Have You Made Your Body Sweat Today?

It's Wednesday!! I love Wednesdays (truthfully I love every day of the week- but we'll just talk about Wednesday today) and one of the reasons is because I teach a class called "Cardio Burst" at 9:30am to an awesome group of dedicated exercisers! It really helps to get motivated and push hard during a routine when you're in front of an eager and enthusiastic bunch :) I always leave the class wanting to do it all over again. I usually end up doing another routine with one of my Fit Camp classes in the evening because I'm on such a high from the morning workout!

What do you love about exercise? During your workout routine, what is it that really pumps you up? Good music? Hard exercises? Equipment? Having a friend with you? We're all very different and everyone gets psyched up in various ways!

To me it depends on what type of workout I'm doing. When I'm teaching, the participants are my motivation. If I get a group that seem lazy and are working half-assed, I don't get quite the same high. If I'm working out on my own at home, it's a hard workout with lots of new exercises, and if I'm running, it's damn-good music!

Finding out what gets your adrenaline going and gets you really into your workout and focused is great! For many of us, we are in complete control over these factors! Choose to attend classes or to workout with a friend that you know is going to drive you and make you work harder, while having fun! Pick your music, choose a hot outfit, build your own workout routine, whatever it takes!

When your scheduled for a tough workout (you should have routines of moderate intensity and difficult intensity for optimal results), make sure you start with a strong attitude and push yourself to your max. Challenge yourself! For every workout, you get what you put into it.

Have you challenged yourself lately? ;)

Quick Sweat!

I did this workout with my fiance after doing an hour-long workout class with my Fit Campers, so I was exhausted and wasn't able to put 100% into it, but it was still a great sweat-inducing 16-minute routine :)

Speed Skaters- Jump side to side, with the opposite arm to leg forward, knee bent, and try to keep your back leg off the floor to challenge your balance. Stay low, keep your spine from rounding ;)

High Knees- This is an easy one to get the heart-rate up quickly! Jog on spot, but really drive your knees up and pump your arms fast! Keep your core engaged (belly button in!)

Plyo-Jacks- One of my all-time favorite exercises. It's like making a snow angel in the sky :P Jump your legs and arms out wide in the air, and quickly back down, feet together, before you land. Land softly.

Knee Tucks- I'm not great at these, but I'm working on it! Jump up and tuck both knees straight up towards your chest as high as you can, and land softly back down.

Ski Jumps- Legs together, knees bent, chest lifted. Jump to the side without losing the bend in your knees. Use your arms in a swinging motion fwd and back as you hop side to side. Keep low!

Side Ski Hops- Legs together, jump and turn your toes left, centre, and then right, centre, and back to the left, all while keeping your upper body facing centre. Move from the hips! Keep those abs tight and move FAST.

Run Lunges- Stand with one leg forward and the opposite arm. Hop and switch so your other arm and leg are fwd. Keeping switching as fast as you can. Make your range of motion big with your arms (move from your shoulder, not your elbow) and keep weight in both feet.

Plank Heel Taps- Get into plank on your hands. Bring your right knee into your chest (you can place the foot on the floor or not) and touch your heel with the hand on the same side. Switch. You pace is your own on this one, just make sure the movements are controlled and not sloppy! Keep you shoulders over your hands, your neck long, and you belly button in.

Do each exercise for a minute, back-to-back, and then have a one minute break at the end before you do it all over again :) Let me know how you do!