This is a fun one! It’s also a workout you can use to track your progress with rowing and cardiovascular endurance in general (you’ll see what I mean below). If you’re new to rowing, you may want to bookmark/pin this workout for later and wait for me to post a how-to guide for proper rowing form, which is coming soon.

I had my 6:45AM Row class yesterday at Btone Wellesley do a very similar workout and they crushed it!

30-Minute Rowing Workout

Equipment I Used:

• WaterRower GX (these machines are AWESOME, but obviously just use whatever rower you have access to!)

ROWING INTENSITY SCALE

I use the Indo-Row intensity scale (kind of), which I’ve modified below. So all the numbers you see in this workout (22-40) refer to strokes per minute. It’s just a way to quantify “easy,” “medium,” “hard” and “everything you’ve got.” On the WaterRower console, it’s the big number in the middle, and it’s how you gauge your current work intensity. 

In the picture above, I’ve highlighted the numbers on the WaterRower console we’ll worry about for this particular workout. Every rowing machine will vary, which is fine—you really only need a way to track time and distance. You don’t really even need to know your strokes per minute; just go at your perceived “easy,” “medium,” “hard,” and “race pace.”

This workout will get your heart rate UP there—rowing at race pace is intense. So that being said, if you have any health issues, consult your doctor before taking on this kind of cardio load. The graphic below is good for quick reference or printing out for the gym, but (especially if you’re newer to rowing) it’s probably best to read the fuller descriptions below as well. 

Warm Up | Spend 1 min at each stroke rate: 24, 26, 28, 26, 24 (upping intensity and then reducing it).

Tabata Wave | Perform 8 rounds of 20 sec hard intensity (28) and 10 sec recovery pace (<24). This will take you 4 minutes total.

Short Race Intervals | You’ll do four 100-meter sprints at a race pace (30+). Spend 30 sec at easy pressure (24) in between each sprint.

• Your goal is to be under 25 seconds for each of your 100-m sprints (beginners, under 30 sec). My record is 18 seconds, but I’ve had a student do it in 17—what a beast! These numbers are good parameters for the ladies—guys, your times will be lower.

Timed Race Pyramid | Go as far as you can go in 2 minutes, 90 seconds, 1 minute, and then 30 seconds. Rest for 30-60 seconds in between each interval (think of each interval as one leg of the race).

• Write down your distance at the end of each interval. When you’re done, add up your total distance traveled in the four legs of the race. Your goal is to be over 1,000m in total, but shoot for the 1,300s!
• You’ll have a breathless feeling by the last stretches of the long intervals (rowing at race pace for 2 minutes is NO joke). If you don’t, you weren’t pushing hard enough. So that being said…
• These numbers are just for guidance and not set in stone—listen to your body! In general, race pace is anything above “full pressure” (28). If it’s a quick race (100m, 30 seconds, etc.), you’ll want that number anywhere from mid 30’s to mid 40’s, depending on fitness level. For longer races (over 60 sec, over 200m, etc.), consider pacing yourself a bit and pulling back by a couple digits.

Cool Down | Spend 1 min at each pace: 26, 24, 22 strokes per minute.

 WEARING | leggings: Lululemon (out of stock, but similar ones here and here) / tank: Brandy Melville (similar here) / sneakers: Nike (similar here)

Revisit this workout—specifically the timed race pyramid—and try to beat your previous numbers. Having times and distances as benchmarks is paramount in keeping me motivated and engaged with rowing workouts.

Do you row? What’s your favorite way to use a rower in your workouts?  SHOP A SIMILAR LOOK:

Chin ups, sit ups, push ups. We’re keeping things super simple with today’s workout. Pull ups and chin ups are something I can’t yet do unassisted (I’m working on it!), so I tie a resistance band around the bar and place one of my feet through it. It helps so much! The lower the resistance of the band, the harder the pull ups will be; if you need more support, go for a band with a heavier resistance. 

“Ups” Pyramid Workout with Cardio Intervals

Equipment I Used:

• Pull up bar (with a resistance band tied around it for assistance)
• Treadmill
• Exercise mat

You’ll go back and forth between a set of the “ups” and the treadmill. Every time you switch, the number of reps gets reduced by one and the distance you run gets reduced by .05 miles. So round one = 10 push ups, 10 v ups, 10 chin ups, .5 mile run. Round two = 9 push ups, 9 v ups, 9 chin ups, .45 mile run. By the end, you will have run a little under 3 miles and done 55 reps of each exercise. The rounds are quick! You’re running as fast as you can and getting through the “ups” taking as few breaks as possible. I know push ups and chin ups are familiar to most people, but if you’re unsure of what a v up crunch is:

• V-UP CRUNCH | Start on your back with arms stretched overhead and legs hovering just slightly above the ground. Pull your abs in tight and press your low back to the ground. You’ll then crunch up, bringing your hands towards your toes (keeping legs and arms straight). When done correctly, your body will make a “v” shape as you crunch; this means you’re not just reaching your arms up, your chest needs to move towards your knees. Lower back down to starting position. If possible, your feet should never touch the ground between reps.

WEARING | tank: Lorna Jane // leggings: Lululemon (out of stock, but similar ones here and here) // sneakers: Asics c/o Millet Sports

SHOP A SIMILAR LOOK:

This is the last of my scheduled vacation posts—I’ll be back blogging in real time tomorrow (or the next day … let’s see how jet lag treats me).

Also, don’t mind my struggle-bus pistol squat pictures—I can’t freaking do them (well) to save my life. But that’s exactly why they’re in this workout! Gotta keep working at them…

30-Minute Jump Roping + Strength Training Workout

Equipment I Used:

• Jump rope (I have the Nike Weighted Jump Rope and LOVE it)
• Gymboss Interval Timer

You’ll go through a circuit of jump roping and bodyweight exercises three times. The circuit alternates between 60 seconds of jump roping and 60 seconds of strength training (30 seconds on each side/arm/leg). To make things easier, I set my interval timer for 31 rounds of 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest. This setting will tell the timer to beep every 30 seconds, accounting for two 30-second periods of rest in between each completed round of the circuit. Keep in mind that while jump roping, you’ll go through one of the interval beeps, staying with it for a full minute.

GO THROUGH THE FOLLOWING CIRCUIT THREE TIMES:

Jump Rope | 60 seconds

Side Plank Kicks | 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left

Start in a side plank (if you have wrist issues you can do this on your forearm) with right hand stacked underneath your shoulder, left leg hovering in the air, and left arm outstretched overhead. From here, kick your left leg in front of your body as you bring your left hand to meet it—it’s like a scissor chop. Return to starting position. Your goal is to never rest the left leg on the ground (or on top of your right foot)—always have it hovering.

Jump Rope | 60 seconds

Pistol Squats | 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left

If you’re not a pistol squatting pro, I highly recommend doing these on a bench or other elevated surface—it helps me a ton! This way, you don’t have to worry about holding the non-squatting leg up in front of you. Start facing sideways with your right foot standing on a bench/step and the left foot dangling off the edge. Squat down on the right side, sending your hips and booty back and down behind you (don’t let the knee jut farther forward than the toes). You’ll want to hold that left leg as far in front of you as you can while you squat, so that as you lower, it takes a good distance before that left heel touches the ground below the bench/step. When you’re as low as you can get into the squat, press up through the right heel to return to standing.

Jump Rope | 60 seconds

Side Push Ups | 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left

Lay on your left side, left arm hugging your torso (to get it out of the way), and right hand planted firmly on the ground in front of you, aligned with your shoulders. Push your upper body off the ground with that right arm (hips are your point of contact with the floor), then slowly lower without ever fully coming to rest back on the ground. Continue.

Jump Rope | 60 seconds

Starfish Crunches | 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left

Start laying on your back with arms overhead. Arms and legs should be out wide so that your body is forming an “x” shape on the ground. From here, lift your legs an inch off the ground, engaging your core. The goal is to never let them come to rest, but if you’re a beginner, do so in between reps. From this starting position, crunch up, bringing your right leg straight up into the air as you bring your left arm up and across your body to touch that right foot (get as close as you can—it’s ok if you don’t actually make contact). Slowly lower back to starting and then repeat, going in the same direction for the full 30 seconds before switching over to the opposite hand and foot.

Jump Rope | 60 seconds

Push-Off Side Lunge | 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left

From a standing position, step your right foot out wide to the side (both feet still face front), bending the right knee and lunging down to bring your left hand across the body down to the floor by your right foot. Next, push off that right foot to bring yourself back up to standing, and as you do, drive the right knee up towards your chest and hop up into the air on the left foot. As you land, send that right foot immediately back out wide, sinking into your next lunge.

I rested for 30 seconds in between each round. Feel free to stretch that out to 60-90 seconds.

WEARING | leggings, tank & sneakers c/o Puma

Enjoy the workout! Can’t wait to share some pics and stories from my Australia trip on the blog—stay tuned!!!

Today’s workout is a seriously sweaty one! And the best part? No burpees. You’re welcome. I took these pictures just three weeks ago—it’s crazy how much colder it’s gotten since then. You couldn’t pay me to go outside in a tank top and capris right now…

Actually, I’ve got a big trip to Australia coming up. You could most definitely pay me to go outside in a tank top and capris. Homegirl needs some spending money!

Cardio Tabata Superset Workout

For each superset, you’ll do a 4-minute tabata: 8 rounds of 20 second of work and 10 seconds of rest, alternating between the two exercises each work round. Once you’ve gone through all four supersets, start back at the top, completing a total of two rounds (= eight 4-minute tabatas total). 

SUPERSET 1 | Hot Feet + Snowboarders

• Hot Feet: You probably know these best as a basketball or football drill. You essentially run in place as fast as you can while in a wide-leg squat position. With your feet a bit wider than hip-width apart, squat down. Staying low, you’ll quickly run your feet up and down, staying on the balls of your feet and barely picking them off the floor (an inch or two) so that you can maintain the speed.
• Snowboarders: This is essentially a rotating squat jump. Squat down, hips and butt back and down, weight in your heels. Bring your left fingertips towards the ground in front of you and look over your right shoulder (think of the stance of a snowboarder or skateboarder looking ahead). From here, you’re going to jump up and turn towards your right shoulder, rotating 180 degrees in air and landing back in a squat facing the other direction, this time bringing your right fingertips towards the ground and looking over your left shoulder. Repeat, rotating towards your left shoulder this time. A good way to think about it is you’re always looking ahead in the same direction, just changing which foot is in front.

SUPERSET 2 | Frog Stamp Push Ups + Mountain Climbers

• Frog Stamp Push Ups: Start in a plank position, hands aligned under shoulders, core tight. Do a push up (you can always modify by dropping to your knees for this). Next, jump your feet up towards the outside of your hands, landing in a wide-stance crouching position, and then jump the feet quickly back to plank. Try to keep these quick! Push up, jump up, jump back, push up, jump up, jump back—no pause, keep moving.
• Mountain Climbers: These are like doing high knees in a plank position. Start in a plank, hands stacked underneath shoulders, core squeezing in tight (don’t let your low back sag or your butt stick up in the air). From this position, drive one knee at a time up towards your chest, like running horizontally. The pace on these should be quick.

SUPERSET 3 | High Knees + Jump Lunges

• High Knees: Maintaining good posture (don’t hunch forward!), run in place, using your core to drive your knees up high as you do. I like to hold my hands at about belly button height as a guide and drive my knees up to hit them. Keep these quick! If you have knee issues or need to modify, march in place instead of run (but still get those knees up high!).
• Jump Lunges: Start in a split-stance lunge: right foot in front, ball of left foot planted on the floor behind you. Both knees should be bent to 90 degrees, front knee aligned over ankle, back knee hovering just a couple inches off the floor. From here, push off your feet to jump up in the air, switching feet in mid-air and landing back in a lunge with left foot forward and right foot planted behind. Continue, alternating feet with each jump.

SUPERSET 4 | Bicycle Crunches + Full-Body Crunches

• Bicycle Crunches: Start laying on your back, hands behind your head (but not pulling on your head) and legs extended straight out, hovering off the floor a couple inches. From here, bend your left knee in, keeping the right leg extended out straight, and crunch your upper back up off the floor, twisting the right elbow across your body to meet the left knee. Repeat to the other side, fluidly moving from one side to the next, legs alternating in a pedaling motion. Don’t move so quickly through these that you aren’t extending your leg out completely straight with each rep.
• Full-Body Crunches: Start in a seated position balancing on your tailbone, hands lightly on the ground by your side for support, feet lifted off the ground and torso leaning back, core engaged. Extend your legs out straight in front of you as you lean back further (feet should be hovering), and then crunch everything inward, bringing your knees into your chest and sitting up a little straighter, abs in tight.

WEARING | leggings + sweatshirt c/o Augusta Active // bra: c/o Cory Vines // tank: LF Stores // sneakers: Nike

THREE workout posts in one week?? It’s still New Year’s resolution month, so I figured the added motivation would be welcome.

Today’s workout comes to you via my lovely friend Gina from The Fitnessista. I was really excited to check out her new book, HIIT It!, because—as you’ve probably noticed by now—I love high intensity interval training. The book is great, especially if you’re a beginner. In it, Gina doesn’t just give you a proverbial filet of cod, she really teaches you how to fish. Starting with the basics, she goes over major muscle groups, what HIIT is and why it’s effective. She then shows you how to apply it to cardio workouts as well as strength training, and gives tons of sample workouts and weekly workout plans. 

The tabata I’m sharing today is actually one part of a full sample workout in the book: warm-up with cardio, a full-body strength training circuit, this tabata, and then a cool down. Yesterday I had a ridiculously busy blogging and teaching day and knew I wasn’t going to make it to a fitness class, so I decided to instead slip this 4-minute HIIT workout in a few times throughout the day to give me a break from the computer. It was perfect! I ended up doing it four times throughout the workday, so even though I didn’t get a long workout in, I still felt good. That’s the whole idea behind HIIT—you don’t have to workout longer, just smarter.

Before we get to the tabata, I just wanted to add that HIIT It! also has a great index of exercises with written descriptions and accompanying pictures. Ya know, like professional photos—not this: 

(Couldn’t resist posting another blooper from yesterday’s blog post—they’re just too awesomely awkward. Butterfingers!) The book then ends with a whole section on nutrition with lots of yummy recipes.

4-Minute Tabata HIIT Workout

Set an interval timer for 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. You’ll go through the following four exercises twice. To clarify, that’s: 20 seconds of as many high knees as you can do; 10 seconds rest; 20 seconds of as many burpees as you can do; 10 seconds rest…and so on.

• High Knees: Use your core to jog in place, lifting each knee up to belly button height. I like to keep my hands in front of me and drive the knees up to hit them to hold myself accountable for really getting them high.
• Burpees: Start standing, feet about shoulder-width apart. Squat down, bringing your hands to the ground by your feet and jump both feet back into a plank position. Do a push up. Quickly jump your feet back up by your hands and shift the weight into your feet, bring torso upright into a low squat position. From here, jump up, arms overhead. Land softly on your feet, sinking right back down into a squat and starting from the top.
• Mountain Climbers: These are like doing high knees in a plank position. Start in a plank, hands stacked underneath shoulders, core squeezing in tight (don’t let your low back sag or your butt stick up in the air). From this position, drive one knee at a time up towards your chest, like running horizontally. The pace on these should be quick.
• Squat Jumps with Rotation: Perform a squat facing one side. As you power up, jump and rotate 180 degrees so that you land facing the opposite direction, sinking right back down into a squat and repeating. Make sure you’re turning towards the opposite shoulder each time you rotate so that the legs are worked evenly.

This is an intense tabata—each exercise really gets your heart rate up! Use it as part of a longer workout or on its own when you’re having one of those super busy days.

Before I end this post, I just wanted to let you guys know of an awesome promotion ClassPass is running right now. If you’ve been on the fence about trying it, now (until Sunday evening) when you sign up using THIS LINK you’ll get a $50 Visa gift card. I use ClassPass and LOVE it. For $99/month (in some cities, it’s even less expensive) you can go to classes at a huge variety of fitness studios. You can go to each studio up to three times in a month, with the total number of classes across the board unlimited (it might not be unlimited forever, but I’m pretty sure it is until at least March). When I first started using ClassPass, it was only in New York and Boston, but now it’s in 20 cities!

Full disclosure, as part of this promotion they’re running, I would also get a $50 gift card if you sign up, so there is some selfish motivation behind this (:)), but I use CP myself and recommend it to all my fitness-loving friends, so the hype is 100% genuine. And, c’mon, you get $50, too—I gotta share the love!

I know this picture makes the workout look totally overcomplicated, but I swear it’s not—bear with me…

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend! I’m off to Btone in a couple hours to take a class before teaching a couple. For all you Boston peeps, Michele’s class is worth waking up early on a Sunday for—kicks my ass EVERY time. Add it to your must-try fitness list.

Anywho, I’ve got a fun cardio workout for all you gym-goes and treadmill owners. The treading class at Hilton Head Health was probably my favorite of the many varied exercise classes I tried there, so I thought it’d be fun to share one of my own creation and talk a little bit more about the fitness aspect of my stay at H3. If you missed my first post about the blogger trip to Hilton Head Health, I talked about the education component, specifically a lecture on portion control I attended.

All throughout the day at H3 there are fitness classes offered, ranging from yoga to TRX to aqua boxing in the pool. Some have capacity limits and require sign-up the day before, but for the majority of them, you can just pop into whichever ones sound appealing. That’s something I really liked about Hilton Head Health’s programming—they don’t force you to do anything you don’t want to. Yes, the majority of guests are there to lose weight, and there is guidance and encouragement to do certain classes, but there’s no drill-sergeant mentality. You make your own decisions about what you want to do.

Sarah and I at a TRX class at H3

During my stay, I tried a bunch of classes: Pilates for Flexibility, Yoga Flow, TRX Circuit, Muscle Mobility (SMR with lacrosse balls) and Treading (twice). A lot of the guests at H3 are just starting out on their road to health, and the instructors do a great job of teaching to beginners while also offering modifications for those who are more advanced in the class. As someone who’s in the industry, trust me—it’s a sign of a damn good instructor if a group of people ranging from young fitness bloggers to 60+-year-old beginners leaves a class all feeling like it was an awesome experience. So let’s slow clap it out for Camila at Hilton Head Health—her treading class had everyone sweating (and dancing).

45-Minute Treading Workout

This workout is made for the treadmill, but you could easily adapt it to another cardio machine (stationary bike, elliptical, etc.) The numbers used are for a treadmill with a 0-15 incline range, so adjust accordingly if your machine uses a different scale.

All levels can do this workout! You’ll see I use the terms walk, jog, run and sprint to describe the speed you should go—these terms will mean different speeds to different people. If you’re advanced, sprint might mean 10+mph. If you’re a newbie, sprint might mean power walking at 4+mph. Both are great! These terms represent more of an effort scale than a numerical speed value:

As you’ll see, the workout is broken up into sections. The numbers always represent incline. For speeds, I use walk, jog, run, sprint. The image at the beginning of this post is super detailed (you can print it out and bring it to the gym with you), but if you’re a treading pro, the following summary might be enough to guide you.

WARM UP | 0:00 – 3:00
At a 0 incline, do a minute of slow walking lunges (set treadmill to .5-1mph for these) then jog for two minutes.

STEADY CLIMB | 3:00 – 13:00
Maintain a steady jog-run pace throughout the 10 minutes. Every minute, you’ll change the resistance up by two points, starting at a 3 and peaking at a 15. You’ll then decrease the incline by four points each minute, returning back to a 3 incline.

CLIMBING SPEED INTERVALS | 13:00 – 17:30
Using 30-second intervals, you’ll run, sprint, and then walk (recover). Do this at a 3 incline, then a 6, then a 9.

BREAK | 17:30 – 19:00
Walk it out, grab a drink of water, catch your break. You can jog if you’re ambitious.

ROLLING HILL | 19:00 – 29:30
Maintain a steady jog-run pace the entire time. You’ll change your incline every 60 seconds climbing up to the top, staying at the top for 30 seconds. Incline changes are in increments of three and get less steep with each of the three hills: 6, 9, 12, 15 (first hill); 3, 6, 9, 12 (second hill); 0, 3, 6, 9 (last hill).

BREAK | 29:30 – 31:00
Walk it out, grab a drink of water, catch your break. You can jog if you’re ambitious.

SPEED INTERVALS | 31:00 – 36:30
These are done at a 0 incline. You recover for 30 seconds between each of the five sprints. The first two sprints are 60 seconds long and the last three sprints are 30 seconds long.

BREAK | 36:30 – 38:00
Walk it out, grab a drink of water, catch your break. You can jog if you’re ambitious.

FINAL PUSH | 38:00 – 41:00
Run for a minute each at a 10, 5, and then 0 incline.

COOL DOWN | 41:00 – 45:00
Walk for three minutes, gradually slowing it down. Finish with a minute of those slow walking lunges we started with.

Andie from Can You Stay For Dinner?, Beth from Beth’s Journey, Monique from Ambitious Kitchen, Sarah from Sarah Fit and I before our first treading class at H3. Not pictured is Lisa from Snack Girl who joined us for our second treading class the next day.

In addition to taking classes, I also got a tennis lesson (I LOVED it!) and went for a couple beautiful runs on the beach by H3. The sand there is hard so it’s perfect for running and even bike riding. If you follow me on instagram, you’ve already seen the view, but it’s just too pretty not to share again:

Have you ever taken a treading class (or something similar) before? I find running on a treadmill painfully boring alone, but in the group setting it was so fun!

This is a great workout for both outdoors and the gym. No equipment is required for the strength-training circuits, so you can stop at given points in an outdoor running route to complete them in the grass/sand/etc. On the flipside, if you’re gym bound, just snag one of the treadmills and a small area of floor space.

Bodyweight Circuit with Running Pyramid Workout

You’ll alternate between running (the distance decreases each round in a pyramid fashion) and completing three rounds of the following bodyweight circuit. In total, you run 2.5 miles and complete 9 rounds of the strength circuit. Here’s the breakdown:

• Run 1 mile
• 3 rounds of strength training circuit
• Run .75 miles
• 3 rounds of strength training circuit
• Run .5 miles
• 3 rounds of strength training circuit
• Run .25 miles

You should try to run each leg as fast as you can without stopping. And if you don’t have a treadmill or just hate running, feel free to replace it with another type of cardio (the elliptical, biking, etc.).

Strength Training Circuit Breakdown

Complete three rounds of the following in between each running leg:

• 10 Reptile Push Ups: Start in push up position (a plank with hands aligned under shoulders). As you lower down, crunch your right knee forward, in towards the right shoulder, squeezing those obliques. Return the foot back to the ground as you press back up into high plank position. Repeat, this time on the left.
• 20 Hindu Squats: A Hindu Squat can best be described as a fluid, deep squat in which you roll onto the balls of your feet as you come up. This is one squat variation where it’s okay for your knees to stick out farther than your toes—but only when you’re on the balls of your feet. Keep feet shoulder-width apart and start by squatting down, hands behind you, torso leaning forward. Move your arms in a circular motion so that your fingertips brush the ground when you’re at your lowest squat, shifting weight onto the balls of your feet and sweeping the arms forward as you come up.
• 10 (each side) Side Plank Crossbody Crunches: Start in a side plank position, top arm bent, hand behind your head, and bottom leg hovering a couple inches off the ground. From there, tuck your bottom knee forward as you crunch the opposite elbow towards it, twisting your torso towards the ground.
• 10 (each side) Forward/Backward Pivoting Lunges:This is essentially a front-to-back lunge with one foot planted on the ground. Start in a split-stance lunge, one foot forward, and on the ball of the back foot. Both knees should be bent to 90 degrees, back knee hovering a couple inches off the ground and front knee aligned over the ankle. Using the front foot as your anchor leg, step the back foot forward, landing back in the starting position only with the opposite leg forward, and then quickly pushing off that foot and returning it back behind the anchor foot to where it started.

Yeah yeah, ok, workout shmorkout—these leggings! So. Stinking. Comfy. I had seen the lucy brand floating around the internet for a while, and then spotted one of their stores while in San Francisco a couple months ago. I remember thinking how cute everything in the window display looked, and then as if reading my mind, the awesome people over at lucy reached out to me about rocking some of their apparel on P&I. Yes, please! I’m wearing the I Run This Capri (retail at $89), and love them. They’re soft and comfortable with a wide, flattering waistband, thick enough material to keep everything where it’s supposed to be, and cute color options.

Now per usual, I’ll leave you with a couple questions to get the ol’ comments section going…

Outdoor running or the treadmill—who ya got? (I think treadmills are torture—I’m Team Outdoors all the way!)

Have you tried out lucy workout apparel before? Thoughts?

Happy Humpday, friends!

You guys are going to have to try this workout and let me know if it really is ridiculously hard or I just made the fatal mistake of doing it outdoors in 80-degree, humid weather. I’m guessing it’s a mix of both…

Kettlebell Cardio Workout

Equipment I Used:

• 25-lb kettlebell
• 15-lb kettlebell
• Jump rope
• Exercise mat
• Gymboss Interval Timer

This workout is made up of four mini circuits. You’ll do three rounds of the first circuit, moving right from one move to the next without breaks. After the three rounds (6 minutes), you get a minute break before moving onto the next mini circuit. In total, this workout will take you just under half an hour to finish.

I used an interval timer and just set it up for 78 rounds of 30 seconds and made a mental note of when to do an exercise for two intervals (1 minute) and when to switch it up after 30. If that’s confusing, just time it in a way that works for you.

CIRCUIT 1 | Complete 3 rounds of the following…

• (30 seconds) High Pull Swings with the Right Arm: I used a 15-lb bell for these because it was my first time with the exercise. I think I might be able to up that to a 20-lb bell now that I’ve got the hang of it. This is a normal one arm swing, except at the top of the swing you’ll pull your elbow up and back then thrust the kettlebell forward again in sort of a punching motion, going right back down into your swing.
• (30 seconds) High Pull Swings with the Left Arm
• (60 seconds) Jump Rope

1 minute break

CIRCUIT 2 | Complete 3 rounds of the following…

• (60 seconds) 2 Lateral Jumps over KB into Figure 8 Squat: Start with feet a little wider than hip-width apart, standing to the left of a heavy kettlebell (I used 25-lb because it’s the heaviest I have—35-lb would have been ideal for me). Squat down, grabbing the kettlebell with your right hand. Power up to stand. Squat back down, passing the kettlebell through your legs to the left hand, using a figure-eight motion. Once it’s in your left hand, stand back up (careful not to lock the knees). Squat back down a final time, placing the kettlebell to the ground so that you’re now standing to the right of it. From here, do two lateral jumps, jumping over the kettlebell to the left then back over to the right. Go right into the next figure 8 squat series, this time in the opposite direction.
• (60 seconds) Jump Rope

1 minute break

CIRCUIT 3 | Complete 3 rounds of the following…

• (30 seconds) Russian Twist: Sit with legs elevated, leaning slightly backwards, and twist from right to left, bringing kettlebell from one side of your body to the other. I used a 15-lb bell.
• (30 seconds) Boat Pose Leg Scissors: Holding the bell at your chest, lean torso back, keeping abs engaged (think about squeezing your belly button and spine in towards each other). Lift feet off the ground and straighten legs out in front of you. Alternate lifting one foot up while you lightly tap the other heel to the ground. Switch, scissoring back and forth. The heel should just barely kiss the ground before lifting back up—don’t rest your legs on the floor!
• (60 seconds) Jump Rope

1 minute break 

CIRCUIT 4 | Complete 3 rounds of the following…

• (30 seconds) Kettlebell Swings: I use a 25-lb for swings, but probably need to raise that to 30 since I’ve been doing this a while now. Start with kettlebell down between your legs and, using your arms as a pendulum, swing the bell to slightly above eye level by thrusting with your hips while keeping your core tight as you stand up straight. Swing back down and repeat.
• (30 seconds) Kettlebell Swing Punches: Don’t pause in between the swings and swing punches, just move seamlessly into these on your next swing after the timer goes off. This is just like a regular swing except for at the top, bend your elbows wide, bringing the kettle bell in towards your face, and punch it back out.
• (60 seconds) Jump Rope

No seriously, don’t do this outside on a hot day unless you want to cry…

And it wouldn’t be a P&I post if I ended this without talking about what I’m wearing, now would it?? Sweaty Betty sent me this fun, optic print leggings and I’m in love. The quality is excellent—comfortable, soft, supportive, wide waistband—and I’ve gotten compliments every time I’ve worn them to a class. It’s perfect timing to wear them on the blog because Sweaty Betty is having a summer sale through 7/30: up to 50% plus free shipping on purchases over $200. Shwing! Check it out HERE.

WEARING | leggings: c/o Sweaty Betty // tank: Under Armour // sneakers: Nike

Good morning, party people! I’ve got a lot more to share from my Stitch Fix & LUNA vacay in San Francisco, but I figured I’d break it up with a good ol’ workout post. You can take this one outside or stay indoors, all you need is a staircase/stadium/stairmaster and your bodyweight. Enjoy!

Stair/Stadium Bodyweight Workout

This workout is made up of four mini circuits. You’ll complete three rounds of each circuit before moving onto the next. This workout can be done outdoors or inside—wherever there’s a set of stairs—think stadiums, parks, even your gym’s stairmaster.

Circuit 1 (complete 3 rounds)

• Run Up & Down Stairs
• 10 Push-Up Burpees: 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.
• 10 Plank Jump Jacks: Start in a plank position. Jump both feet up towards your hands. Jump them back into plank position. Jump feet apart (like a horizontal jumping jack) and then jump them back together into your starting plank position.

Circuit 2 (complete 3 rounds)

• Run Up & Down Stairs
• 10 Walking Lunges: Step forward into a lunge, bringing both knees to 90 degrees. Walk forward, bringing back foot in front, sinking right back into a deep lunge.
• 5 Two-Footed Long Jumps: Once you’ve traveled forward with your lunges, turn around and do 5 long jumps back. Squat down, leap forward as far as you can, pushing off both feet. Land two-footed, softly into a squat position. Cock your arms back and go right into your next jump. The goal is to travel forward in the air as far as possible with each jump. Don’t hold back!

Circuit 3 (complete 3 rounds)

• Run Up & Down Stairs
• 5 One-Arm Down Dog Push Ups (each side): Start laying on your stomach, feet a little more than shoulder-width apart, left hand behind your back, and right palm flat on the ground. Push yourself into an up-dog position with your right hand. Lift the rest of your body off the ground as you raise your hips and pull them back and up into a down dog position. Reverse the movement back to starting.
• 10 Triceps Push Ups: This is a normal push up, just keeping your elbows glued in tight to your body. Hands should be stacked directly under shoulders instead of a wide stance, targeting the triceps rather than chest.

Circuit 4 (complete 3 rounds)

• Run Up & Down Stairs
• 10 Side Plank Lifts with Knee Crunch (each side): Start in a side plank position. Lower your hips towards the ground, and then lift upwards into plank position. From there, crunch the top knee into the top elbow. Extend back out, lower hips, repeat.
• 10 Full-Body Knee Hug Crunches: Start laying on your back, legs extended and hovering, arms outstretched overhead (shoulders lifted off ground, core engaged). 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.

WEARING | tank: LF // bra: c/o Forever 21 // leggings: Ellie (use code nicoleperr20 to get 20% off your first order!) // sneakers: Nike 

Part two of my #StitchFixLUNAVacay recap coming at you tonight!

Like what I’m wearing in today’s post? SHOP A SIMILAR LOOK:

Hello from Logan Airport! I’m here bright and early about to head to San Francisco for a fun blogging trip with Stitch Fix & LUNA Bars. I’ll obviously post ALL about it when I get back, but for now you can follow my trip on Instagram and Twitter. If you read a bunch of health & fitness blogs, you’ll probably recognize a lot of the other bloggers going with me–I was actually a little shocked (but so excited) to see I made the list! If they’re the MLB of fit blogging, I’m still playing tee ball over here haha. Anyway, on to today’s post…

I don’t have a gym membership, but every once in a while I’ll mooch a guest pass to Equinox or Sports Club LA from one of my friends and get in a workout using cardio equipment. This deck of cards workout is perfect for the treadmill, but can also be done using an elliptical, stairmaster, jump rope—or just by running outside. Get creative with the cardio portion!

Cardio Deck of Cards Workout

Equipment I Used:

• Treadmill
• Two 10-lb dumbbells
• Deck of Cards (or a deck-of-cards app like RipDeck)

For the deck-of-cards workout structure, you flip over one card at a time. Each suite corresponds to a different exercise, and the number on the card indicates the number of reps you’ll do. For example, a three of diamonds = 3 jack-jump planks in this workout. Go through the entire deck. There are smartphone apps out there (I use RipDeck) you can use so that you don’t have to be that weirdo walking into the gym holding a deck of cards.

CLUBS = PUSH UPS WITH DUMBBELL ROWS

Holding a dumbbell in each hand in a plank position, do a push up. Row your right hand up, elbow thrusting up, and then do the left. That’s one rep. If it hurts your wrists to hold the weights while in plank, place them besides you and just grab them after you do the push up for the rows.

DIAMONDS = JACK JUMP PLANKS

Start in a plank position. Jump both feet up towards your hands. Jump them back into plank position. Jump feet apart (like a horizontal jumping jack) and then jump them back together into your starting plank position. That’s one rep.

SPADES = V-UP CRUNCHES

To do a V-Up, you start on your back with arms stretched out overhead and legs hovering just slightly above the ground. You’ll then crunch up, bringing your hands towards your toes (keeping legs and arms straight). When done correctly, your body will make a “v” shape as you crunch; this means you’re not just reaching your arms up, your chest needs to move towards your knees. Lower back down to starting position. If possible, your feet should never touch the ground.

HEARTS = TREADMILL FOR 2 MINS

• Face card or Ace = Sprint (9-12 mph)
• 6-10 = Run (7-10 mph)
• 2-5 = Jog (5-7 mph)

WEARING | tank: Athleta // bra & leggings: c/o Reebok // sneakers: Nike

Like what I’m wearing in today’s post? SHOP A SIMILAR LOOK: