Jump Rope

30-Minute Jump Rope + Strength Training Workout

February 16, 2015 by Nicole 10 Comments

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!!!

Filed Under: Bodyweight, Cardio, Full Body, Interval Training, Jump Rope, Workouts

15-Minute HIIT Workout Using All My At-Home Fitness Equipment

July 23, 2014 by Nicole 146 Comments

There’s nothing like a move to make you hate every piece of at-home workout equipment you’ve ever purchased! I’m in the process of moving into my boyfriend’s apartment, and this will be the SEVENTH time I’ve moved since graduating college in 2010. Woof. Luckily, I don’t have to be out of my house in Southie until the end of August, so it’s a gradual move and I can do a little bit at a time—slowly decontaminating his place (kidding…but not really), and bringing over small carloads of my stuff here and there. Still, the kettlebell collection, med ball, hand weights and rest of my at-home workout gear has been getting its fair share of dirty looks from me lately. To remind myself that it’s worth moving, I put together this quick HIIT workout last week using as much of it as I could.

GIVEAWAY! One workout aid that is not a burden to move is my Gymboss Interval Timer, and lucky for you wonderful readers, my friends over at Gymboss are letting me give away one! Enter using the widget below today’s workout tutorial (scroll down). I’ll pick a winner on Friday evening.

15-Minute HIIT Workout

Equipment I Used:

25-lb kettlebell
6-lb medicine ball
Jump rope
Stability ball
Power wheel
Gymboss Interval Timer
Exercise mat

Set an interval timer for 15 rounds of 45 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest. You’ll go through the following exercises 3 times. This workout will get you sweaty and out of breath, focusing especially on the core.

Power Wheel Ab Roll Outs: Get on your knees and hold the power wheel centered on the ground. Your arms are going to stay straight throughout this. Slowly extend your arms, rolling the wheel out as far as you can go, lowering your torso. When you’ve extended as far as you can, slowly roll back to starting point. You’ll want to keep your butt down during these—think of your back, butt and hamstrings as one straight line. Try not to stick your butt up (I know it’s tempting on that tough roll-in).
Kettlebell Swings: Start with kettlebell on the floor between your legs and lift it up to starting position with both hands, flat back, using your legs to lift. With kettlebell hanging between your legs, use your arms as a pendulum, and swing the bell to chest-to-eye level by thrusting with your hips while keeping your core tight as you stand up straight. Swing back down and repeat. Your knees should remain slightly bent, but the main source of movement is hinging at the hips—not so much squatting. I use a 25-lb bell.
Med Ball Sit ‘n Toss: Lay on your back with arms stretched overhead, holding on to your medicine ball (it should be hovering a couple inches off the ground—don’t let it rest on the floor). Lift the medicine ball forward as you sit up, keeping arms straight, and lift it straight above your head as your body comes into upright sitting position. Bring ball into chest and toss up into the air. Catch and slowly lower to the ground, bringing ball back overhead behind you.
Jump Rope
Stability Ball Prone Oblique Twists:Get into a plank with your shins on a stability ball and your hands on the floor, directly under your shoulders. Draw your knees into your right shoulder, keeping feet on the stability ball, and then return to center. Repeat to the left.

WEARING | leggings: Lululemon / tank: thanks to my friends at Game Plan! / sneakers: Nike

Since I usually get a lot of comments about whatever leggings I’m wearing in these workouts (that’s why I love you guys! haha), just a heads up that although these leggings look cool, the mesh across the knees makes them uncomfortable to workout in if you’re doing anything that involves kneeling.

Gymboss Interval Timer Giveaway

On Friday evening I’ll randomly select a winner. Use the widget below to enter—just leave a comment letting me know what piece of workout equipment you’d love in your home. I use mine all the time for HIIT workouts and during the Tone ‘n Torch class I teach at Btone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Abs, Giveaways & Discounts, Interval Training, Jump Rope, Medicine Ball, Power Wheel, Stability Ball, Workouts

Cardio Core Workout

May 19, 2014 by Nicole 14 Comments

The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of PUMA. All opinions are my own (duh).

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!

As for today’s routine, I got the chance to try out some new PUMA gear thanks to FitFluential, and put it to the test in this cardio core workout. The first thing I noticed about the Formlite XT Ultra sneakers was how lightweight they are—which I love. The outsole has a funky design of pods and flex grooves to help with dynamic motions and grip, so it’s a good sneaker for a lot of the workouts I post here where you’re jumping around all over the place.

I think the Graphic All Eyes on Me tank and Graphic ¾ Tight are both super cute. They’re comfortable and fit well, and held up great during a sweaty workout. The tank has a really cute cut-out back detailing and I love the ombre color paneling of the leggings. My girls are on the smaller side, so I didn’t find this to be a problem at all, but I should add that the tank’s cut and built-in bra make it super boobielicious (that’s now a word; go with it). I’ve recently noticed this is actually becoming more common in the cut of workout tanks—a lot of the tops I’ve gotten in the past couple months are like whabam! when I put them on (if you catch my drift haha). Again, not an issue with my little chest, but something to be aware of when buying.

Now on to the workout!

Cardio Core Workout

Equipment I Used:

Jump rope
6-lb medicine ball
Exercise mat

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.

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)

WEARING | sneakers, tank, leggings: c/o Puma