Quick Workout

The other day I wanted to work out but didn't want to get in my car, drive into town, and get on a treadmill to run. I made up a quick workout to get my heart going and get my workout in for the day.

Warm up
March in Place
Gets you moving and starts to warm your body up. Get your knees up and do for 30-60 seconds.

Windmills
These also get your heart rate up and is a good dynamic stretch for your arms/upper body. Do about 30-60 seconds

Jumping Jacks.
These are good because it gets your heart rate up and they get you warm. I did 100 but listen to your body. If you have a hard time doing them, try a couple sets of 15 and then work your way up from there.

The workout (repeat through 2-3 times)

Push-ups
Builds up your upper body. Again if you are just beginning don't push yourself too much, but push enough. I did 15 girl push ups

Bicycle
This is the most effective ab-exercise for you. It builds your legs and your core. It helps your "muffin top" and helps you to build up your leg flexors (important for trail runners). I do 20 on each side

Plyometric Squats
It's like a squat but explosive! Here is a good example of how to perform them. Don't do too many or you won't be able to walk the next day (I may have pushed myself too much) I would suggest doing about 10 this first time.

Plank
Builds upper body and core strength. Shoot for a minute your first time and build from there. I also do the side plank on both sides. I am not very strong on my sides so I do it for about 45 seconds.

Mountain Climber Twists
I LOVE THESE! I would always have the people I trained perform these! Why? Because 1-they are my favorite and 2- They build upper body strength, your core, and your leg flexors.

Plyometric Lunges

Again it's explosive! 

Repeat. If you don't want to do the Plyo's, just do a regular squat and lunge. It still works your bottom!

Cool down
VERY IMPORTANT! You need to stretch the muscles you just warm-up. It helps to prevent muscle stiffness and injuries. I stretch my arms, back, chest, legs, sides, neck, everything. Here is a website with some really good stretches.

Challenge: Get up a 30 minutes early and do these exercises. Modify them to YOU! If you only can handle doing it once through. AWESOME! That is one more than you did yesterday. Always think of what you do and not what you didn't do.  

Harder, Better, Faster, STRONGER!!!

Did you know that you really don’t become stronger by just going out and lifting weights once in a while? Let me explain…

When you start a resistance program your muscles are experiencing a new change—a neural adaptation to be precise. Your muscle fibers start to fire and become stronger. This occurs during about 8-20 weeks of your resistance training program. After this time is when hypertrophy (strength gain) occurs.  It takes on average about 14 weeks for hypertrophy to occur. So, why am I writing this? Because it is important that we incorporate resistance in our workouts. The ACSM guidelines for resistance training suggest performing weight lifting exercises at least 2 days a week. 1-3 sets of 8-12 reps of 8-10 different exercises. More information can be found here or at www.acsm.org . In High School and College we have the opportunity to take a weight training class if we so choose. The only problem with this is that you start gaining strength when the class ends, so we just need continue lifting even after your class ends—make it a part of life!

Challenge: Start doing resistance training now. It can be really simple. One way is simply by doing push-ups every morning/night. Start with 10 and increase each week. In 20 weeks you will be stronger!

Other Ideas if you don't live close to a gym:

1- Look in your cupboards--Use cans of beans or filled waterbottles as weights.

2- Buy a resistance band and do leg exercises with it.

3- Find a couple of heavy rocks to substitute for your weights.

4- Invest some money in some free weights. I think they are about $5 at Walmart.