Total Body Strength and HIIT Workout

Today I’m excited to share a total body strength and HIIT workout I’ll be teaching in a group ex class today. It’s a strength circuit with cardio blasts mixed in to keep your heart rate up while you build lean muscle! Scroll to the end for the workout!

Hey hey! How’s the day going?? Hope you’re having a wonderful morning.

Yesterday, I trained a client (we did tons of cardio drills), got in a short legs workout, and spent the day hanging out with the girls. 

Apparently we don’t see that wet stuff that falls from the sky very often. We probably sat in front of the window for 30 minutes watching the pouring rain.

Since I was teaching at night, I wanted to make sure dinner was as quick and easy as possible. During P’s nap, I made some turkey bolognese (using Uncle E’s recipe!),

and chopped up zucchini to sauté. I stored it in the fridge, after seasoning with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary from our little garden. When the Pilot got home from work, all he had to do was heat up the sauce, boil the noodles, and cook up the zucchini. 

I gave the girls baths, did a ton of laundry, and cleaned up around the house. On Monday, I feel like I’m put-together and crushing it, and by Friday I’m a hot mess and drinking wine by 11am. Mostly kidding.

Lunch was leftovers from the night before: rice, romaine, shredded chicken, salsa, + a side of berries.

Afternoon snack was some of this chocolate cashew ice cream. I think I was cranky one day because the Pilot ordered an entire case of cashew ice cream and it appeared on the doorstep.

We hit up the park before it started to rain, and the dinner was quickly cooking as I headed out the door to teach my first class back in V-town.

You guys.

I had no idea how it would go, and how many people would be there. There were about 15 people, and it was SO MUCH FUN. The community at the studio where I’m teaching is truly incredible, and everyone was so kind and welcoming. I taught barre, and we were all shaking and laughing and groaning together haha. It was such a blast, and I feel really thankful to have found such an awesome spot to teach.

Total Body Strength and HIIT Workout

Today, I wanted to share the workout I’ll be using for my small group training class today. It’s a group of 4 girls, and they’re all super fit. While I love teaching all fitness levels and demographics, it’s definitely fun to be able to really push them with strength and cardio during our short workouts.

Today, we’ll be doing a circuit workout, alternating between strength endurance stations. Each exercise station will be one minute of work before moving onto the next station. (Since we’ll be in a group, everyone will rotate.) We’ll do these stations twice through and then head into a cardio drill. Then, the exercises switch! We’ll be using 4 main tools in this workout: the Bulgarian bag, TRX, kettlebell and plyo box. If you don’t have access to these tools, I’ve provided some modifications below. 

(Photo: Lindy Waddell)

Here’s what it looks like if you’d like to try it out on your own!

Form cues and tips:

1 minute each exercise: (do as many as you can with good form in one minute)

TRX: Single leg squats. stand away from the TRX base point, holding onto the straps with both hands. The straps will be straight, and your chest will be lifted, with a tight core. Bring one leg off the floor and flex your foot, bringing the leg up as high as you can. Inhale to sink down into a squat (goal is to end up with your knees in one line) and exhale to rise. Really pay attention to the standing leg and keep it as stable as possible. Squeezing the glutes really helps. If you need to, start with a smaller range of movement. Modification: regular dumbbell walking lunges. 

Bulgarian bag: squat press. Holding the Bulgarian bag, or a pair of dumbbells, keep your chest lifted and your weight in your heels as you squat down and back. Exhale and squeeze your booty to rise, and perform an overhead press at the top.

Plyo box: box jumps. Make sure to land with bent knees at the top and the bottom of the movement. Modification: step-ups (change leading leg at the 30 second mark).

Kettlebell: swings. Ground into your feet and stand hip-width apart. Hold the kettlebell in between your knees and start to gently swing it so you can gain some momentum. When you’re ready, power through your hips, glutes and core to swing the weight up to shoulder height, then bend your knees, swinging it back to start. Remember that you are NOT using your arms to lift the weight; this is pure glute and core power. Every time the weight goes up, make sure you’re strongly exhaling. 

Repeat all of these exercises so you complete two total rounds.  

Cardio drill: 

1 partner does bodyweight squats while the other does suicide runs. Set a timer for 4 minutes and see how many rounds you can do. If you aren’t working out with a partner, do 20 bodyweight squats and your own suicide runs. (I like to set out a few things, like a weight, a water bottle, and a medicine ball, and go back and forth between the objects).

1 partner does 20 push-ups while the other does plank. Set a timer for 4 minutes and see how many rounds you can do. If you don’t have a partner, do 20 push-ups and a 30-second plank for 3 rounds.

1 minute each exercise:

TRX: Push-up and mountain climbers. On your knees, toes, or modified against a wall. Keep your hips down in line with your spine, and exhale, squeezing your chest, to rise. For the mountain climbers, move as slowly or as quickly as you like. 

Plyo box: box jump burpees. Complete a box jump, but at the bottom of the movement, add in a burpee. You can decrease the impact by walking out to plank instead of jumping, and stepping onto the box instead of jumping. 

Kettlebell: single leg row. You’ll hold the weight in the same hand as the lifted leg. Keep your hips and shoulders parallel to the ground as you deadlift one leg and row with a single arm. 

Bulgarian bag: biceps curls. Squeeze your biceps and exhale as you curl. If you don’t have a Bulgarian bag, hold onto a barbell or a set of dumbbells.

Repeat.

Cardio drill: 

HIIT blast: 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off of the following exercises

Burpees: Sit into your squat and bring both hands to the floor, firmly planting your entire hand. Walk or hop back to a plank position (push-up here optional), walk or hop your feet back to your hands, and jump vertically, raising your arms overhead.

Jump squats: Get into a squat position (booty LOW and back), and touch the floor. Keep your abs engaged and chest lifted. Powering through your heels, spring up, reaching your arms towards the ceiling. Land with a soft knee. Repeat.

Jumping lunges: Make sure to land with a soft knee and sink into your lunge before springing up. If the impact is too much, try quick and efficient lunges on one side for 30 seconds before switching to the other side.

Mountain climbers

Push-ups

 

Hope you have a wonderful morning and I’ll see you soon!

xoxo

Gina

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