Similar to last two weeks, on Mondays let's talk about my Saturday morning bootcamp class and then about my own Saturday workout and the rest of the weekend.
This weekend was filled with work, workouts and more work, but it was a good one.
Saturday Bootcamp Workout III
For Saturday, I had planned a partner / team workout. Nine people showed up, so we ended up working in three teams, three people in each team.
After a warm-up at the park where we threw around some medicine balls on the lawn and got our feet super wet (I wasn't ready that the grass is so wet in the morning.. oh well!), we did the following Sprints and Bodyweight team workout:
The numbers of reps are per team. That means, each team does 30 push ups with mountain climber jumps, 60 triceps push ups etc. Each team member could do the same number of reps, but you can help your teammates out by taking some of their reps, if they're slower.
After each exercise, the team will run 200 meters together. No matter how fast or slow, you do the sprint always together. It's team work! And then, get to the next exercise.
My Saturday Morning Long Workout
I had a really good workout on Saturday myself as well. I usually workout just about 30 minutes, but if I have more time, I sure enjoy longer workouts too. In the weekends, I like to spend time outside and do longer workouts than usually.
So, Saturday was one on those days where I spent total hour on working out! I know that a full hour workout is nothing that spectacular for many people but it is pretty rare for me.
Here's my three-part workout:
1) 12 Minute Hiit Workout
After teaching the bootcamp, I headed to a nearby park and did 12-minute bodyweight HIIT workout using 12 Minute Athlete app. That's what it looked like:
3 rounds of
- 30 seconds burpees, 10 seconds rest
- 30 seconds bodyweight squats, 10 seconds rest
- 30 seconds high knees, 10 seconds rest
- 30 seconds squat jumps, 10 seconds rest
- 30 seconds pistol squats, 10 seconds rest
- 30 seconds mountain climbers, 10 seconds rest
As always, also this 12 minute workout was tough. You really have to push yourself, or otherwise your time is wasted. I love and hate high knees, but I probably hate mountain climbers even more. I did modified pistols–here's a little sneak peek to where I am with them right now.
2) Hill Sprints
Next thing, I did some hill sprints at the park. It was unplanned, but the weather was nice and I was feeling great, so I decided to take advantage of these awesome hilly trails at the park.
I did only 5 short uphill sprints, and they took me about 10 minutes.
Here's how to do hill sprints:
Run up as fast as you can, then jog down, letting the heart rate slow down a bit. As soon as you're back to your starting line, sprint up again.
Your only rest will be the slow downhill recovery jog, but you don't stop at any point. Hill sprints burn your quads and glutes like crazy, go do them!
3) Kettlebell Front Squats and Swings
Once I got back home, I was ready for super short weight session. I pulled out my heaviest kettlebell–that's 60 lbs–for some swings and squats.
Here's what I did:
5 rounds of
- 8 Front Squats
- 10 Swings
I took plenty of rest between the rounds, because 60 lbs is still pretty serious weight for me, and because I already had some running and HIIT work under my belt.
Here's a video of one round.
From 8kg Kettlebell Russian Twists to 60lbs Swings
About kettlebell training… It wasn't until about 3 years ago when I started working out with kettlebells. You may have noticed how much I love them now though.
Okay, I used them before too, but very occasionally. I touched only small, probably around 8 kg kettlebells that I sometimes used for doing Russian Twists 🙂 That was all when I used to mostly run, and thought that runners don't need strength training. Runners need to run and sometimes, just sometimes train abs… or that's what I thought.
There's nothing wrong with training abs doing Russian Twists, but I now know that there's a better way. For the most part, vertical movements with moderate or moderate-to-heavy weights are the way to go for building a strong core.
But runners need to strength train, to keep their muscles healthy and in balance, protect joints and through all that, are able to avoid injuries that can be caused by lots of repetitive movement. Expect another post on that particular topic this week!
Today, I train with kettlebells 2-3 times a week. And I don't usually do Russian Twists, even though there's nothing wrong with them either. The kettlebells in my home mini gym (aka my closet) have gone much heavier, and I've become so much stronger.
From Burpees to Burgers
The rest of the weekend was spent working. Since both me and my husband work from home for most of the time, in the weekends we love to go and find some cute coffee shops to work from. It's good to change the scenery. Working from home gives you so much freedom and I wouldn't want it to be other way, but you can also get a cabin fever if you never get out.
So we spent the rest of the day working from Contraband coffee shop. The coffee was good and so was wifi, so we spent pretty much the rest of the day there and didn't leave until 8.30.
We grabbed dinner at a Dunya, a small mediterranean bistro and wine bar. I don't typically order a burger, but when I saw this angus beef burger on the menu, I knew I had to have it. I've been really into red meat lately, which is new because I'm definitely more chicken and seafood kind of girl. But this burger and a glass of Merlot didn't disappoint. Highly recommended! If a day starts with burpees and ends with a great burger, you don't have a reason to complain.
Conclusion
Long workout and lots of walking later in San Francsico made this day super active, even though I was sitting down and working a big part of my day. I always get up and take walks every now and then, at least every couple of hours. My step count for Saturday was pretty impressive: I ended up walking+running close to 25 000 steps and a little over 18 kilometers (more than 11 miles).
It was a good weekend filled with working out, lots of writing work and putting together workout plans for my online clients, and then doing more writing work. I have nothing against spending a weekend like that–because I really love what I do.
Hope you're having a great week!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Leave a Reply