Out with the drudgery of “New Year’s resolution” fitness and in with fun, spring workout routines! You’ve been working hard in the gym since you committed to your New Year’s fitness resolutions, and the weekly treadmill and indoor aerobic classes have lost their appeal. You’re ready for fun and fresh workout changes to keep you motivated. With just a few changes to your weekly exercises, you’ll be reinvigorated to stick to your fitness goals and jump into the spring season.
Back to the track
Get off the treadmill once a week and take your cardio outdoors. Find a local high school with an outdoor running track and bleachers or stairs.
Try this butt-kicking track workout:
- Warm up with a jog around the track.
- 10-minute interval run: Run one lap at a speed at which you cannot carry on a conversation; then jog the next lap at a speed where you can have a conversation with a friend. Continue this fast run/slow jog mix for 10 minutes.
- Jog up and down the stairs or bleachers for 5 minutes.
- Get some water, then back to the track for another 10-minute interval run as before.
- Finish your workout with 5-minute stair climb.
Boot camp calisthenics
Jumpstart your morning with 30 minutes of fat-burning calisthenics. Here’s a basic boot camp routine that builds strength and endurance while shredding calories.
- Create a circuit workout area to do back rows, push-ups or modified push-ups, Y squats, lunges, woodchoppers and knee-to-elbow ab crunches.
- Start with lunges across the room for 15, turn around and do 15 more.
- Next, perform 30 Y squats, then 30 push-ups or modified push-ups, 30 woodchoppers, then 30 knee-to-elbow crunches.
- Take a sip (or two) of water and do the circuit two more times, performing each exercise with 5 fewer repetitions per circuit (30-25-20).
‘Fixies’ for a hard-core cycling sweat
Single-gear bikes, known as “fixies” because of the fixed single gear, are an inexpensive, low maintenance, super-fun alternative to the common multi-speed bicycle. On a fixed-gear bike, the pedals, the chain and the rear wheel continuously work together without allowing coasting. When you push on the pedals, the pedals move the chain, which turns the rear wheel. When you stop applying force to the pedals, the momentum of the wheel continues to drive the chain and the pedals keep moving. All this means is that you get a triple-duty leg workout while doing your cardio workout! In the city, you ride from stop sign to stop sign — to get moving you push the pedals, then spin until the next sign. This ride is similar to jumping from a leg press machine to the treadmill over and over again. In the country, it’s like a multi-speed bike or spinning class full of belly-slimming cardio. Don’t forget to hit some hills — you’ll get strong and toned thighs from pushing the single gear up those hills.
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