Travel-Friendly Running Circuits To Maintain Fitness

If you enjoy travelling, you’ll know just how much of a strain it can place on your fitness routine. The bad diet you eat, the stuffy hotel rooms and different climates don’t make for a great environment for keeping fit, but if you plan ahead you can ensure that you maintain your running record while you’re on holiday. There are some great indoor workouts you can do while you’re on the road, and all you need to complete them is a smart phone or watch, and a skipping rope. You may also want to download a tabata app for some of the workouts, which is a form of interval training where you perform an exercise at a high intensity for 20 seconds then 10 seconds of rest, for a series of eight rounds. Another workout which is really effective is eccentric training, which is the lowering phase of an exercise. Such as when you perform a push-up then lower your body as slowly as you can to the floor. When you reach it, you hold the position for three seconds, then return to the starting position. As a warm up, you can do the following routine: run or use the skipping rope for two to four minutes, perform ten air squats, ten arm circles – both forward and backwards, 20 lunges then five to ten push-ups. To cool down, you should walk for two to four minutes, then do five to ten minutes of static stretching.

These workouts should be done as a circuit, in which you should do each exercise consecutively without taking a break. The first workout begins with ten air squats, ten push-ups, ten sit-ups, ten lunges, a one-minute plank then rest for 30 seconds. You need to repeat the circuit five to ten times, then cool down with the above routine. Another routine which is great for getting your heart rate up is one minute of skipping rope followed by ten burpees; one minute of skipping rope followed by ten squats; one minute of skipping rope followed by ten sit-ups, then one minute of rest. As before, do five to ten rounds of the circuit then rest with a cool down session for five minutes. The third circuit is a Tabata circuit which you’ll complete for 32 rounds. You need to set your tabata timer for repeat 32 times for 20 seconds. Do each exercise for 20 seconds, rest for ten seconds then move onto the next exercise. Each of the exercises you’ll need to complete are as follows: skipping rope, squats, plank and lunges. Depending on how fit you are, you can always do the 32 rounds twice, with a two minute break in between.

 

Another tabata round, for eight rounds this time, consists of burpees, mountain climbers, sit-ups and jump squats. If time permits, you can always double this and do 16 rounds with a short break in between. The final workout requires you to set your timer to 12 to 15 minutes – remember that the goal of this particular circuit is not to take any breaks. See how many times you can get through it! It comprises 30 lunges, 15 push-ups, one minute of skipping rope and 30 seconds plank or 15 sit-ups. These workouts are tough enough to make you feel like you’ve had a workout, but simple enough that you don’t need to bring your entire gym with you in order to complete them. Circuit training such as this is ideal if you’re travelling – all you need is 30 minutes to yourself and enough room to move, and you can create an effective training session to maintain your fitness on the road.

Categories: air squats, circuit, Circuit Training, fitness, minute, Push ups, rope, Running, seconds, sit ups, skipping, skipping rope

The 6-Week Workout: It’s Time to Get Motivated!

The first thing you need to do when exercising is find your motivation. Do you want to up your fitness levels? Lose weight? Enhance your emotional wellbeing? Whatever your wellness goal, fitness trainer and qualified exercise scientist Damien Kelly has issued a challenge: use it. Kelly instructs, ‘Whatever it does for you, I want you to use this motivation to make over your fitness in the next six weeks. You’ll be doing [my] program three times a week and the intensity and challenge will increase as you get fitter from week to week. Simply choose the number of circuits required for each week and work as intensely as you can for each and every workout.’ Challenge accepted? Alright then, let’s take a look at Kelly’s six-week workout.

 

1. 20 straddles and 20 alternating stepping lunges: Kelly says, ‘For the straddles, stand to one side of a low bench and hold the front of the bench with both hands. Staying soft through your elbows and knees, and keeping your hands planted, jump up and over the bench to the other side, landing lightly. Every jump is one rep.’ For an easier variation, move your hands to the back of the bench. Then, for the stepping lunges, all you need to do is take a big step forward, lunge your back knee to the ground and then step back again. You should aim to do 10 reps on each leg.

 

2. 50 skips + 10 prone up and downs: ‘For the skips, you can use alternating feet or jump with both feet together,’ Kelly notes. ‘Land lightly and simply rotate your wrists to spin the rope. For the prone up and downs, assume a push-up position on your hands and toes and then drop down from your hands to your forearms, one after the other, and back up again. This works your core. Your aim is to reduce any hip rotation as you move up and down. Down and up is one rep.’

 

3. 60 punches + 10 jumps: Using a punching bag or something similar, punch 60 times with your wrist in a neutral position and keeping mobile through your hips. Kelly adds, ‘For the jumps, you can jump onto a low platform or step or you can simply jump in the air. You can jump with both feet simultaneously or lead with one leg. Aim to land softly, and, if using a platform, step off between reps – don’t jump off.’

 

4. 400m standing cycle + 15 reverse crunches: On your bike, choose a firm resistance and pedal the entire distance whilst standing. Kelly advises, ‘For reverse crunches, lie on your back on a mat, hands palms down beside you. Raise your legs so they are vertical. Keeping the rest of your body still, squeeze through your abs and push your feet up towards the ceiling, raising your tailbone off the ground. Slowly lower and repeat.’

 

5. 10 burpees + 10 sit-ups: Burpees may sound like your kid’s cute way to describe passing gas, but they’re a great exercise. Kelly coaches, ‘For the burpees, begin in a standing position. Then squat down and place your hands on the ground in front of you. Jump or step your feet out behind you so your body forms a straight line from head to toes. Jump or step your feet back in towards your hands and stand up. That’s one rep. For the sit-ups, begin sitting upright, then lower back until your mid-back brushes the ground, then raise again to upright. Engage your abs throughout to ensure they are the primary muscles working.’

Categories: Circuit Training, Feet, hands, jump, kelly, motivation, reverse crunches, sit ups, Six Weeks, stepping lunges, week, week workout

Fight Stubborn Belly Fat with these Seven Ways!

No one loves belly fat from an aesthetic point of view, but this kind of fat is actually dangerous to your overall wellbeing. A portly midsection is a significant indicator of disease, signifying that your levels of the stress hormone cortisol are too high, and your wellness is at risk of deadly inflammation. However, a few simple changes can make you your very best from the inside out.

Firstly, start interval training. Sit-ups can help you gain that six-pack, but unless you shift the layers of fat above it you’re never going to see it! You need to work in some cardiovascular exercise between sit-ups, crunches, planks and other abdominal exercises in order to get the flat stomach you want and build a solid core. Between each abs-creating set, do 30 to 60 seconds of running on a treadmill, star jumps or use a skipping rope.

Next, don’t skip meals as this is actually counter productive. When you skip a meal, your body responds by storing fat, especially in your abdomen. To pacify cravings and rev up your metabolism (which you need to do to prevent fat storage) have small meals and snacks throughout the day. One thing you should skip, however, is sweet treats. Sugar causes unnecessary spikes and crashes in your blood and energy, and gets stored as fat when consumed in excess, so instead turn to sweet berries to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Fourth on this list is to boost your vitamin C intake, from foods like citrus fruits, broccoli, kale and bell peppers. Vitamin C keeps your cortisol levels under control and helps your body to produce carnitine, which converts fat into energy. Also, increase your intake of healthy fats. The high doses of omega-3 in avocados, walnuts and olive oil can improve satiety and boost your metabolism.

The last two belly fat busters go hand-in-hand; sleep and relax. Multiple studies have proven that too little or poor quality sleep leads to weight gain, as this depletes your energy levels, causing you to snack more throughout the day. Finally, you need to relax more as this can keep your cortisol levels under control, which, in turn, prevents weight gain. Try to make time every day, even if it’s just five minutes, to relax and meditate.

Fight Stubborn Belly Fat with these Seven Ways!

Categories: cortisol, cortisol levels, energy, gain, Interval Training, levels, relax, sit ups, sleep, vitamin c, weight gain