Two At-Home Workouts + Leg Workout + Recent Fitness Reads

Right now, I am currently in the midst of a four-week workout slump. This has not happened to me in a long time. I know that I’ll shrug it off eventually, but I am just having a difficult time motivating myself to get moving (even though I love to workout.) See, it happens to everyone!

It all started because I went to Israel for ten days. My plan when I went to Israel was to take off a whole week of purposeful exercise. (Recovery or rest weeks are actually really good and necessary for your body a few times a year.) We were walking all the time while I was there, but I did not do any actual exercise that would help maintain my fitness level. Walking just does not compare at all to the intensity of my normal workouts.

After taking the first seven days off, I planned to workout the last three days that I was in Israel with some body-weight workouts. I only managed one though. This was the one Tabata workout I did in my hotel room at 6 am one morning, courtesy of JillFit.com:

Once I returned from Israel, I then fell on the stairs and hurt my elbow! I am always so bad at working out around injuries. When I can’t do what I want to (i.e. CrossFit), I tend to just not do anything at all. Bad, I know. I have had a few good workouts among the couple days I have actually worked out. I made up an at-home EMOM (every minute on the minute) workout last week, and I loved it!

Rachel’s 20-Minute At Home EMOM Workout:

Every even minute – Run Stairs for 20 seconds
Every odd minute – 4 squat jumps, 4 jump lunges, 8 Sit Ups

I ran up and down the stairs at my house for 20 seconds on every even minute starting at 0:00, and performed four squats jumps, four jump lunges, and eight sit ups on every odd minute until I reached 20 minutes total. I was limited to only using my lower body because of my elbow injury, so while it was not as intense as the EMOMs I do in CrossFit, it was still a great sweat. It goes to show that you can get a great workout anywhere you go.

I also got in a good leg workout last Monday at the ESPN gym.

Rachel’s Leg Workout – 1/7/13

1) 5×3 Back Squats (75, 85, 95, 105, 115 pounds)

2a) Bulgarian Split Squats – 3×10 reps each leg (holding 10-pound DBs in each hand)
2b) Stability Ball Hamstring Curls – 3×10 reps

3) Reverse Lunges – 3×10 reps each leg (15 pound DBs in each hand)

4) 2x: 10 squats, 10 jump squats, 10 side-to-side jumps, 10 reverse lunges with front kick, 10 sumo squats with a knee raise

I was very happy with back squatting 115 pounds in my final set of three reps. I was actually supposed to do five rounds of that last body weight leg circuit, but my legs were screaming at me and could not take any more than two rounds. My legs were sore from this workout for three days!

I’ve also been finding some really good articles in the blogosphere lately:

1) Girls Gone Strong – How to do the proper push up!

After making a few videos on proper push up form, I realized how out of alignment my neck and upper back were when I performed a push up. I also realized that my arms were extending out too far to my sides at a 90-degree angle, which is wrong, wrong, wrong! I went from being able to do over 20 “push-ups” to being able to do only four or five with proper form and full range of motion. It was very humbling for me. Most people do push ups wrong, so this is a great read on how to do them right.

2) Tina Reale – Why being at your leanest may not always be ideal

I absolutely loved this post from Tina Reale’s blog. It’s important to realize that being a certain weight, or looking a certain way does not define your life or your happiness.

3) Neghar Fonooni – 9 Reasons Why Yoga is Good for Gym Junkies

I find that my body feels a million times better during my workouts when I consistently practice yoga. It is the greatest supplement to any workout program. Neghar Fonooni, a co-founder of Girls Gone Strong and a great blogger, outlines nine awesome reasons why yoga is good for you.

Enjoy these workouts and fitness reads!

About these ads