Black Friday BOSU® Blast
Black Friday deals can be hit or miss, but your workouts don’t have to be!
The holiday hustle can leave us short on time, making our workouts feel like just one more thing to add to our To Do List. ‘Tis the perfect season to unwrap the magic of HIIT ( High Intensity Interval Training)!
Level up your training this season by working in The Calm Before the Storm to prep for your workout and also alleviate the stress we can hold in our bodies, The Crazy 8 Monster Set designed to push your cardiovascular limits, and a Tabata with a focus on upper body strength. Each segment takes 4 – 5 minutes to complete, and may be used separately as 5-minute stress relievers or cycled together for a 15-minute workout when time permits. I’m going to use the sleek Black NexGen BOSU® Balance Trainer to celebrate the day!
SUPERSET - The Calm Before The Storm
These dynamic stretches may be used as a warm up or as active recovery in between rounds of the Monster Set below. Perform The Calm Before the Storm any time you have a few minutes, to help alleviate physical stress in the body or for a mental reset to clear your mind .
- Standing Inhalation to Forward Fold
- Deep Squat / Hamstring Lengthening
- Hip Opener
- Kneeling Cat / Cow
- Long Lunge with Rotation
- Kneeling Side Lunge with Lateral Flexion
- Child’s Pose / Kneeling Push-Up
- Inchworm from Plank to Standing
MONSTER SET - The Crazy 8
Monster Sets combine 4 or more exercises without any rest between them. I absolutely love these because it feels like you have your own personal circuit! Monster Sets increase the intensity of a workout by overloading muscle groups and pushing them to fatigue. This type of overload boosts fat burning potential and cardiorespiratory response. Here are some of my favorite go-to drills. Perform each exercise for 30 seconds, back to back, without rest, until you have completed all the exercises. One round will take 4 minutes.
- Run the Dome
- Toe Taps
- Box Jumps (or squats on the dome)
- Power Jacks
- Alternating Reverse Lunge With Rotation (you can catch your breath here)
- Reverse Burpee
- Plank Straddle Steps
- Triceps Pushups (kneeling or from your toes)
TABATA - No Momentum Platform Side Up Pushup
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a true Tabata is serious business! All you need is ONE exercise that can be easily progressed and regressed. It must be an exercise that uses large muscle groups, that has an immediate HIIT response, elevating heart rate and causing muscle fatigue. You have to earn your EPOC -- the ”afterburn”- -by working as hard as you safely can, the during entire protocol. Perform the exercise, one of my favorite pushup variations with the platform side up, for 8 rounds of 20-second intervals, each followed by a 10-second rest, for a total of 4 minutes! You all have 4 minutes, right?
Elizabeth Lenartis a BOSU® Master Trainer. She is the founder of Studio E Fitness in West Springfield, Massachusetts, where she consults, trains and coaches. She also appears on the TV show Mass Appeal as a fitness expert.
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