Spring Cleaning HIIT Workout

Posted on: May 13th 2014

Spring Cleaning!

It’s officially mid-may, so I say better late than never for some good ol’ spring cleaning (as I swirl a glass of wine and avoid looking at the dust bunnies in the corner…) So it’s a cardio clean-out-thecobwebs instead –  I have dusted off an oldie but a goodie and brought it some new life here!

The Interval Love workout is an all-time favourite around here. Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty. Your lungs will not thank me while you’re doing it (but your endorphins will when you’re done!).

When coach sends you out 2 jams in a row, or you’ve got to jam twice with only one jam in between to rest, you need to recover from that intense exertion pretty darn quick. Your heart and lungs must be very efficient at returning to normal levels. Interval training is a great way to train for roller derby, because it trains these exact recovery mechanisms.

Interval training also allows you to work really hard for short periods, and to kind of trick your body into being able to do more work in a given period of time than you would be able to if you worked at a sustained pace. You get more burn for your buck! So this week, try giving your workout some Interval Love.

You’ll be alternating strength work with a cardio move, for 16 minutes of total work. I did 50/10 work to rest intervals which was KILLER. Don’t be afraid to scale that back to 40/20 or less, depending on your abilities.

You’ll notice that the workout basically alternates 4 rounds of skater jumps with 4 different exercises – watch the video to see how it all works!

You’ll need: A timer on interval repeats (or a stopwatch) I use the Seconds Pro app on my phone to count 50s/10s intervals. Optional – yoga mat.

Here are some additional tips for you-

Consider wearing runners if you have slippery floors or delicate ankles – skater jumps can be challenging! You should aim for long, low side-to-side motion with these, not bouncy-hoppy vertical motion.

Keep your knees in alignment with your toes during split squats! Don’t let your front knee cave in towards the centreline of your body – keep it tracking straight forward and backward.

Keep your butt down during the turnover pushups and the plank drill!  Shoot for a straight line from your head to your toes. Be kind to your wrists, elbows and shoulders on the turnover pushups – try to keep the ‘turnover’ part nice and controlled – don’t flop over and put a lot of dynamic weight onto your arms. Take it slow if you need to, and even drop your bum to the floor if necessary.

On the low-jacks, make sure you do, in fact, stay LOW during the 3 jacks!

Go get ’em! Give yourself a Spring Cleaning!

xo Booty Quake

PS: OK, now I want to hear from you – as I said in the video, I want to know what you guys think of the plank exercise (elbows to hands plank). Terrific, or torture? I think it’s a cool stability & core drill, but maybe I’m out to lunch. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK in the comments below!  <3

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