Fitness Friday: Favorite Pinterest Workouts

Hello and Happy Friday!  I am taking a trip back home this weekend to celebrate a few very special people.  My best friend just gave birth to a baby girl on Wednesday and I can't wait to meet her!  And, another friend of mine is currently pregnant with twins and I'll be attending her baby shower!  Babies, babies everywhere.

Now onto some business...

I wanted to thank everyone who provided feedback on my Fitness post last Friday. There were a lot of good ideas and concerns in there and I'm going to do my best to address them.  In an attempt to give myself some consistency and structure, I'm going to try to devote Fridays to Fitness posts.  This may be every Friday, or every other Friday, and I plan on addressing everything from stretching to workout recaps to beginning a running program.  Please feel free to contact me via comments or email (Jillyruns@yahoo.com) with any topics you'd like me to cover on Fridays, and I will respond!

My main point of that post was that I believe we need to start shifting the mindset in America that thinks fitness is a completely separate entity from good health and health care.  As we saw, by the very definition of the word, fitness is an indicator of good health, and I don't believe you can be truly healthy if you do not have a baseline level of fitness.  As far as 'baseline level', I'm still not sure how to quantify that, but I'm going to do some research and see if I can come up with something amalgamated from a variety of professional resources. 

I think the hardest part for everyone is getting started, followed by sticking with it (when they don't see immediate results).  I think many people feel that perhaps they are just not inherently athletic and so fitness is just something they'll never be 'good' at.  But I don't think 'fitness' and 'athleticism' are interchangeable terms.  You don't have to excel at sports or be born with natural gifts to be able to go for a walk or do simple exercises in the comfort of your own home.  I don't think I'm particularly athletically gifted but I just love moving, playing, and trying new things.  [This is probably the reason I love hanging out with kids so much; we are kindred spirits.]  I like to run, but I am not particularly fast.  I am a solid middle-of-the-pack runner and will never win any big races, but that doesn't stop me!  I also mentioned that I played a lot of sports growing up and that's true, but what I didn't tell you is that I completely STUNK at a lot of them!  Perhaps one day I'll do a post on a list of the sports I've tried over the years and the ones I've completely failed at! Haha Maybe that will give you some courage to get out there and Just Do It :)

Also, as I previously mentioned, you do not need a gym membership or fancy equipment to work out.  Case in point: Calisthenics.  Calisthenics are great for improving endurance and strength, and if you perform them in High Intensity Intervals, great for burning fat.  They are also great cross-training/strength-training exercises for runners.  I get a lot of my at-home workouts from Pinterest, and I'm going to share some of my favorites with you today (these were created by other Pinners, not me). 

Most of them are short (15-30 mins) and can be easily modified to suit your needs.  Just decrease the number of reps suggested or do modified moves (ie. pushups on your knees instead of standard pushups).  For beginners who are unsure what some of the moves may be, I wish I could post photos of myself modeling them, but alas, I have no one to take pictures of me!  There are mirrors at my gym, so maybe one day I'll just go in and selfie a bunch of moves so I have personal stock photos for you?!  In the meantime, you'll have to Google/Youtube them, or just ask me. 

Without further ado, here are a few of my favorite go-to workouts (all of these can be found on my Pinterest "I Work Out" board):

Source/via Pinterest

 

 

Source/via Pinterest

 

 

Source/via Pinterest

 

 

Source/via Pinterest

 

 

Source/via Pinterest

 

 

Source/via Pinterest

*Be careful - This one is more advanced*

 

 

If you're snowed in this weekend, or staying indoors because of the insane polar vortex, why not pick one of these and give it a try!

 

Also, I'd recommend you check out the FREE 7 Minute Workout app that I blogged about last year.  A couple of years ago, the American College of Sports Medicine came out with a study stating the benefits of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and published the specific 12 moves in this program to be a scientifically excellent workout. 

 

It is a Tabata style workout, in that you are performing moves at a high intensity for 30 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest (true Tabata is 20 secs on/10 secs off), and it is pretty intense and comprehensive.  I usually run through the circuit 3 times for a total of 21 mins of work and that's plenty, but you can start out just doing it once and it will be worth your time!  [There are a few of them in the App Store, but this is the one I use by Bytesize]

 



 

Well, that should be enough to keep you busy for the weekend!  I hope you all have a great one!

 



*Disclaimer:  I am not a personal trainer or medical professional; these are simply exercises I enjoy and recommend.  If you have medical or health concerns, please consult a professional before beginning any exercise program.*

 

 

Do you work out at home?

Ever done the 7 minute workout?

What are your weekend plans?!

The 7 Minute Workout - For Real

Jillyruns/Pinterest

 

 



I know this sounds too good to be true, but hear me out on this one.  I read about this workout app on another blog a few weeks ago (Finding My Strong) and knew I had to try it.  I mean really what did I have to lose, other than 7 mins of my life?!

So I went directly to the App Store and downloaded this bad boy onto my iPhone.  It's a FREE app by the way, and I believe it's also available for Android devices.  The workout consists of 12 body weight moves that you perform for 30 seconds each, with 10 seconds of rest in between.  You can literally do this workout anywhere and the only equipment required is a chair (or something you can do tricep dips/step ups onto).  This is a HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout similar to Tabata.  (Tabata is 20 seconds work/10 seconds rest.)

For the past year or so, I've been in love with HIIT workouts.  A few of the reasons being:

• The workouts are shorter in duration than standard steady-pace cardio workouts
• Workouts can be done anywhere
• Require little to no equipment
• Improve athletic performance, endurance and speed
• Greater fat burning than standard cardio
• Combines strength training with cardio

Obviously to be an endurance athlete, you need regular longer workouts every week, but I love doing HIIT in between run and lifting days.  I feel like they help make me faster and stronger and I have definitely seen results in fat burning and toning.  These type of workouts do what standard steady-state cardio can't in terms of getting ripped. Hahaha!  But seriously they are a great addition to your workout regimen.

Soooo, how did this one pan out?  Going into it, I figured I would probably go through the circuit 3 times to get a good workout and that proved to be just the right number of sets!  Before you begin, you can click on each of the 12 moves in the list within the app, which will launch a demo video of that move, in the event there are any you are unsure how to do.  These are the moves:

1. Jumping jacks
2. Wall sits
3. Push-ups
4. Abdominal crunches
5. Step-ups onto a chair
6. Squats
7. Triceps dips on a chair
8. Planks
9. High knees running in place
10. Lunges
11. Push-ups and rotations
12. Side planks

I knew how to do all of these so I was pretty much set to go.  Once you press 'Start' on the app, you have a 10 second countdown and a soothing voice announces the first move.  GO TIME!  You should go all out for 30 seconds.  The soothing voice will then pipe back in and tell you it's time to rest for 10 seconds.  Yippee!  I'm not gonna lie.  During the first round, 10 seconds felt like too long to be resting.  But by the 3rd round, um no.  My heart rate had zero chance of going back down and that 10 seconds seemed like 2 seconds.  So, after 10 seconds, the voice comes back on and announces the next move.  It goes on like this for 12 moves/7 mins.  After each 7 minute set, I grabbed a quick drink of water, and then started the app again for a total of 21 mins.

This may not sound like a full cardio workout but remember you are going ALL OUT/sprinting for 30 seconds over and over again so it's much different than doing a comfortable 30 min steady-state cardio workout.  You get results in less time here.


Verdict:  I really love this workout, the app in general, and the fact that it's Free!  If you travel, if you're on vacation, or if you just don't have the time to make it to the gym that day, this app is so convenient.  Start it up and just do what the voice tells you to do.  How easy is that?!  I've used this so many times since I downloaded it about 2 weeks ago.  I encourage you to go to the App Store right now, download this baby and give it a try.  You have nothing to lose but 7 mins - WORTH IT! 

I personally think unless you are an absolute beginner or just getting back into exercising you should do this more than one time through, but you could split it up throughout the day.  Do one circuit in the morning and one at night; or even tack this onto the end of a run for additional conditioning/strengthening.  I like that it has a pretty even mix of upper body, lower body and core moves.  It's pretty much the perfect easiest little circuit in my opinion.  (I am getting no kickbacks here, I just really like this app!)


So what are you waiting for?! Go workout for 7 mins and then let me know what you think!!


**Disclosure:  I am not a doctor or medical professional so please be safe and use your own personal judgment when starting/doing any workouts I feature!


Do you like HIIT workouts?

Would you/did you try this App?  What did you think?