First, I want to thank everyone for all the amazing comments yesterday. That post was very heart felt and I loved the positive reactions from you all. It truly made my day and put a smile on my face from ear to ear.
Now, let’s get our sweat on. Big time.
My Job: To Create Workouts
Each week I design 3-5 new workouts. Workouts for my boot camps, Fit Womens Weekly, and sometimes for myself (Dan does most of our own workouts).
We use something called Evernote to hold ALL of our workouts.
To make sure my clients never get bored, I make sure to keep them on their toes with new exercises and workout.
They know they will never walk in and do something like 3 sets of 10 reps of 8 exercises… workout boredom is the worst!
Nope, not in my classes at least.
But there are a few basic outlines that I really love when it comes to designing workouts. It’s funny how you can have basically the exact same format but if you change the exercises the workout turns into something completely new.
It’s fun, it’s fresh, and it’s efficient.
I thought I would share a few of my favorite workout themes (and some examples from my notebook) incase you love designing your own. Simply follow the outline and then add the exercises that you want. All of these will deliver some serious calorie burning, muscle toning results!
Top 6 Workout Designs To Create The Best Fitness Plan
-Waterfalls.
Some call these chippers because you’re “chipping away” at the workout. I call them waterfalls because that sounds prettier.
This is a generally a 10 exercise circuit, where the first exercise is usually 100 reps.
The next exercise is 90, and so on until the final exercise is 10 reps (normally something like burpees).
Love these! Seeing the numbers go down each time helps me to mentally stay strong. You can do this with running too:
-Rep Pyramids.
This was actually the muse for today’s post. When thinking about workouts last night, I realized it had been months since I did one of these in my boot camps, so it was a no brainer.
Put together a circuit of 6-8 exercises.
Then do the circuit with 4 reps/exercise, then 6, then 8… finish at 12.
Then work your way back in the opposite direction until you finish where you started.
Set a timer to go as fast as possible.
Of course you can change the rep counts to whatever you want.
-Timed Pyramids.
This is the workout program that Dan and I are following for our kettlebell training this week (see below)
Again, make a list of exercises.
Start by doing each for a short period of time (20 seconds). Then repeat the circuit by increasing the time (40 seconds), and then once more even longer (60 seconds).
Then work back down, finishing with 20 seconds.
Brutal.
-The Race Is On
Forget coming up with all the details. Instead grab a timer and race against the clock to see what you can accomplish.
This workout seems to fly by! And is great if you are short on time, just set the timer to what you have.
Grab a timer, and set it to the amount of time you want to do the workout (I like 20 minutes)
Choose 6-10 exercises and assign rep counts to them each.
Start the timer and see how many times you can complete the circuit.
I love this because I know that I have a limited amount of time on the clock, and I know I can workout at 100% for just 20 minutes.
-Just Go.
I am sure these have some great name to them, but I call them “Just Go”.
Pick about 5 exercises and give them some insane rep goals.
Then set a timer and see how long it takes you to complete the workout.
You’re able to jump from move to move as you wish, so make sure to keep track of what you’ve completed so you know when you’re done.
The last time we did this the exercises were something like:
500 Jumping Jacks
400 Squats
300 Sit Ups
200 Push-ups
100 Burpees
and… JUST GO!
-Bump N Go Workout
These are a lot of fun, but you need at least one partner.
Each person is doing something, but one is in charge of the amount of time the others work.
For example, the “worker” might have to run to the street corner and back, while someone is doing squats, and someone else is doing push-ups. Only when the person gets back can the squatter and push-uper stop and be “bumped” to rotate.
This is great with a big group of people! Have several stations set up, and when the “worker” gets back everyone moves down to the station beside them.
Here’s an oldie but great workout!
If you like this idea let me know and I’ll gladly share 5 more next week!
What is your favorite style of workout?
Personally, I love pyramid workouts. The one I mentioned above included the following exercises: BB Deadlifts, Decline Push-ups, Pull-Ups, KB Cleans (Right), KB Cleans (Left), Box Jumps, and Double KB Squats (Low).
We recorded our reps for each round and will be repeating it today to beat our scores. If we don’t be our score, there is a one burpee penalty for each rep to be completed at the end.
Wish me luck!