Do you have time to get to the gym during the holidays but not a lot of time to spend there? These 30-minute holiday workouts go a long way to make your moments count to the max with high intensity intervals using a combination of both cardio equipment and total body movements.
Keeping intervals short means you can keep your intensity high. High-intensity intervals allow you to maintain or improve your cardiovascular system and muscular system fitness with only a minimal investment of your precious time.
Each of the following workouts can be done in under 30 minutes and can work your total body, head to toe, inside and out.
Each workout is broken down into the following segments:
- Total Body Warm-Up (five minutes)
- Total Body Challenge (12 minutes)
- Cardio Challenge (12 minutes)
- Recovery (one minute)
Click on the names of each movement for a link to a video that demonstrates proper form.
The Total Body Warm-Up
The Total Body Challenge
The challenge includes the following five basic elements:
1. An upper-body push movement (examples: shoulder press or push-up)
2. An upper-body pull movement (examples: one-arm row or a pull-up)
3. A lower-body push movement (examples: squat or a lunge)
4. A lower-body pull movement (example: physioball leg curl)
5. A rotational movement (examples: 90/90 or Physioball Russian Twist)
Starting with exercise one, do 30 seconds of work and recover for 30 seconds. Repeat for exercises two through five.
After you've done all five movements take one minute to recover and then repeat the set. If you feel you need more rest, do 15 seconds of work and take 45 seconds of rest between exercises. If you feel you need less rest, do 45 seconds of work with only 15 seconds of rest between exercises.