end, you do 10 again. Whew!
3) Make sure your knees go out in the direction of your toes instead of forward. Think about sinking straight down with tight abs and try to bring your thighs parallel to the floor. As you come up, squeeze your inner thighs as you lift the weight (elbows up first).
4) Jump squats! This is just to get the heart rate up.
5) Make sure you’re bending and straightening your elbows. Cheating is just lifting your hips up and down.
6) Keep your core tight as you take deep breaths and alternate kicking legs
7) Maintain a plank position as you row on each side (may have to go lighter on the weights)
8) Like regular burpees with dumbbells for some extra excitement 😉
9) From plank position (holding onto the weights) walk your arms out to the sides of the weights, complete a pushup and bring your hands back onto the weights.
*This workout is intended to be completed circuit style, with little to no rest in between exercises. By doing it this way, your heart rate will stay elevated and you’ll possibly burn more calories. Bonus: you’ll be done faster!
*I’ll be including a warmup, 20 minutes of HIIT at the end and a nice cool down. To incorporate some Tabata instead of the HIIT, you can do a Tabata round (4 minutes) instead of the squat jumps each time through the circuit. I’ll be completing the circuit a total of 3 times.
(As always, check with a doc before making any fitness changes. Honor your body and your injuries)
Anyone joining me for the circuit? After you finish it this week, leave a comment on this post to let me know how it goes! You can always tweet me a sweaty pic, too (@ifitnessista)- I love them!
Hope you have a very happy Monday!
See ya later on the Family page <3
xoxo
Gina
Something to talk about: Did you watch a lot of the Olympics? What was your favorite? Who was your favorite? I’m a fan of Michael Phelps.. he is very.. talented. 😉
Make It Happen Monday!
What goal are you declaring for the week? Write it down and take steps every day to make it happen! Mine: choreograph a little hip hop solo for dance week and drink more water.
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I love the idea of setting a goal on Mondays–my least favorite day of the week!
My goal: Zumba 4 or 5 times this week. I had to hire a sitter to go tonight b/c usually I have class tomorrow but will be out of town and hubby has his racquetball league tonight. Totally worth it to me to get my workout in AND since it’s earlier than my usual class, I’ll be home in time for Maya’s bed-time 🙂
PS– Love your Lulu gear. I’m obsessed and so sad to not be able to get my hands on any of the ADORABLE SeaWheeze gear! Ebay is the only way … and it’s ridiculous! Looking forward to tonight’s upload–praying for some cranberry/plum stuff 🙂
I agree with this! Setting a goal on Monday makes me think of it as a fresh beginning instead of the end of my weekend.
If I can wake up at 6am tomorrow I’ll be doing this workout! (Waking up for 6am workouts twice this week is also my Monday goal!) 🙂
I’m excited to give this workout a try! I actually dread strength training but it is hard to ignore the positive results.
Great workout Gina! I’m sad that the Olympics are over – I’ve probably watched more TV in August than I have all year thanks to the games!! I’m not really a Michael Phelps kinda gal, but I think Ryan Lochte is very…. talented too! 😉
I’ve been loving the strength training as well–makes me feel so strong!!
My goals this week: Enjoy my last week of summer! Back to work full-time next week. Also, I need to write a guest post by Thursday! Fun stuff. 🙂
i also get so bored sometimes when i exercise (like when i’m on a treadmill) so i just downloaded 20 “new” songs (“new” because some of them are only new for me…) to be a little less bored 🙂 my goal for this week is to continue non-smoking. I stopped smoking 12 days ago and now that i finally did it, i want to keep it forever!
Congrats! Keep up the great work 🙂
YESSSSSS! i am so, so proud of you. keep it up! email me if you need anything along the way <3
I’m with you on the Olympics. My favorite was the women’s gymnastics and I’ve enjoyed them this year more than ever and I don’t really know why. I’m not home during the day, so I stay up way too late watching. I am sad that they are over, but will be glad to get my normal sleep back. 😉 I really like the looks of your rainy day workout. I will definitely be giving that one a try.
I can’t wait to try this – just pinned it for later use! As in later today! 😉 My goal for the week is to make it to a hot yoga class, get a run in during this cooler weather (70’s – woop!), get some household organizing done, and enjoy my son’s last full week of summer before school resumes!
Can’t wait to try this workout!
let me know what you think!
I’m not sure if I missed this somewhere in the post but how many reps of each exercise do you do in the circuit? I know you gave reps for the curls and then times for some of the exercises…thanks for the clarification! Can’t wait to try it.
10-12 🙂
Yay, I’m going to do this one today at lunch!
have fun, i hope you love it!
Quick question, do you just do the circuit once? Or should I repeat 2-3 times?
2-3 times is perfect
Oh good….I was just going to ask this same question! I did it yesterday and made it through the circuit three times before wanting to die. I was worried that you were going to say it should be done 10 times or something like that!
ahah no way! that would be a little much 🙂 i’m doing it tonight! excited
I love the Olympics. We actually got cable JUST for the Olympics. (We did it for the last winter Olympics as well.) I’ll get it turned back off again this week, because cable is generally evil and I have no patience for commercials. I haven’t been working much, so I can easily say I have never watched so much TV as I did these last two weeks. I love watching it all — it’s so inspiring and motivating.
Gina, I am so glad you enjoyed the Olympics!
I have been doing rhythmic gymnastics ever since I was 6 years old.
It’s sooo beautiful to look at, especially since I know how hard it is to even throw and catch a hoop or clubs properly, while at the same time doing a twist or jump while being in sync with everybody else. Even at the level I was practicing it (which was just for fun), it was extremely challenging to make it look effortless.
It’s a sports that I care so deeply about (obviously) and that I think deserves a lot more attention. It’s not about who can run the farthest or jump the highest, but performing in a team and delivering a performance that people thoroughly enjoy and leave them stunned forever.
I’d totally do this workout today if i wasnt craaaazy sore from my workout yesterday which included 3 rounds of your Tabata workouts. Holyy soreness, my booty and thighs are killlingggg. Keep up the great work!
awesome job!
Love Make It Happen Monday! Such a great idea. My goal this week is to really focus on preparing for the start of the school year (I’m a high school teacher). It’s been easy to procrastinate and I need to get focused!
This is awesome. I can actually do this today at home! 🙂
I can’t wait to do this with some HIIT!! 🙂 I really needed some new, fun workouts. Thanks Gina! 🙂
I definitely need to up the ante on strength training. I tend to focus so much on cardio but I know the benefits of having more muscle – and looking sculpted and toned too!
I can’t wait to do this workout! Looks like a good one:)
It’s nice and rainy out here, so I will definitely be doing this workout later today!!!
let me know what you think! have fun 🙂
I loved a lot of things about the Olympics but I found myself very interested in synchronized swimming. Before I cared about fitness I didn’t give much thought to what they did. Now I appreciate how much hard work goes into being able to do that. I would for sure drown!!
My goal this week is to add some intensity to my cardio so I can eventually do tabata!
I’m also going to do your rainy workout a couple of times.
The best part of the Olympics for me was having it on while running on the treadmill at the gym. It sort of gave me inspiration and a “If they’re doing that, then I can run for 20 minutes!” kind of attitude.
My goal for the week – help my daughter put her face in the pool and blow bubbles 🙂 Such a hard concept apparently! And I watched almost no Olympics…whoops!
Super excited to try this rainy day workout. I am training for my first 10K and today is “stretch/strengthen” in my plan so this sounds perfect!
My goal for the week: I hope I can get my 4 month old son to eat more of his rice cereal rather than blow it at me. 🙂
My favorite Olympians were Missy Franklin and Oscar Pistorius (the double amputee).
Least favorite was definitely Usain Bolt. I hope he packed a suitcase big enough to tote that giant ego back to Jamaica!
That’s a great attitude Gina. I have the same problem, I want to run outside but it’s so hot, I can not stand it. So waiting for fall season. Workout looks great too-thanks!!!
Great workout as always Gina! Love it!
I loved watching all of the events this year, but especially made sure I paid attention to women’s gymnastics becuase that is always my favorite during the summer olympics! Thank goodness for my DVR otherwise I would’ve missed practically everything!
I’m training for a half marathon in October and posting my training plans for it later today so that I stick to them! You look so lean and muscular in these pics! I did the summer shape up workout 2 yesterday and it was killer. Thanks for this one! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
YES! Michael Phelps is VERY … talented.
And I feel ya about the running! I’m training for a half, but my runs don’t always happen. Now strength training, that’s a constant!
LOVED this workout this am! I was feeling a little uninspired before heading to the gym, but this kicked my booty right into gear! Followed it up with my usual spin class and I thought I was going to die… In a good way of course! Thanks for posting such great ideas:)
whoo hoo! way to rock it out and thank you for letting me know!
This might seem random, but I’d love it if you’d do a “Focus on” type post for the fashion page on the keratin treatments you get for your hair. I’ve been interested in trying one for a while, but have been nervous about the chemicals, not being able to wash my hair and how it grows out. I’d love to hear more about your experience (and your Mom’s too since she does them!)
here’s the info on the treatment i get: http://fitnessista.com/2011/02/gettin-my-keratin/
i LOVE it
Thanks Gina!
i think no matter how far you end up running for the race, you are doing awesome because you are out there doing it.
i did a “make it happen monday” post on my blog, inspired by you — http://whileuwerenapping.blogspot.com/2012/08/make-it-happen-monday.html
I just did this and loves it! Modified the intensity on jump squats, burpees, and HIIT since I’m preggo. But it worked great!Kive these circuits:)
great workout! I did it this morning after 45 minutes steady state cardio, so I was a sweaty mess!! My goal is to increase my steady state cardio to 3 times a week. I have been doing so much HIIT and strength training, I need to switch it up I think to get the results I want. Love your blog! Love your workouts 🙂
Gina, what do you think is the best steady state cardio?
I’m with you on the drinking more water — I keep finding myself with the beginning of headaches and thinking “How much water have you drank today?”
Drinking water is such a simple thing to do, and yet so hard to remember sometimes!
Great looking workout! I too LOVE strength training–it never falls by the way side for me 😉
I LOVE the Olympics. OH so much. So sad it’s over…but I am glad it happened! Michael Phelps will always be my favorite Olympian-for all time. What he did/does is amazing, and he is pretty humble about it too. He’s inspiring!
I too powered through some tough runs on the treadmill b/c of the runners on the screen…hehe 🙂
I’m saving all your workouts you post to my pinterest… because when I’m not pregnant any more in February, I’m going to have a lot of inspiration!! I’m so excited!!
Phew! Just did this workout 3 times with tabatas in place of 1 minute jump squats and it was a sweatyyyy one! I had to modify the up and down pushups to my knees (I just got in from Vegas late last night and my arms are feeling a little sore from carrying those giant margarita cups around…haha). Great work as usual, Gina! I love having a new circuit to try out.
Goal for the week: To keep hydrated so that I won’t need an IV if/when I go into labor. I’d also like to add “Have a baby this week” but that’s not really up to me! 🙂 But I’m doing EVERYTHING I can to help speed things along! I can’t wait to follow some of your workouts after baby’s born and I’m cleared to workout again.
Love this workout! I hope the HLS hotel has free weights so that I can do this on Thursday morning! 😀
I love rhythmic gymnastics! It’s one of those obscure Olympic sports that doesn’t get a lot of air time, but those ladies are amazing. But I think I just like it because it’s the closest thing the Olympics has to dance =)
I love this rainy day workout…thanks for posting! I am with you-also sad that the Olympics are already over.
I loved the rainy day workout! I did the circuit 2x and followed it up with a schweaty 4 mile run outside. Thank you for taking so much time to create and post these workouts. They are awesome! PS, love your blog, definitely my favorite =).
Hi!
I rarely comment, but I love your blog and I want to thank you for the amazing workouts you share on your website. Also, you have such a positive energy that I actually open a browser to read your posts when I need some motivation at the end of a long day:)
Thanks again and congratulations on your beautiful daughter!
Natalia
Loved the circuit! It was fast and intense…both good for a day like today 🙂 I had never done the lunges with a twist and I tried to do it with dumbbells first and about fell over (clumsy was kicking in lol). For the inexperienced, I’d recommend doing it without weights for a couple reps to get the form down!
Did this today right after work — before the cooking, cleaning, or the couch could suck me in. Love doing circuits — and working out at home — goes by so fast and feel the burnin’ in my booty. Thanks, gina!
awesome! thank you for letting me know, and great job!
also, it is a rainy day in Ohio. perfect. 😉
I just did this workout after a TurboFire HIIT20. Needless to say..I’m jelly. And not the jealous kind. 😛 The noodley kind! This is the first workout of yours I’ve done. It was so simple, so effective and took zero thought – just drive and digging in. (My kind of workout!) Thank you! I think I’ll use this one again!
yayyyy! i’m so glad you liked it! i’m off to do it now, too 🙂