Fit Friday: 20 Minute Interval Challenge

As I mentioned in my first blog post I have been a group fitness instructor for almost 7 years now.  I have my Bachelors of Science in Exercise Physiology but really got into exercise after I had my first baby and had 40 lbs. to lose!  If you are a mom you know the struggles with finding time to exercise and have it actually be effective in under an hour.  One of my favorite workouts that always helped me shed weight like crazy after having babies was working out in intervals.  I prefer a 3-2 interval where you do 3 minutes of strength training followed by 2 minutes of intense cardio.  The science behind this is that you burn more calories as you let your heart rate drop during the strength and then bring it back up during the cardio.  You also use your immediate energy stores(glucose) during the strength portion so when you do the cardio you have to burn fat for energy(yeah!)

I have to admit I have been hesitant to post pictures and/or videos of myself exercising because I am not a “buff mom rocking a six pack” but I am a mom who cares about taking care of herself and is very physically and mentally strong.  So I am letting go of my insecurities and sharing this workout I did today with you in hopes that it will inspire someone who may be at a loss for fitting fitness into their busy schedule.  Please forgive the “selfies” and not so great photography…my photographer was at school 🙂

I love to use different equipment to workout because it just keeps things interesting and fun but you can do all of the following exercises without equipment.  These are just examples of exercises but of course you can mix and match anything you want.  I like to do an upper interval then a lower.  You can do it in as little as 20-40 minutes depending on how many intervals you want to do.

Note: I split the time of the strength moves in two(so 1.5 minutes each move if there are 2 moves. Or 1 min each if 3 moves). For the cardio moves I choose 2 moves, do them 30 sec each then repeat.

ROUND ONE:  SQUAT SERIES(3 min strength)

Stability ball wall squat with overhead press (I did double arm press but couldn’t here for the picture) 

Sumo squat with upright row(double arm)

CARDIO: Rotational jump squat (jump and land in opposite direction)

Mountain climbers(not pictured)

ROUND 2: TRICEPS

MOVE 1: Tricep kickbacks in lunge(30 sec each arm)

MOVE 2: Tricep dips on stability ball(1 minute)

MOVE 3: Tricep extensions(30 sec each arm)

CARDIO Move 1: Jacks with band around ankles(your outer thighs will hate me!)

Move 2: High knees with band

Optional move 3: Mountain climbers with plates

ROUND 3: LUNGES

STRENGTH Move 1: Lunge on bench with overhead press or bicep curl

Move 2: Runners lunge on bench. Bring back foot in and out with weight in heel of front foot

CARDIO Move 1: Squat thrust with ball between legs(bonus inner thigh work!) and plates under feet(start position upper R, end position upper L)

Move 2: Oblique twist with ball btwn legs and plates under feet(both hands will be on bench)

ROUND 4: FUSION

STRENGTH Move 1: Pushups on bench(one hand on one hand off. 30 sec each side)

Move 2: Reverse lunge on bench (1 min each leg)

CARDIO Move 1: Quick feet on bench(not pictured)

Move 2: Squat jumps(not pictured)

These are just some examples of how to put together a challenging interval. I also did a back, bicep and another lunge round. Switch things up, get creative and have fun with it!  Let me know how you like it…doing 3 minutes of one body part can make you pretty sore if you go heavy enough!