Max Effort Assessment Workout - Can U improve U?

Yeah, the title doesn't exactly include the best grammar but you get it.  Whenever you do an assessment or any workout for that matter, the goal is to improve your times, score, weight, or whatever you are testing the next time you do it.

Yesterday, at the January 11th camp in the Arboretum camps, we did a Max Effort Assessment workout.  We did 9 exercises for time and then finished with a task focused assessment at the end (how did you guys like that "finale???" :-) ).

You can do this workout at any time and then repeat it again whenever you would like to compare scores.  Always remember to compare "apples to apples" when you do something like this.  For example, do your workout at the same time of day under similar conditions.

We will be doing this workout again at the February 1st camps so we can assess our scores compared to yesterday's.  If you were not able to come to camp yesterday or you are not a member of our camp and would just like to use this as an assessment, feel free to do this on your own.

This workout is all body weight so we are, of course, not testing your improvement in load (weight).  This workout has a strength component to it but mostly we are assessing your muscle endurance, stamina, core strength as well as your mental capacity to push yourself.  GOOD LUCK!  AND PLEASE POST YOUR SCORES OR TELL US HOW YOU DID BELOW!

Max Effort 1/11/12 - 

1:30 Mountain Climbers
1:00 Jack Knifes*
1:00 Body Weight Squats
:15 rest and go right into....
:30 Body Weight Squat burnout phase (add to your 1:00 squat time for a total)
1:00 Push-ups**
1:00 Russian Twists (both hands must touch the ground on each side.  Keep your back straight)
1:00 Split Squat jumps (or lunge jumps.  Back knee must touch ground)
1:00 Modified Pull-ups (if you have access to a bar or railing)
1:00 Up-Downs  (in plan position on hands, go down to elbow and back to hands, that counts as one)
1:00 Plank Jacks (jump feet out and return to center counts as one)

FINALE - Hold a core plank as long as you can. Record time.  As soon as you go down, you are going to run.  At Pillow, we did two laps around the track.  If you are doing this elsewhere, pick a distance that is about a half a mile.  You may also choose whatever distance you want, just remember to do that same distance next time. At the end of your run, get a TOTAL TIME (core plank plus the run).

* Jack Knifes - on your back with your arms out in front and your legs straight out, lift your upper body to meet one knee in the middle (knee to chest) and touch the inside of your opposite foot.  Return back to the ground for a full rep and repeat.  Looks like you are running on your back.
** Push-ups - you MUST lower yourself down to the ground, lift your hands OFF THE GROUND at the bottom and return up to starting position.  This ensures you are going through the full range of motion.

Again, good luck and let us know how you did!

Post- Turkey Day Workout

Enjoy yourself on Turkey day then get right back at it tomorrow with a great workout that only requires your body weight and about 20 minutes.

10-20-30 reps of 4 different exercises

-push-ups

-squats (hip crease below knee crease)

-alternating v-ups (each leg)

-burpees

Ready....set....GO!

Record your time and post below!

Quick 15 minute Workout

Low on time? Can't make it to Boot Camp? Want to try something different?

Here is a quick 15 minute workout utilizing 3 full body moves. The workout will be quick yet effective.

First, we need to warm up with 5 minutes of dynamic movement.
30 Seconds of Each:
- Jog (in place or back and forth)
- Jumping Jacks
-High Knees
- Squats
-Butt Kicks
- Arm circles (full range of motion forward & backward)
-Jumping Jacks
-Push Ups
-High Knees
-Jog (in place or back and forth)

The Workout

1 minute on each move. Completion of all 3 exercises = 1 set. Goal is to complete 3 sets.

1. Sumo Squat with Lateral Raise

2. Cobra Plank

3. Burpee to Shoulder Press

Ranges of Difficulty
Easy- No weights, > 1 minute of rest in between sets
Moderate- 5-8 lb weights, 1 minute of rest in between sets
Challenging- 10 lb weights, < 1 minute of rest in between sets

Finish with a cooldown consisting of some static stretches for the entire body. Sample cooldown 

Look for more fun facts and workouts to come from Boot Camp U! :)

~Coach Kim

"An 'Easter workout'? Does that mean you're going to torture us to death?"

That was a quote from one of the 6am campers in the Arboretum class ;-)  Haha...love it!  Try this workout at home, grab a family member and HAVE FUN with it!

E - Eleven Slow Push-ups (any kind you want...narrow, wide, side-to-side, decline, etc)
A - A hundred bicycles
S - Sixty Mountain Climbers
T - Ten Burpees with a push-up
E - Eleven Pull-ups (if you have no where to do pull-ups then do bent-over rows with dumb bells)
R - Ridiculous Amounts of Core focused exercises

BONUS:  To make this workout more fun, grab a die (dice? ....I don't know my dice grammar, haha).  But you know...the thing with 6 sides and up to 6 dots on a side...that thing.  Usually white.  After you do the initial amount of your exercises, go ahead and roll the die up to 5 more times to see how many MORE you need to do.  What you can also do to break it up is do all the exercises with the set amount and then go BACK THROUGH a few more times while rolling for each exercise to see how many to do.

Core Exercises to do:
Russian Twists
Supermans
Scissors
V-ups
Ankle Grabbers
Core Planks

-Do a total of 500 reps of any of these and then top it off with a few minutes of core planks (rest as needed but hold them for as long as you can each time until you reach 3:00 or higher)

 As always, if you don't know an exercise or you need to vary it up.....it's ok to choose your own exercises.  (You can check out our YouTube video for some more) Make it what you want.  Have fun!

-Coach Robyn

Workout - BBBW (Beautiful by Body Weight)

You probably all know by now that I love body weight exercises.  I love play with fun stuff like kettle bells, Dynamax Balls, Bands and other torture devices but my favorite exercises are the ones where you use nothing but your body weight.  "Your body is your business and you only have an inventory of one" is a quote I just read in the book, Rhinoceros Success by Scott Alexander (great read by the way!).  This body is an amazing thing.  Treat it right and it will do just about anything you ask it to do.  But it starts by being able to move just it and nothing else.  If you are not strong enough to move your body around efficiently, then there's no use in adding a ton of weight.  Get your form and technique down first before you jump in.  Start with the basics, have fun with it and make it a game if you'd like!

Grad a 6-sided die and think of 6 different exercises.  Assign a number to each exercise.  Roll the die and then do the exercise along with THAT numbers of reps.  If you assign push-up to the #1, then do one push-up!  But then roll again and move right along to the next exercise.  Do it for time periods of 3-5 minutes and shoot for 8-10 rounds with 1:00 rest in between.

Example:
1- Push-up
2 - Squat jump
3 - Burpee with push-up
4 - Jumping Jacks
5 - Side Planks (on hands)
6 - Up-Downs

Have Fun!

Workout - Crazy 4's

Crazy 4’s -

BRRRRRRR! Due to the cold weather and boot camps being cancelled for the week, here is a workout you can do on your own at home or in a gym.

Pick any four exercises (with equipment or without) and you are going to run through each exercise doing ONE rep at a time.  It may seem a little silly but what this does is create a little more of a cardio workout because you are constantly moving and confusing your body (there might also be a little mind confusion going on as well :-) ). 

This workout is very adjustable so if you would like to focus a little more on strength, then do anywhere from 4-10 reps of each exercise before moving to the next.  I personally think that the lower the number, the more fun and “crazy” it is.

Also, try to pick exercises that use the full body and then try to put the exercises in order so that you have to do the most amount of moving.  For example, do an upper body exercise that you do in core plank position followed by a leg exercise you perform while standing.  Going from core plank position up to a standing position adds some extra calorie burn!

Here’s an example of the workout:

Exercise 1 – Split Squat Jumps (do 1 each leg)

Exercise 2 – Push-up (make it fun and do a power push-up where you lift both hands off the ground)

Exercise 3 – Squat Jumps (start in squat position, jump up as high as you can and land back in squat position – to make it more difficult, after you complete your push-up, come up to squat position by doing a pop-up.  A pop-up is where you start in core plank position on your hands and you jump your feet up  to where your hands were.  Of course, this means you have to lift your hands.  You should end in a squat position).

Exercise 4 – Up-Down (from the Squat Jump, put your hand down and jump your feet out to core plank position.  Then go down onto your elbows and back up to your hands

After Ex 4, go right back into Ex 1 which is split squat jumps…..

Try to do 10 rounds without stopping!  Then repeat anywhere from 3-5 times. Now, I am going to test you to see whether you guys did your homework.  I want you to email me at robyn@bootcampUaustin.com and tell me which 4 exercises you picked and how the workout went.

Workout: 12 Days of Christmas

Hey All!

I hope your holidays have been FABULOUS!  Since we are off this week from boot camp, I wanted to make sure to post a workout.  We did this one last week called the 12 days of Christmas.  The best thing about this workout (and most of the ones I post) is that you can pick whatever exercise YOU want to do in the format given.  With this one, for example, you can choose any 12 exercises you want.  I would always recommend as many full body exercises you can as well as alternating lower body, upper body and core focused exercises.  So try not to do push-ups, presses and up-downs all in a row.  You will be more efficient if you let a muscle group "rest" while you work another muscle group.

Here the format (with exercises I have chosen) and if you know the song "12 days of Christmas," it is done just the same:

1 - inchworm w/ push-up
2 - squat and press
3 - side planks
4 - pop-ups (start in plank position and "pop up" to a squat
5 - run up and down your stairs at home (or pick some other form of cardio that works at your home or park or wherever you are doing the workout)
6 - pull-ups (or another type of "pull" exercise like rows)
7 - wall sit and press
8 - skydivers
9 - split squat jumps (each leg)
10 - bent -over tricep extensions
11 - squat jump with dumb bells
12 - Burpees!

So this is the format.  Do the first round (one inchworm).  Then do the first and second round (one inchworms and TWO squat and presses).  The next round, add THREE side planks on each arm (add dumb bell for difficulty):

1
12
123
1234
12345
123456
1234567
12345678.....
all the way up through 12 rounds! (you can choose to go "backwards' thorough this if you want as well)

TIME YOURSELF AND POST HOW LONG THIS TAKES YOU!  I am curious since we didn't quite get through it all in the 40 minutes we had at camp.... Just make sure you WARM UP and STRETCH afterwards....

See you ALL JANUARY 3rd at a location near you!

Boot Camp Workout of the Day - Climb the Ladder!

Here's what we did at the North Austin/Arboretum boot camp yesterday.  This is a great workout to do on your own (and even in the comfort of your own home).  It involves 4 exercises and you start with 1 rep of each.  The next round you do 2 reps of each.  And so on until you hit 10.

The 4 exercises we picked happened to be push-ups, modified pull-ups, core planks (1 rep - 10 seconds), and burpees.  You can, however, choose any 4 exercises you want!  Obviously pull-ups might be hard to do in your own home but just substitute with another body weight exercise like lunges (walking lunges or lunges in place), mountain climbers or spider crawls.  You can also watch our boot camp video for more exercise ideas.  

Climb the Ladder:

1 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (10 seconds), burpees

2 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (20 seconds), burpees

3 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (30 seconds), burpees

4 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (40 seconds), burpees

5 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (50 seconds), burpees

6 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (60 seconds), burpees

7 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (70 seconds), burpees

8 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (80 seconds), burpees

9 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (90 seconds), burpees

10 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (100 seconds), burpees

If that's not enough, then work you way back down too!  Then you get to call it a pyramid :-) Have fun!

"10 to 100" Workout

We did a workout in class this week at the Arboretum and North Austin Locations called "10 to 100."  Sounds awesome, right?  Well, it is.

Here's the deal (and OF COURSE you can "steal" these workouts and do them at home on your own)..... pick 10 exercises of your choice.  Write them down on pieces of paper or notecards (split them in half to save paper!).  Take the cards, shuffles them and pick the cards one by one.  The first exercise you pick you will do 10 reps, the second card you picks means you will do 20 reps of that exercise, the third card 30 and so on..... alllllllll the way up to 100.  Yes, 100.  You may or may not regret picking burpees as one of your exercises but then again, I doubt any of you actually CHOOSE to do burpees unless forced to somehow.  As far as your exercises, I suggest mixing it up......legs, arms, cardio, core, etc

Need a few ideas?  Watch our the video on the homepage!

Questions?

Boot Camp U has arrived!

I am excited to start my very own boot camp business serving Austin and surrounding areas (including Round Rock, Cedar Park & Lakeway)! Finally, a boot camp in which every trainer is educated in the field of health and fitness with at least a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology. Our goal is to pass along our knowledge to our campers and educate them about body awareness, teach them the proper foods to be eating and help them reach whatever fitness goals they may have.

Our groups are small with a ton of personal attention. Every workout fun and no two workouts are the same!

Check out http://www.bootcampuaustin.com/ for more information and email Robyn at robyn@bootcampuaustin.com to sign up!

Stay tuned for more!