Full Body Strength and Cardio Workout

Happy December!! How was your Thanksgiving?? Was it filled with family and friends and turkey and pie and wine and laughter?

I hope so!

But maybe too much turkey and pie and wine? I totally hear ya. This full body strength and cardio workout will get your heart rate up while working a variety of muscle groups, helping to burn off those second helpings of pecan pie.

This workout consists of four supersets where you will perform two exercises back-to-back three times before moving to the next superset. Each superset contains one full body strength training exercise for 15 reps and one plyometric exercise for 30 seconds.

It’s hard, but you’ll love it when you’re done.

You will notice that a lot of the exercises here incorporate three-dimensional movements. This is on purpose.

Many common strength training exercises primarily work in the sagittal plane (moving forward and backward) – biceps curls, walking lunges, squats, cable rows, etc. This is just fine, but we want to make sure to incorporate the frontal (side-to-side) and transverse (rotational) planes as well in order to develop the muscles to function in all different directions.

For example, the side lunge with biceps curl. You are lunging out to the side (frontal plane), but your arms are moving forward for the biceps curl (sagittal plant) – that’s 3D movement! Also, you are working both your upper and lower body. Basically, you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck in this one exercise. Awesome.

And don’t forget to really push it during those plyos. I want that heart to be pumping!

Here are the exercise cues:

• Squat with Medicine Ball Overhead Raise: Stand with feet hip-width distance apart, toes pointing forward holding a medicine ball in your hands. Squat down by bending your knees and flexing your hips, keeping your back straight and your knees behind your toes. Lower until your knees reach a 90-degree angle and touch the medicine ball to the floor. Engage your glutes and rise back up to standing, raising the medicine ball up over your head.
• Jump Squat: Stand with feet hip-width distance apart, toes pointing forward. Lower down until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Thrust your hips forward and jump into the air, landing softly back down in a squat position.
• Knee Lifts with Lateral Raise: Stand with feet hip-width distance apart, toes pointing forward, and a dumbbell in each hand. Raise your right knee while raising your arms out to the side, palms down, until they reach shoulder height. Lower arms and leg back down to starting position. Continue this pattern with aternating legs.
• BOSU Ball Shuffle: Stand with your right foot on a BOSU ball and the left foot on the ground, toes pointing forward. Lower down into a squat, then jump up towards the right, landing in a squat position with your left foot on the BOSU ball and your right foot on the floor on the opposite end. Continue to shuffle back and forth.
• Reverse Lunge with Twist: Stand with feet hip-width distance apart, toes pointing forward, a dumbbell in each hand, and arms extended out in front of you. Take a step back with your left foot and lower into a lunge, making sure that your right knee does not go past your right toe. Both knees should be just around a 90-degree angle. Using your core, twist towards the right so that your arms and torso are facing the right. Twist back to center and rise back up to standing. Alternate legs.
• Mountain Climbers: Start in a plank position. Bring your right knee forward towards your right elbow. Explosively draw your left knee forward as your right leg moves back, like you are running. Continue this motion.
• Side Lunge with Biceps Curl: With a dumbbell in each hand, stand with your feet facing forward. Step with your left foot out to the side, lowering into a side lunge. Make sure that your left knee stays behind your toes and in line with the outside of your foot. As your lower into the lunge, curl the dumbbells up to shoulder level keeping your elbows at your sides. Rise back up to a standing position, pushing down through your heels, while lowering the dumbbells back down to your sides. Alternate legs.
• Plank Jacks: Start in plank position. Jump your legs out to the side, then bring them back to center. Continue in this in-out-in-out pattern.

Let me know if you have any questions and if your try the workout (do it!!) let me know how you liked/hated it. I would love to hear your feedback!

Again, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now that we are in December, make sure to keep fitness as a regular part of your routine, because there are cookies and holiday treats around every corner. Enjoy yourself, but work hard to stay balanced and healthy!