This Cardio and Strength Workout Will Fire Up Your Entire Body

 Yes, there are burpees involved.


Welcome to your final day of the Spring Reset Challenge! Over the last four weeks, you’ve trained your body with everything from low-impact fundamentals to high-rep, minimum-break intensity. This last cardio and strength workout builds on everything you’ve learned—for a final push to help you finish strong.

All of the exercises and workouts you’ve completed up to this point have prepared you for this final day: a total-body, max-intensity workout that will work your upper body, lower body, and your core. And because these are all compound movements—working multiple muscle groups at once—this also doubles as a cardio workout, since your heart rate will spike.

You’ll start out with the burpee—adding push-ups for extra oomph—to really kick off the cardio aspect. Then you’ll follow that up with squats to give your quads and glutes some specific attention. The final three moves are core crushers: the jackknife, boat pose hold, and push-up to opposite toe tap.

You know the drill by now: Since this is a high-intensity workout, it’s really important you warm up your muscles first before jumping in. You can choose one of our favorite quick warm-ups here to prep yourself for this workout.

And, since it's your last workout, we invite you to really kick things up if you've been holding back. Maybe that means you reduce your rest or that you add another circuit. Maybe it means performing every single rep with the utmost focus and determination to ensure your form is on point. And, if you haven't tried any of the extra credit yet, we highly recommend you give it a shot today.

Whichever way you choose to do it, we know you’ll completely crush this last cardio and strength workout. As for what comes next? You can try another challenge, like the Better Together Challenge, here. If you've already done that one, try any of our other previous challenges right here. Or if you want to start building your own workout routine, you can check out our offerings for all different types: upper-body workouts, lower-body workouts, full-body workouts, cardio workouts, and core workouts. Feel free to mix and match, and create your own individualized routine!

The workout below is for Day 28 of the SELF Spring Reset Challenge. Check out the full month of workouts right here. Or go to the workout calendar here. If you haven’t signed up to receive daily emails, do that here.

WORKOUT DIRECTIONS

Do each move for your selected period of time. At the end of all 5 moves, rest for 90 seconds. that's 1 circuit. Do the entire circuit 3–5 times. After your last circuit, try the optional extra credit.

  • Option 1: 20 seconds of work, 40 seconds of rest
  • Option 2: 25 seconds of work, 35 seconds of rest
  • Option 3: 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds of rest
EXERCISES
  • Burpee With Push-Up
  • Squat
  • Jackknife
  • Boat Pose Hold
  • Push-Up to Opposite Toe Touch
EXTRA CREDIT

Hold a forearm plank for as long as you can while maintaining proper form. Next, hold a glute bridge for as long as you can while maintaining proper form. Finally, do as many push-ups as you can to finish. Take breaks as needed 

  • Forearm Plank Hold x max hold
  • Glute Bridge Hold x max hold
  • Push-Up x max reps
                                  Burpee exercise
1

Burpee

  • Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms by your sides.
  • Squat and reach forward to place your hands on the floor, shoulder-width apart.
  • Jump your legs straight out behind you into a high plank with your hands stacked underneath your shoulders.
  • Bend your elbows to lower your chest all the way to the floor, then straighten your arms to return to a high plank.
  • Jump your feet toward your hands.
  • Spring up, reaching your arms overhead.
  • Land lightly on your feet and immediately drop down into your next rep.
  • Make it harder: Do 5 push-ups instead of just the one.
  • Make it easier: Remove the push-up and do a modified burpee.

                                       Squat

2

Squat

  • Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and core engaged.
  • Send your hips back and bend both knees to drop into a squat, allowing your knees to bend to at least 90 degrees, so both thighs are parallel to the floor.
  • Return to the starting position by squeezing your glutes to stand.
  • Make it harder: You can hold a dumbbell at your chest or a dumbbell in each hand.

                                         Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel and Pants
3

Jackknife

  • Lie faceup with your legs extended and arms extended overhead on the floor, keeping them close to your ears. Contract your abs to press your low back into the ground. This is the starting position.
  • Point your toes, squeeze your thighs together, squeeze your glutes, and simultaneously lift your legs and upper back off the ground, reaching your hands forward to meet your feet so that your body forms a V.
  • Keep your core engaged as you slowly lower to return to the starting position. Continue.

                                           Image may contain Human Person Sport Fitness Sports Exercise Working Out Clothing and Apparel
4

Boat Pose Hold

  • Sit up straight with your legs bent, feet flat on the floor.
  • Keeping your legs together, slowly lift them until they form a 45-degree angle to your torso. Engage your entire core, keep your back flat, and balance on your tailbone.
  • You can keep your knees bent (as pictured) or straighten them out for more of a challenge.
  • Reach your arms straight out in front of you, parallel to the floor. If you feel that you need some extra support, place your hands on the floor, underneath your hips.
  • Hold here.

                               Image may contain Human Person Sport Sports Exercise Working Out and Fitness

5

Push-Up to Opposite Toe Touch

  • From a high plank position, do a push-up by keeping your core engaged, glutes tight, and bending elbows to lower chest and hips toward the floor.
  • Push back up to return to the starting position, then pike your hips high as you swing your right hand back as your left foot comes forward, and you tap your hand to your toes.
  • Return to a high plank, and repeat on the other side, swinging your left hand back as your right foot comes forward, tapping your hand to your toes.
  • Return to a high plank, then do a push-up to start the sequence again.
  • Make it easier: Omit the push-up.
6

Forearm Plank Hold

  • Place your forearms on the floor, elbows directly underneath your shoulders, hands facing forward so that your arms are parallel. Extend your legs behind you, feet hip-width apart. Tuck your tailbone and engage your core, butt, and quads.
  • Hold.
  • Make it easier: If it's difficult to hold the plank for the full time period, gently allow your knees to come to the floor, take a few deep breaths, then lift them again. Resist the urge to simply collapse your chest to the floor. Work to bring knees to the floor with control, then lift them again.
                                    Forearm plank

6

Forearm Plank Hold

  • Place your forearms on the floor, elbows directly underneath your shoulders, hands facing forward so that your arms are parallel. Extend your legs behind you, feet hip-width apart. Tuck your tailbone and engage your core, butt, and quads.
  • Hold.
  • Make it easier: If it's difficult to hold the plank for the full time period, gently allow your knees to come to the floor, take a few deep breaths, then lift them again. Resist the urge to simply collapse your chest to the floor. Work to bring knees to the floor with control, then lift them again.

                                      Lie faceup with your knees bent feet flat on the floor and heels a few inches away from your butt so that your...


                                Lie faceup with your knees bent feet flat on the floor and heels a few inches away from your butt so that your...

7

Glute Bridge Hold

  • Lie faceup with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and heels a few inches away from your butt so that your fingertips graze your heels when arms are at your sides.
  • Squeeze your glutes and abs and push through your heels to lift your hips off the floor until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
  • Pause and squeeze your glutes at the top. Hold for your set amount of time.
                                      Image may contain Human Person Sport Sports Exercise Working Out Fitness Clothing Shoe Footwear Apparel and Yoga
8

Push-Up

  • Start in a high plank position, with your wrists directly under your shoulders, core engaged, hips level, and legs extended straight behind you. Elevate your hands on a step or box if needed.
  • Bend your elbows and lower your body to the floor. Push through the palms of your hands to straighten your arms.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are Those Push-Ups in My Indoor Cycling Class Actually Doing Anything?

Image
  I've been confused for a while now by the   indoor cycling   craze. People obviously love it, and I sort of get it—the music, the vibe, the intensity, the cardio! But there are some things about these classes that kind of get to me, as a fitness enthusiast and journalist. Namely: What is going on with those on-bike push-ups? I mean, seriously... why ? Bike push-ups—which you do by placing your hands on the handlebars, bending your elbows so your torso comes toward the bars, then straightening your arms out again (and repeating over and over again to the beat of the music) as you continue to pedal with your legs—are commonplace at many indoor cycling studios, including SoulCycle. While I can appreciate the break in monotony and the distraction from the burn in my quads, I also just don’t really get it. What’s this move even doing? Is it really a push-up if I’m sitting down? How much upper-body strengthening am I even getting? And is there any possible downside?...
Read more

Why You Should Pay More Attention to Your Pectoral Muscles

Image
  It’s not just about lifting more weight. When your pecs are functioning properly, though—not too tight and able to move smoothly through their full range of motion—they help your body stay upright and not pull forward, Miranda says. So both strengthening  and  stretching your pecs is important to add to your workout routine. What are the best exercises for your pectoral muscles? Try to include exercises that hit your pecs a little differently and from various angles, says Miranda. Her favorites include a chest press from a bench or the floor; a standing cable chest press, which you can also do with a resistance band—“being upright is more applicable to everyday function, because now you have to use your core and legs to stabilize,” she says—and a push-up. If you can’t get a full push-up from the ground, ACE-certified personal trainer Sivan Fagan, owner of Strong With Sivan, in Baltimore, Maryland, recommends doing a modified version with your hands elevated ...
Read more

8 Ways to Make Bodyweight Exercises More Challenging Without Adding Weights

Image
  These tiny tweaks can make all the difference. Anyone can get a good workout with bodyweight exercises. There are so many options and variations, and since they don’t require any equipment you can do them wherever you want—and for free. But it’s also common as you do bodyweight exercises consistently and get stronger to start to feel like they’re becoming too easy. Like you need something to make them more challenging again—and that’s definitely something to celebrate. For some people it might make sense to progress to using free weights like dumbbells. But what if you’re not ready for weights (this may help you figure that out btw) or don’t have access to them? There are actually a lot of really simple ways to make bodyweight exercises more challenging without involving a single piece of equipment. Here are a few ideas for changing up your go-to bodyweight exercises so that you can work your muscles in slightly different, more challenging ways. 1. Slow t...
Read more