Just J.Faye

Hiking & Other Adventures

  • Home
  • About
  • Index
  • Hikes
  • Travel
  • Recipe
  • Workout
  • Other things

30-Minute Workout With Cardio, Legs, and Core

April 6, 2016 by Jenna

You know the days when you want to get in a good workout, but at the same time you want it to be convenient and fast, yet still super effective? The days when you’re not really in the mood to run or go to the gym, but you know that working out is still a good idea?

Yeah, me too.

That’s why I put together this 30-Minute Workout with Cardio, Legs, and Core.

30-Minute Workout With Cardio, Legs, and Core

It’ll get your blood pumping. You’ll work your legs and core. And you won’t need any fancy equipment to do it. Hurray!

Find the full workout on Minneapolis Running.

Share this:

Filed Under: Workout Tagged With: cardio, core, legs, minneapolis running, no equipment, strength training, workout

Full Body Strength and Cardio Workout

December 1, 2015 by Jenna

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.

Full Body Strength and Cardio Workout

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.

Full Body Strength and Cardio Workout

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!

Share this:

Filed Under: Workout Tagged With: cardio, full body, plyometrics, strength training, supersets, workout

No Equipment Strength + Cardio Circuit Workout

July 29, 2014 by Jenna

It is always great to be able to sneak away from Minneapolis and go on little weekend getaways. This is especially true when it’s spent up north with lots of family, good food, relaxation, and sunshine, which is precisely how I spent my time this weekend.

The downside (probably the only downside) to weekend travel is figuring out how/where I can squeeze in a workout or two. You know, in between sleeping in, brunch, beers, and relaxing. It truly is a rough life.

But really, it does give me some anxiety.

This weekend I was in northern Minnesota at a family reunion (it was so fun, but more about that later, I’ll discuss the workout first) and fortunately my mind was at ease because I fit in my 10-miler on Thursday morning annndddd because I was scheduled (per my Mother’s reunion agenda) to lead a Saturday morning bootcamp with the family.

I was a bit nervous (so I guess my mind wasn’t totally at ease) that A) people wouldn’t show up for the bootcamp and B) whoever did show up would think it was dumb, too hard, or not challenging enough. I even had a dream Friday night that my sister and cousin were the only ones that came and they ended up quitting mid-way through. Sad.

Luckily, none of that happened. People came! We met out by the lake at 9:00am and had a great workout together outside.

no equipment strength & cardio workout

To sum it up, this workout is composed of four rounds and three sets of each round. 30 seconds of a resistance training exercise is followed by 30 seconds of a cardio/plyo exercise. This workout keeps your heart rate elevated and helps you hit the major muscle groups.

The great thing about this workout is that absolutely no equipment is necessary. We did this out by the lake and the only thing I needed was the stopwatch on my phone to time the 30-second intervals.

Meaning, no more fretting about weekend travel workouts! You can do this workout anytime, anywhere. Do it on your next vacay. Or today at home!

Another great thing about this workout is that anyone can do it! Progress or regress the exercises as needed (feel free to put a question in the comments if you need help with this) for whatever works best for YOU. Push yourself during those 30-second increments and make the work count. You will (as I did and some of my family members too) feel it the next morning.

The workout above is a little bit modified from what I went through on Saturday. We did some more ab work and added on some hills at the end. Yes, hills! We were not messing around. You are welcome to tack on some hill training on the end of this too if the mood strikes you, but the outline above is a great workout as is.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves – you know, after it was all over – which was a huge relief for me.

Dummers can party hard and work hard. Look at this: strong, sweaty, and smiling.

dummer family reunion The rest of the weekend was an absolute blast. I was even able to fit in two 5-mile runs on top of Saturday’s morning bootcamp (bonus!). We went out on the lake, ate too much good food, had a bean bag tournament, golfed, drank beer and margaritas, made s’mores by the campfire, celebrated a 40th birthday, played volleyball, and enjoyed time together as a family. Some of these people I hadn’t seen since our last reunion three years ago!

We are planning to have the next one in two years, potentially in Laramie, WY. But no matter where it is, it will be amazing. I’m already excited.

Here are some fun pictures from the weekend.

dummer family reunion My favorite is the top one of the three brothers. They are three handsome and amazing men, who met beautiful women and raised wonderful families. I love them all so much. The bottom picture is just the Ed (my grandpa’s) branch of the Dummer tree.

Share this:

Filed Under: Workout Tagged With: cardio, exercise, no equipment, strength training, workout

Strength and Cardio Circuit

June 17, 2014 by Jenna

Sometimes it’s good to mix things up a little bit. Throw on a pair of heels instead of the usual flats. Add some cayenne pepper to your grilled chicken. Explore a new running route. You know, keep things exciting and different.

I realize that none of my examples were off the charts crazy. I am not talking about a quarter-life crisis here. I am just talking about simple changes. Little things that make regular routines seem just a little bit new.

That sounds nice, right?

Like adding cardio in between strength circuits.

Not mind-blowing, but it makes sense.

Sometimes when I am doing my strength training I get bored and move through things quickly so that I can get it over with. Especially when the gym is empty. I don’t know about you, but I work a lot harder in a fuller gym.

Adding cardio in between my different circuits (rather than all at the beginning… or none at all) helps me break up the monotony of lifting weights. A little bit of weights, a little bit of running. Some more weights. Some more running. Then BAM, all of a sudden 60 minutes has flown by!

Really, in either situation my endorphins eventually kick in and I end up working out about 20 minutes longer than I anticipated just because I feel really good. Never a bad problem, but still good to switch things up here and there.

So I created this workout for when I am in the mood for a tiny change. Strength + Cardio Circuit Each circuit has a lower body, upper body, and core exercise. Perform 15 reps of each exercise in the circuit back-to-back. Go ahead and hold onto some dumbbells during the lunges and core exercises for some additional resistance. When you have completed all three exercises rest for one minute then repeat the circuit twice more.

Then it’s cardio time! Choose whatever type of cardio you enjoy most: run, bike, speed walk, jump rope, elliptical, stairs, row, etc. Since the cardio piece is only for 5 minutes you should push yourself a little bit harder than you normally would, compared to if you were doing a full 30 minutes of steady state cardio. This 5 minutes would also be a good opportunity for some sprint or interval work if you need/want it.

Repeat the same pattern with the second circuit and second set of cardio. Then cool down a little bit and stretch.

And hey, look at that. Your workout is complete. Good job! I am virtually high-fiving you.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Share this:

Filed Under: Workout Tagged With: cardio, circuits, exercise, strength training, weight lifting, workout

hello and welcome!

my name is jenna, but you can call me j.faye. i am a lover of food, mountains, and sunshine. read more…

Follow Me

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Never Miss A Post

receive updates via email:

Instagram

jenna.faye.ivey

Thankful for this crew ❤️ Thankful for this crew ❤️
Winter mode: activated. #snow #winter #mountains Winter mode: activated. 

#snow #winter #mountains #mountainlife #getoutside #outdoors #coloradohikingmoms #keepthelittleswild #liveferal #boymom #colorado #outdoorkids
Hike-or-treat & trunk-or-treats! It was a fun Hall Hike-or-treat & trunk-or-treats! It was a fun Halloween week with our little Mickey 🎃
The leaves. The views. The company! What an incred The leaves. The views. The company! What an incredible experience for our first two-nighter and last camping trip of the year (probably).

Thanks to @adventuresinnoticing & @anni_martini for being amazing friends/aunties. 

#colorado #camping #fall #leafpeeping #mountains #keepthelittleswild #coloradohikingmoms #feraldenver #outdoorsymom #boymom #dogmom #getoutside #lifeoutdoors #lifeofadventure
Cozy season is officially here ✨ #fall #cozy #c Cozy season is officially here ✨

#fall #cozy #camping #keepthelittleswild #coloradohikingmoms #getoutside #lifeofadventure #motherhood #family #boymom #dogmom #outdoorsymom #rimby #coloradomom
My open heart surgery was 7 years ago and it’s a My open heart surgery was 7 years ago and it’s an anniversary I will never not celebrate. 

I carried a lot of trauma with me for a long time. I was nervous for every hike, every workout, religiously checking my heart rate, wondering if this would be the time my heart fails me again. Very dramatic, I know. But I kept at it, doing these things I love to do, working through the fear. Now the intrusive thoughts are few and far between. 

So here I am 7 years later, a stronger person both physically and mentally, hanging out at the top of a mountain with my babies after a nice, challenging hike.  It’s all I really want. 

I’m so grateful for this life and for the people who continue to support me ❤️

#openheartsurgery #heartwarrior #myocardialbridge #heartattacksurvivor #recoveryjourney #celebrate #adventure #lifeoutdoors

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Child Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress