fitness

  Let it all out.                           For Day 2 of our Spring Reset Challenge, we’ll be targeting your  abs  and getting your heart rate up with this cardio and core workout. In fact, many cardio moves, including those we’re doing today, sneakily hit your core too—and that’s because your core is one of the most important and powerful muscle groups in the body. Your core enables you to sit up straight, complete everyday movements,  balance   (which comes in handy during moves like lunges or skaters), and, you know, it also keeps all of your organs in place. No big deal! We often utilize our cores without even realizing it—which is why it’s so important to give that muscle group some regular attention. You’ll notice that two of the demo GIFs below show our everyday athletes jumping or hopping. Typically, in a squat thrust (or a modified burpee) you would jump your feet to your hands,...

  Breathe through it!                                  You’ve made it to the last day of Week 1. Finish strong with this low-impact Tabata workout—an introduction to Tabata, if you will. We like to keep you on your toes, you know? If you’ve never tried Tabata, stay calm: You can do it. In fact, Tabata is a quick and efficient way to work out. Tabata is a style of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) where you perform 20 seconds of all-out work followed by 10 seconds of rest. (Below, you’ll notice that we listed a modified option for those who are new to the style or need more rest: You can do 15 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest.) In a typical Tabata workout, you’d repeat that 30-second sequence eight times for a total of four minutes. Here, we’re fluctuating how many repetitions of the sequence you’ll do, but the HIIT aspect of Tabata will remain the same. This work...

  Spike your heart rate with lateral shuffles, high knees, and squat thrusts.                              You don’t have to be a runner to think about getting faster. In fact, this at-home conditioning workout will also help you build endurance and speed.  Outside of running a quicker pace, “faster” takes on a new meaning. In the context of these workouts, moving faster means that you either that you could squeeze in more reps in the same amount of time; or accomplish the same number of reps in less time. Focusing on increasing your speed is also one way to improve your conditioning, or your overall ability to work harder and perform more efficiently during exercise. Generally, conditioning exercises challenge your cardiovascular system and help to build endurance. But they can also create a solid foundation for the rest of your workouts, improving agility, strength, and mobility too. Long story short...

  It's time to get back to basics. Today is Day 21 of our Spring Reset Challenge, and we're closing out Week 3 with this total body strength workout before heading into the final stretch! Being so close to the finish line can be tough mentally—for some, it might make it easier to stop. (The voice in your head might be saying, “Hey, I’ve come this far and done enough!”) For others, it’s extremely motivating—you're so close! That’s why I’m so fond of today’s workout: To close out the week, we’re going back to basics. You’ll work your whole body with five moves: variations of lunges, planks, squats, push-ups, and a triceps dip. At this point in the challenge, all of these moves should feel familiar—you've done them before. So it’s also a great time to assess your progress: Do you feel yourself getting stronger physically? Is it time to add weights? Are you enjoying the workouts more? Are you finding it easier to be present instead of wishing for a circuit to be over? Wh...

  Your heart will be pumping! You’ve almost made it through Week 2, and to celebrate we have a fun, heart-pumping cardio abs routine on tap for today. In other words, you'll work your core and spike your heart rate—really getting the best of both worlds here. Since today marks the halfway point of this challenge, you’ve probably realized that a great cardio workout doesn’t have to mean steady-state exercise, like biking or running. The cardio workouts in this Spring Reset Challenge show that combining heart-pumping calisthenics  moves   with other dynamic exercises can really train your endurance, especially if you’re doing them in interval fashion (longer periods of work with shorter periods of recovery). In this cardio abs routine, you’ll be starting with jumping jacks, a gym-class favorite that will get your body moving and your heart rate rising for the rest of the circuit. Then you’ll go into the inchworm—basically a dynamic, walking plank—which will a...