Cardio Core Workout

Cardio Core Workout

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I taught three classes on Saturday and four on Sunday, so it was a megaformer-filled couple of days for me. I’ve found that I absolutely love instructing group fitness and am actually contemplating getting spinning certified this coming weekend so I can expand into different types of exercise and studios. I’ll keep you posted if that happens!

Cardio Core Workout

Equipment I Used:

You’ll go through 5 rounds of the following circuit as quickly as you can. Try not to rest; but if you do, take no more than a minute in between rounds.

Cardio Core Workout

  • 20 Reverse Toe Touch to Crunch: Start on your back with feet staight up, perpendicular to the ground, holding a medicine ball in outstretched arms over your head. Bring the ball up towards your toes, crunching your upper back and shoulders off the ground. Lower back down, reaching arms overhead (but not letting the ball come to rest on the ground) and do a reverse crunch, lifting your butt and hips off the ground, pushing feet towards ceiling. Lower back down. That’s one rep.
  • 20 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. That’s one rep.
  • 50 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. That’s one rep.
  • 20 Side-to-Side Elbow Plank Hops: Start in a plank position. Jump feet to the left, back to the center, to the right, back to the center. That’s one rep.
  • 60 seconds Jump Rope (two-footed)
  • 60 seconds Jump Rope (high knees)

Cardio Core WorkoutWEARING | sneakers, tank, leggings: c/o Puma

Cheers to a productive Monday! Only five more days until the weekend…
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Links to exercise equipment and outfit details are affiliate.

A Barry’s Bootcamp-Inspired Hotel Gym Workout

Barry's Bootcamp-Inspired Hotel Gym Workout--treadmill intervals & strength training intervalsFirst off, I loved reading all your comments on yesterday’s post—so many great suggestions for new workouts and blog topics! I’ve added all of them to my to-do list. And I was especially excited to see a few of you wanted to know more about Btone and the classes I teach there. I’ve tried not to talk too much about it on the blog because I know most of you guys aren’t in Boston or an area that offers Megaformer classes, but now I’m definitely going to dedicate a few posts to explaining more about this uh-mazing workout. As for today’s…

While in Mexico, I ate a lot, drank a lot, slept a lot, sunbathed a lot—but wasn’t a total slob (well, if the breakfast buffet could talk, it might say otherwise). I worked out a couple times at the resort’s gym, and wanted to share what I did the first day with you guys because it was actually a real ass-kicker. My boyfriend and I decided to do a Barry’s Bootcamp-inspired workout, mixing treadmill intervals with strength training. He’d do eight minutes on the treadmill while I was doing strength training, then we’d switch; doing this twice for a 32-minute workout. The majority of my strength training intervals were bodyweight exercises, but he did some crazy-looking dumbbell boxing thing. Here’s what I did:

Barry’s Bootcamp-Inspired Hotel Gym Workout

Equipment I Used:

  • Treadmill
  • Two 10-lb dumbbells
  • Exercise mat

As a reference, the treadmill I was using had a speed max of 12mph and an incline max of 15%. It also really really didn’t want me to workout:

Lazy treadmill aside, let’s get to the workout breakdown. Check out the picture tutorial then read the full description below for any needed clarification.

Think of this workout as being broken into four sections:

  1. 8-minute AMRAP focusing on lower-body muscle groups
  2. 8-minute treadmill hill workout
  3. 8-minute AMRAP focusing on core
  4. 8-minute treadmill sprinting workout

Barry's Bootcamp-Inspired Hotel Gym Workout--treadmill intervals & strength training intervals

8-Minute AMRAP (Lower Body)

Do as many rounds of the following exercise circuit as you can in 8 minutes. Try not to take any breaks; push yourself as hard as you can without sacrificing proper form.

  • 10 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.
  • 10 Squat Pulse Jumps: Squat down, sending hips back like you’re sitting in a chair. Jump up, coming out of the squat and into the air. Land back down softly, sinking right back down into that deep squat position. Staying low, do 3 squat pulses, up a couple inches, down a couple inches. That’s one rep. Go right into your next jump.
  • 10 Pivoting Lunges (each side):Holding a kettlebell in each hand, lunge forward onto one foot and then pushing off that front foot, come back upright and immediately step it back into a lunge. The other foot stays planted on the ground in the same position as you lunge forward and backward, back and forth. Hold a 10-lb dumbbell (or appropriate weight for your fitness level) in each hand.

8-Minute Treadmill Hill Workout

Adjust the speeds listed below to your fitness level, but try to stick to the incline changes.

  • [Min 0-1] 5 mph @ 5% incline
  • [Min 1-2] 6 mph @ 7.5% incline
  • [Min 2-3] 7 mph @ 10% incline
  • [Min 3-4] 6 mph @ 10% incline
  • [Min 4-5] 5 mph @ 10% incline
  • [Min 5-6] 5 mph @ 7.5% incline
  • [Min 6-7] 5 mph @ 5% incline
  • [Min 7-8] 7 mph @ 15% incline

8-Minute AMRAP (Core)

Do as many rounds of the following exercise circuit as you can in 8 minutes. Try not to take any breaks; push yourself as hard as you can without sacrificing proper form.

  • 50 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.
  • 10 Windshield Wipers:Lay on back, legs perpendicular to the ground and arms outstretched for support. Lower your legs to the right, twisting your hips, until they are just hovering above the ground. Lift back to starting position and over to the left side. Continue back and forth in a windshield-wiper motion.
  • 10 Hip Dip Forearm Planks:Start in an elbow plank position. Keeping shoulders level, twist your torso to lower your right hip to the floor. Return to plank position and then twist the other way, lowering your right hip to the floor.
  • 10 Sawing Forearm Planks: Go right into these from the hip dips; don’t come out of the plank position. Get into an elbow plank position. Rock forward, pointing your feet, and then back, flexing them. Keep core tight and body straight throughout the movement.
  • 5 V-Up Crunches: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.

8-Minute Treadmill Sprint Workout

Stay on 0% incline the whole time. Adjust the speeds listed to your fitness level, but try to stay in a -2/+2 range if possible.

  • [Min 0-1] 6 mph
  • [Min 1-2] 7 mph
  • [Min 2-3] 8 mph
  • [Min 3-4] 10 mph
  • [Min 4-5] 6 mph
  • [Min 5-6] 10 mph
  • [Min 6-7] 6 mph
  • [Min 7-8] 10.5 mph

At Barry’s, on those amazing Woodway treadmills, I can max out closer to 12 mph when sprinting, but on the one at the resort I felt like I was dying at 10.5. Couldn’t have gone .0001mph faster if I tried.

Barry's Bootcamp-Inspired Hotel Gym Workout--treadmill intervals & strength training intervals

WEARING | shorts: Lululemon / tank: H&M / sneakers: Nike Free +3

Have you guys ever done Barry’s Bootcamp? They opened a location in Boston this fall and it’s suuuuuch a good workout. I don’t get in for classes as often as I’d like, but have been trying to make it to one every week or two. They’re longer (and harder) than this workout I’ve posted, which is just loosely based off Barry’s, so definitely try out the real thing if you have a studio in your area!

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