Workout I Did: Cardio and Abs Days

Over the last year, we’ve heard from more and more readers that you’d like to know more about what workouts we do. A bit of it is just for curiosity’s sake, but a lot of it is so that when we do a good workout, we can share it and you can try it, too! Now, remember, we’re not giving individualized advice (see your doctor for that!) and—obviously—use your common sense, but here’s a workout we recently did and loved! Read them all and feel the workout love here!

My darling fiance has me on a fun little cardio/full-body circuit high-intensity workout that I’ll be doing for the next six weeks. (It pays to have a trainer in the house!) This means that one day I’ll run, and the next day I’ll hit the weights. For this week’s workout, I’ll be talking about my day ones: cardio days. For months I was so burnt out on running. I would do a mile and call it a day, but 10 minutes of cardio wasn’t cutting it for my energy and endurance, so I upped the mileage. Now on my cardio days I run three miles and hope to keep upping the ante.

Workout I Did: Cardio and Abs

Warm-up: Roll your ish! It was only a matter of time before Jenn’s foam rolling praises sunk into my psyche. Before a run it’s always a good idea to loose the juice. The lactic acid I can hold in my legs is uncanny. I swear my runs have become so much more enjoyable after taking that simple piece of foam and rolling like the homies.

Running: The three miles! Some days are better than others. Some days I can run the whole thing but at a slower pace. Other days, I can speed right through it. Sometimes I have to start a run/walk game. I’ll run to a song, then walk to the next and so on and so on. It all depends on the day and mood. I just make sure to get three miles under my belt. I have no idea why I chose three. I was born in March. We’ll chalk it up to birthday-number love.

Abs Move #1: Then I take it to the mats and start my ab work. I get in three sets of different ab moves: 12 reps each. The first ab exercise is a medicine-ball twist. I sit on the ground, lean back, raise my legs and then twist to each side with a 10 to 12-pound medicine ball. I do this 12 times on each side (24 total.)

Abs Move #2: I do leg raises. I usually have to support my lower back by putting my arms underneath me. You keep your legs straight, raising them up and down 12 times.

Abs Move #3: I take a 10-pound weight and hold it in my arms in sit-up position. I raise my shoulders and then proceed to do sit-ups while holding the weight up and out. You’re not supposed to bend your arms while doing this. Again, I get in 12 reps. Once done with the circuit, I repeat the ab work two more times.

This workout usually takes me around 45 minutes to an hour depending on how much energy I’m working with for the day.

Next on my “Workout I Did”  list? My full-body circuit workout…the workout that I’m hoping gives me the guns I’ve been wanting for many, many moons! Do you follow a fitness plan or are do you constantly switching it up? —Tish