I was really angry when I made up this workout (I missed a spin class because traffic was bad…life is so hard). In an effort to release some of that pent-up frustration, I wanted to put together an interval workout that, of course incorporated strength training, but was primarily cardio-focused—lots of jumping around.

This was just what the doctor ordered. Better yet? No equipment needed, so you can do this pretty much anywhere.

30-Minute Cardio Interval Workout

Set an interval timer for 30 rounds of 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest. You’ll go through the following sequence of exercises six times.

• High Knees: Stand tall, hold hands out in front of you, and bring your knees up to meet them, alternating quickly (like running in place but bringing your knees up).
• Plank Jacks: In plank position, jump legs outwards and then in (like a horizontal jumping jack).
• Burpees: The whole burpee sequence will look like this: squat down placing hands on the ground; jump back into plank position; jump legs back up towards hand; stand back into squat position; jump up with arms overhead.
• Side Lunge Hop Shuffles: Start in a side lunge position to the right with your left hand touching the ground by your foot. Hop up, shuffling (hop your right foot towards your left as you leap your left foot to the left) over to the left into a left side lunge, touching your right hand down by your foot. Continue to hop lunge side to side. This may have been the most confusing explanation of a hop shuffle ever?
• Bicycle Crunches: Lay on back, hands behind head. When you crunch up towards your bent left knee, your right leg should be extended out and not touching the ground. Switch sides, crunching over towards the right with your left leg extended. Continue in a fluid, cycling motion.

Do you enjoy working out when you’re angry, too? I feel like regardless of whether you’ve taken personal training courses, are an elite athlete or a total fitness amateur, frustration/anger can take a workout to the next level. I remember back in high school, I would always PB in cross country meets when I was super pissed off at a guy or one of my friends. Now that I’m a pretend-almost-adult-thing, I still workout with the highest intensity when I’m mad. Try this workout next time you have a bad day!

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“20 minutes of burpees? Go eff yourself, Nicole.”

I know, 20 minutes of burpees may sound like torture, but I promise it’s worth it. This workout gets your heart rate up right away and keeps it there throughout the 20 minutes. I thought the burpees with knee tuck jumps were definitely the hardest.

20-Minute Burpee Workout

Set a timer for 20 rounds of 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest. You’ll go through the following sequence four times.

• Burpees with Push Ups: Regular burpee, but do a push up at the bottom. The sequence will go: squat down, hands on mat, jump back into plank position, push up, jump feet back up to hands, stand up into squat position, jump up with arms overhead.
• Side Burpee with Knee Crunch (right): Squat down, hands on mat, jump both feet out laterally to the right, crunch top (right) knee up towards elbow, jump both feet back in towards hands, stand up into squat position, jump up with arms overhead.
• Side Burpee with Knee Crunch (left)
• Burpee with Knee Tuck Jump: Regular burpee, only instead of jumping straight up with arms overhead, jump up, tucking your knees up mid-air to touch your hands. Sequence looks like this: squat down, hands on mat, jump feet back into plank position, jump feet back up towards hands into a deep squat position, power up, tucking knees to slap hands mid-air, land back in that deep squat position.
• Alternating One-Leg Burpees with Two-Foot Lateral Jump: This is a regular burpee, except you do it on one foot and jump laterally instead of up. Sequence looks like this: stand on one foot, squat down, hands on ground, jump one foot back into plank position (keeping other foot raised), jump foot back up towards hands, stand up into squat position, put raised foot back on ground and jump (with both feet) to the side, as if you’re jumping laterally over an object. When you land, do the same thing, but alternate the leg which you do it on, and when it comes time to jump, jump laterally in the other direction.

Right after the marathon bombings, I went a little overboard with purchasing t-shirts that benefited the One Fund, and the Rue La La top I’m wearing in this post is exhibit 1 of 750,000.

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Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend (blogging is so weird—it’s like writing an email to no one in particular). I just got back from a couple days on Nantucket, which was a wonderful change of pace from the Boston weekend scene.

Body-weight workouts are the best because you can pretty much do them anywhere. Your living room, hotel rooms, the beach, your backyard, a gym…they go where you go. I usually put together these no-equipment-needed workouts when I’m visiting my parents on the Vineyard or in Maine. It’d be a huge pain to lug kettle bells and other equipment with me, so I just use the weight I already carry around with me every day.

This workout is a slight variation of a traditional tabata, in that I did 10 rounds for each exercise instead of the typical 8. Deal. With. It. And before I get into the specifics, let me just put it out there that I’m fully aware my pike jump skills are unimpressive at best. Laugh away at the picture.

30-Minute Body Weight Tabata Workout

For each of the following exercises, you’ll set an interval timer for 10 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. Once you’ve completed the 5 minutes of one exercise, take a quick drink of water and move on to the next.

• Pike Jump into Squat Jump: Place hands on ground so you’re in a peaked pike position and jump your legs into the air. Don’t worry if you can’t get very far off the ground at first (I’m right there with you, dude!). When your feet land back on the ground, push up back into a squat position, and then jump in the air, arms overhead. Repeat.
• Side Plank Lift with Knee Tuck (alternate sides each interval): Start in a side plank position on your right hand and lower your hips towards the ground and then lift back up into side plank position. Crunch your left knee in to meet your left elbow. Repeat. During the next 20-second work interval, you’ll do the same thing on your left hand. Continue to alternate sides throughout the 5 minutes.
• Knee Tuck, Roll, Back Row: Start laying on your back and do a full body crunch, lifting your torso and crunching in your knees so that you can hug them. Extend back out, lowering onto back. Roll to your right so that you’re on your stomach and do a back row, lifting your legs and chest off the ground while pulling your elbows back in a row. Extend back out and roll to the right again so that you’re on your back. Repeat sequence, only rolling to the left this time.
• Side Lunge Knee-Up Jumps (alternate legs each interval): Squat down on your right leg, extending your left leg out to the left in a side lunge. Bring leg back in, jumping up on your right foot and bringing that left knee up to your chest. Land back on right leg and repeat. During the next 20-second interval, you’ll do the same thing on your left leg.
• Up-Down Planks: Essentially, you’re starting in an elbow plank position and, one arm at a time, going up into a regular plank position, then back down into an elbow plank…and so on. Just remember to alternate the arm you’re leading with.
• Skiers / High Knees (alternate between the two exercises each interval): For skiers, you do a two-foot lateral jump, side to side, like you’re skiing down a mountain (think moguls section). For high knees, it’s like running in place only pick those knees up to hit your hands. You’ll do skiers the first 20 seconds, high knees the second 20-second interval, and so on and so forth.

What are some of your favorite body weight exercises?

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