My Top 5 Favorite Workouts.
What workouts are floating your boat right now?
The ones below will always a have a place in my heart.
1. Full body workouts
I love full body workouts because mostly they are quick and dirty. My most common full body workout almost always includes 4 sets of 10 of the following:
walking lunges
squats
pullups
pushups
seated rows
overhead presses
triceps dips
2. HIIT
Bigtime love/hate relationship here. I despite HIIT, but it is over and done with so quickly and leaves me dripping with sweat more than being locked in a room full of green veggies would.
My favorite HIIT combo: 20 seconds of “full out” intervals, 40 seconds of recovery, for 20 minutes.
3. Functional/Plyo Mix
There is also a love/hate relationship here. Ok, more of a hate/hate relationship. Functional workouts are hard and leave me out of breath and feeling helpless. But they also make me feel more in shape that any other workout. I did these kind of workouts 3 days a week when training for a fitness show and was definitely in the best cardiovascular shape of my life.
To me, these kind of workouts include but are not limited to:
burpees
box jumps
squat jumps
mountain climbers
4. A long steady-state cardio session
By long, I mean about 45 minutes. My attention span won’t last any longer. But there is no better stress relief for me other than a good, long cardio workout.
My torture machine of choice: the elliptical.
5. Yoga
It may sound cliche, but I love how yoga makes me feel. It makes me feel at peace and confident, even though I still don’t really feel like I am doing *much.* However, my yoga is probably a joke compared to others.
Are you loving any of the above? Link up below!
21 Comments on “My Top 5 Favorite Workouts.”
love this list and I feel the same way about plyos! i LOVE how i feel afterwards, but during the workouts i want to leave like none other!!
I love the 20 second-40 second HIIT I usually do 1 min to 1 min but I want to try that way, then push myself harder knowing its only 20 seconds of ‘work’
omg these silly groiners that savage has us do are KILLER, i have gotten into a love hate with them–those and bear crawls!
I remember groiners! I was so confused on them at first. And oh gosh – I HATE bear crawls but usually include them in my functional workouts too.
I’m a fan of running (moderate distance and high-speed intervals) and pilates. Yes, I’m boring! But whatever works, right? :) I definitely need to try plyos though!
I love the HIIT workout!
I LOVED the treadmill at my old gym for this because it would let you pre-program two run speeds so with a simple click of the button, you could go from a jog to an all out sprint.
Now I have to hold the “up” button in order to get up to speed and well….sometimes it maaaay not always get up there as high as it should because I decide one of the speeds on the way to my max speed is more than enough.
This is a bit lame, but Im loving just walking lately! and push ups :)
I love all of those! I need you to make me a plan. I love your workouts.
All the above besides HIIT. I know its soo good for you, but I hate staring at a watch/timer the whole time. I’d add CrossFit, but that’s pretty much the same things as full body workouts (which are my favorite by the way).
I love all of those. I’m so exercise ADD I have to have a crazy amount of variety. I can’t wait to do all of those after baby.
I love long steady state runs. Especially when I don’t feel like I’m going to die during them.
I looove plyo workouts. OK. I love training clients who can do plyo. It is pretty torturous. I should do it more myself:)
I have a hate/hate with functional/plyo mixes too. Burpees especially. But man oh man my heart rate goes through the roof when I do them.
I should try long cardio workouts on the elliptical. I never think to go on there but now that I’m forbidden to run, I should try it.
Love yoga, but I prefer doing something where you really feel you are doing something! LOL!!
This is a great idea, I’m bookmarking this list for ideas when I next hit the gym. I want to give plyometrics a go but I always chicken out because I’m scared that people will look at me funny. But you’ve inspired me to give it a go at the gym tonight! x
I still feel uncomfortable doing them in a crowd – that is why I do them either at home, or when I go to the gym EARLY (like 5am)!
I feel like you and I have similar workout styles – except for yoga…I just cannot get on board with it at all! I recently tried HIIT and also have a love-hate relationship, but you are right – it’s over with quickly and you do sweat a ton and feel like you worked hard. Thanks for sharing these! I’m going to do some of them soon. :)
Try it for 20 minutes after an intense cardio workout. That is the only time I can do it!
I don’t know what half the stuff on your list is, but I do agree with you on 4 and 5! Although, the yoga studio I go to has pretty intense workouts. I sweat a lot more doing those than doing the elliptical at the gym. Not sure what that says about me…
UGH, I hate burpees and mountain climbers. But they are so GOOD. Right now I am into working out with my kettle bell and walking with the dogs. We did running for a while, but one of the dogs has a knee issue we just found out about, so we are walking for now.
Actually Jessica, reading your blog has inspired me to change up my routine! I decided to focus more on weights and change my long moderate cardio workouts to shorter and more intense. I’m loving BodyPump, I tried it at my old gym and hated it. But the instructors at my new gym make it sooooo much more interesting! I also switched to cardio intervals on the treadmill. I’m loving the change and already feel tons better.
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Aeroboxing that’s one workout that hits it all, including stress. After 3 years, some extra pounds and body parts heading south I rediscovered this workout, I’ve added to my workout schedule twice a week of weights and rebounding (which is another one I love). It works incredibly fast & I actually look forward to it!!!!!!!!! At 47 I feel great and I know my bones are loving me for the impact I’ve added to my workouts.