Six Moves, Four Sweaty Workouts

Happy First Day of August!!

As the Greeks say, “Kalo Mina!”  (Happy Month!)

I love the month of August… it’s birthday month!

You guys have heard me say (seen me write?) that a short workout is better than no workout at all, that you never regret a workout, something is better than nothing, and so on.

Anyways, in the last issue of Women’s Health I got, there was an article in there called “6 Moves, 4 Workouts.”  I actually have referenced this article in a couple of earlier posts, here and here.

I’ve really enjoyed these quick but heart pumping workouts, and figured some of you might too.   Something new for a new month, perhaps?

Here’s how it works.  Each of the four different workouts is composed of six different body weight exercises:

1. Jump Squats
2. Butterfly Situps
3. Burpees
4. Triceps Dips (can be done on the ground if no bench or step available)
5. Lunge Hops
6. Pushups

 

No equipment needed!

Here are your four different workout options:

TOTAL TIME
Do 10 reps of each exercise, moving from one to the next without resting.  Complete as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes.  For this workout, do the exercises in the following order:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

TOTAL COUNTDOWN
Complete 60 reps of the first move, 50 of the second, 40 of the third, and so on, until you’ve worked down to 10 reps of the last exercise.  For this workout, do the exercises in the following order:  2, 1, 6, 5, 4, 3.

TOTAL ROUNDS
Do 12 reps of each exercise, moving from one to the next without rest.  Complete 5 rounds and note how long it takes you to finish.  Aim to do the workout faster next time.  For this workout, do the exercises in the following order:  3, 4, 5, 2, 6, 1.

TOTAL REPS
Complete as many reps as you can of each move in one minute each, moving from one exercise to the next without stopping.  Rest one minute, then repeat the entire sequence two more times.  Keep track of your total rep count, so if you finish 20 lunge hops, start counting pushups at 21.  Try to beat your grand total next time.  For this workout, do the exercises in the following order:  5, 6, 2, 3, 1, 4.

I’ve tried the first three workouts.  I did “Total Time” in the backyard at my uncle’s Cape house on the 4th of July when I wanted to do a quick 15 minute workout before our BBQ.  I was able to complete 7 full rounds + the first 2 moves of the 8th round in 15 minutes total.  Not too shabby, and I was a SWEATY MESS!  My face was red and I was huffing and puffing by the end of the 15 minutes!

For “Total Countdown,” it was pretty quick and in my opinion definitely not as difficult as the “Total Time.”  For this workout, I did 20 minutes of kickboxing before it, and finished up with a couple extra strength moves after.

For “Total Rounds,” Tim and I did this one together as a backyard workout during our vacation week down the Cape.  It took me 13:16 to do 5 rounds of 12 reps of each exercise.  This workout has you starting with burpees and finishing with jump squats.  Doing those back to back as you start each round is seriously no joke.

Will tackle “Total Reps” sometime soon!

Anyways, I love these because they are quick, sweaty, calorie blasting, you can do them anywhere, you can do them at your own pace, and they give you something to work for next time (improved time, increased reps, etc.)  Plus, if you’re a competitive person it’s fun to do these with someone else!  Definitely give these a try, keeping in mind not to push yourself past your limit (these are advanced workouts), and then leave me a comment telling me how it went!  I would love to hear how you guys do.

What’s your favorite way to get your heart rate up in a short amount of time?  What are you looking forward to in August?

Something Extra:  I’ve been helping out my uncle’s business by managing their Facebook page.  If you wouldn’t mind, click over to this link and then click “like.”  He would love some extra fans, and it will only take two seconds!  And then if you have four seconds, make sure to like the Fitness & Feta Facebook page too — that one is here.  I broke 400 likes this weekend, hooray!  Thanks friends!