Have the Rio Olympics got you thinking about your own fitness routine? Chantelle of 'Mama Mummy Mum' blog finds fitness routines inspired by her Women's Health magazine subscription....
The last time I posted I was discussing my love of Women's Health magazine and just how it inspired me to not only improve my eating habits but giving me ideas on changing up my exercise routine, keeping me motivated. So in this post I thought I would share with you my own fitness routines in the hope that I might in turn inspire a few of you to perhaps get exercising or pushing yourselves further.
I'm a creature of habit so I tend to exercise at the same time each day, getting up at 6am whilst the kids are asleep so I can work out in relative peace and quiet. Exercising Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then going for a run on a Sunday.
Before I warm up I drink a cup of coffee as the caffeine helps to burn more calories. I switch up my routine each time for two reasons, one being so I don't get bored and secondly so that my body doesn't get bored either, change is good.
My favourite ways to exercise are circuit training and HIIT workouts. And as I mentioned previously I'm always changing what moves I use each time. Sometimes I'll focus on one part of my body whilst other times I will aim to give my whole body a good work out. Whatever I'm focusing on I will always try to incorporate a mix cardio, weights and resistance.
In this post I'm going to focus on HIIT workouts as I've always found this very effective when it comes to fat burning. Remember when you exercise you always need to warm up and cool down, stretching those muscles to prevent injuries.
My typical HIIT circuits consist of 4 to 5 rounds of five moves with thirty seconds of exercising and thirty seconds of rest for each move. When I say rest you still need to be moving in some way, simply walking on the spot or light skipping work well as it keeps your heart rate elevated.
The workout I've chosen is a full body one, working your legs, arms and abs and it requires no gym equipment so can easily be done from home. Get ready to sweat.
- Mountain Climbers - This move is one I've always found tough but it works your whole body and is a great resistance move.
- High Knees - A quick burst of cardio that really gets your blood pumping.
- Burpees (with a push up) - I love to hate this move, tough but so worth doing. I go down on my knees to do the push up but you can do a full push up once you build up your upper body strength.
- Jump Squats - I love adding in a bit of plyometric training, exerting maximum force in a short amount of time, a good way of increasing power and strength in those muscles used.
- Reaching Plank - A great move to get you working your core, and of course a good bit of bodyweight work going on there.
As mentioned above, perform each move for 30 seconds, resting for another 30 seconds between each set and repeat the five moves 4-5 times. This means a total workout of 20-25 minutes which I think is quite simple to fit into your day.
I would love to know what workouts you like doing. Are you a fan of HIIT; if so, what moves are your favourite?
Whether it's a 6am run, a lunchtime spinning class or wild swimming, you'll find fab fitness tips in every issue of Women's Health magazine. Why not discover your favourite way to keep fit?
This is a guest post via the magazine.co.uk blogger network.
