This week’s workout is a timed workout! I love timed workouts because you know exactly when it’s going to end, and you get out of it what you put in it. Each box below has four exercises in it. Do 12 repetitions of each exercise, then keep cycling through each of the 4 exercises as many times as you can in 8 minutes. Then, take a 2-minute break, and start over with the next box. The workout will take you 40 minutes (including your 2-minute breaks)!
First 8-minute Circuit:
12 Elevated Push-ups: This is a regular push-up, but with your feet off of the ground. Your feet could be on a bench top, stair, pressing against a wall, etc., just somewhere higher than your hands!
12 Cross Reach Crunches: Laying on your back, lift your legs off the ground so that your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Knees are bent 90 degrees. Reach your right arm forward to tap the outside of your left knee. Lower your shoulders back down. Repeat with your left arm reaching forward and across to tap the outside of your right knee.
12 Narrow Rows: Standing on your feet and hinging slightly forward from the hips, hold one weight in each hand with arms hanging down, hands near your knees. Draw the elbows straight back bringing the weights next to your waistline. Extend the arms back to starting position. Repeat 12 times.
12 Goblet Squats: Perform a squat while holding a weight in two hands in front of your chest, as if the weight was a goblet you were about to drink from (video here).
Second 8-minute Circuit:
12 Burpees: Back to middle school gym class we go! Start standing. Squat down to touch the floor with your hands. Jump your feet out to high plank (push-up position). Do one push-up. Bring the feet back to a squat right next to your hands. Jump straight up lifting the arms above your head. Repeat 12 times! To make it easier, you can take out either the push-up, the jump, or both. You can also step out to plank from the squat instead of jump (video here).
12 Lateral Lunges: Stand with your feet underneath your hips. Step your left foot out to the side, and lunge on it, keeping your right leg straight. Chest should stay lifted and hips should press back. Bring your left leg back to starting position. Repeat on the right (video here).
12 Single Leg Dead Lift: Stand on one leg and hold a weight with two hands in front of you. Hinge from the hips and bend down (no farther than parallel with the ground) then stand back up (video here).
12 Arm Press Glute Bridge: Lay on your back with your feet on the floor, knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Hold a weight in each hand. Raise the hips off of the ground, as high as you can. Hold the glute bridge while you press the weights high above your shoulders, straight up from the ground. Increase intensity by holding one leg up in the air while performing the exercise. Here’s a video!
Third 8- minute Circuit:
12 Reverse Lunge Bicep Curl: Holding one weight in each hand and starting with feet together, reach one foot baclward into a lunge. Hold the lunge while both arms simultaneously complete one biceps curl. Bring the leg back to the starting position. Repeat with the other leg, doing 12 total repetitions.
12 Bench Squats: Perform a basic squat (feet about shoulder width apart, keeping the chest lifted, squat down thinking about sending your hips back instead of down). Do the squat over a bench, stair, or some kind of platform that is between 9 and 18 inches off of the ground. Squat so that you barely touch the bench with your bottom, then stand up.
12 Side Raise Pec Deck: Holding equal weights in either hand, raise the arms up so that they are parallel with the ground (video here). Then, move the weights up so that elbows are bent at a 90 degree angle and lower arms are perpendicular to the floor. Bring the forearms together right in front of your face. Then, reverse each movement so arms are hanging by your sides. Repeat.
12 Renegade Rows: Starting in push-up position with a dumbbell for each hand, hold one dumbbell in your right hand and pull the weight up to your shoulder, shooting your elbow straight up toward the ceiling. Put the weight down and repeat with your left hand (video here).
Fourth (and final) 8-minute Circuit:
12 Bench Hops (each leg): With right foot on a bench top and left foot on the floor, perform one squat. Then step or jump the left foot onto the bench and place your right foot on the floor. Do one squat. Switch sides every squat (video here).
12 Chest Press: Lay on your back, and with one weight in each arm, bring the arms straight up above your chest (perpendicular to the ground). Then, lower the arms, bending the elbows out to the side to 90 degrees. Repeat 12 times (video here).
12 Tricep Extension: Hold a weight in two hands. Lift it high above your head, then lower it behind your head by bending the elbows. Keep the elbows pointing up the entire time, moving only the forearms to lift the weight above the head and then lower it (video here).
12 Clean and Press: With a weighted bar or two dumbbells resting on the ground in front of you, squat down to grab the weights. Make sure your back stays straight and your chest is lifted. Draw the weight straight up along your body as you stand up. Once the weights are up to your shoulders, quickly press your elbows down so that your hands are underneath the weight. At the same time that your elbows flip under the weight, bend the knees so that your legs are supporting the weight. Then, straighten the legs and press the weights overhead until arms are straight. Lower the weight back down to shoulder height. Flip the elbows back over the weight, and lower the weight back down to the ground. Repeat.
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