Sliding Workouts

Have you ever tried a towel or skateboard workout? Boy, are they intense! If you have done these before, you know that it is a massive ab and glute workout. If you have not, I would highly recommend trying it! Skateboard workouts are my personal favorite, but if you do not have a skateboard available, towel workouts are fantastic as well! For either of these workouts, the goal is to use your leg, abdominal, and arm strength while any other portion of you is sliding around on the floor. This takes lots of balance, coordination, and strength- and because of that, is a great whole body workout!

Although skateboard workouts are not as big of a hit yet, there are still a few YouTube videos out there with them. I may just need to do a workout with the skateboard on the blog soon, because there are simply not enough good resources for a full workout.

As for towel workouts, there are PLENTY! These are a few of my favorite towel and skateboard workouts. I have also heard of using paper plates and added a Cassey Ho workout where she does just that! Let me know which is your favorite!

A Full [and Intense] Skateboard Workout

Pumps and Iron Towel Workout

This workout is very quick and VERY effective. My favorite part is that Nicole goes over proper posture. Towel workouts can be much more intense than a regular workout, and for that reason, can be a lot easier to get something wrong and get hurt from. Back strain is a big part of that. The goal is to have other parts of your body making up for the lack of resistance and support the towel gives. If you are feeling lower back pain, take a minute to readjust, something is not right.

Cassey Ho Plate Workout for Abs

Resistance Band Workouts

One of my new absolute favorite workouts has been anything with resistance bands. They are so great for toning  and do a serious number on those hard to work muscles. They also do not create bulky muscles, but instead, help to elongate the muscle we are building. Seriously, they are the best thing ever. 

The Pilates reformer works in a similar way (except about a billion times better), but not all of us have Pilates reformers available on a moment's whim. I am still trying to find a good studio near me with quality reformers and great teachers. So far, the YMCA seems like one of the best options. Why must the Y be so great and also soooo expensive? One day, one day. 

For now though, here are some great resistance band exercises via YouTube! I would recommend a resistance band that has no handles and is simply a long piece of rubber but not a tube. The tube resistance bands with handles are great for certain activities, but not all. This one is a great option. 

Beginner Pilates Workout

This one is great for beginners in the Pilates world. It goes over how to hold resistance bands and starts pretty slow for any not-too-sure about what is going on. Don;t get me wrong though, it is still a super great workout for anyone who wants a resistance band workout. For the more advanced, this could be a great option after a cardio session! 

Upside Down Pilates has lots of other great Pilates workouts for anyone interested :)

Resistance Band Cardio Workout

Who does not love Pop Sugar, right?! This one is quite short being about 10-minutes long. The workout, however, is a great combination of cardio, Pilates, and ballet. This is just a super fun, effective, and quick workout with resistance bands. 

Denise Austen Lower Body Workout

This Denise Austen Lower body workout is simple wonderful. I have been a fan of Denise for a long time, and this workout is no exception. Like the Pop Sugar workout, this one is only 10-minutes long. Both the Pop Sugar and the Denise Austen workout could be done together to make a slightly longer and way more intense resistance band sequence. Just get ready, your everywhere will be feeling it tomorrow! 

Bench Taps

First off, I would like to apologize for not having a post out on Thursday, again. Something seems off with my Thursdays, but I promise to get it together :) To make up for it, I will be doing another post on Sunday! It is still up in the air whether the post will be a This Week in Workouts, or something completely different. Either way, I hope you enjoy it and have an absolutely wonderful weekend!

This weekend the hubs and I are going to see The Hunger Games and I can seriously not wait! Ahh, there is so much excitement in me that I just want to shake a table!!! Who is team Peta+Katniss? I am!!

Before the movie we are going to one of my favorite restaurants downtown that I have not been to in about a year. I honestly did not think we could get in since we are going with a large group of friends, but they were able to take us at the right time when all other places had NOTHING available. Yes, season has definitely struck our little vacation town.

My plan right now is to do about 500 of this bench tap challenge before we go to dinner since they have ridiculously good lobster mac n' cheese. I am sure half the portion is more fat than one should eat in a week, and let's not even start on those carbs. Bench taps are so, so great for the core, the upper thighs, and the bum- pretty much every area us ladies like to work on the most. They are also a massive cardio and plyometric workout. Seriously. My goal today is to complete, at least, 50 reps per leg (100 total) after my morning jog. It will be intense, but so is that lobster mac n' cheese ;)

If you are not sure how to complete a bench tap, this has a great illustration. Pretty much, it is just knee-ups but you stand in front of a bench and tap the elevated foot on the bench top. Simple, not easy!

How many can you do?

Do You Like Biking?

Funny, the hubs and I like biking on vacations but do not actually own bikes back home. We have talked about getting bikes a few times since we live so close to a few different parks with great biking paths, but we have never gone far enough to buy the things. I think if we lived here though, that would be completely different. Isn't this bike path incredible?

A night bike ride through this park would almost seem magical when the path comes to life. The bike path was recently unveiled by Studio Roosegaarde and is based on Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night painting. The Gogh-Roosegaard Bicycle Path using both LEDs and special paint that gathers light during the day and reflects it at night.

The lit bike path serves a double purpose since it is safer to use at night and the pain make lighting it more energy efficient. I am stunned by how beautiful a bike path can be and, in honor of its opening, found some pretty great cycling intervals for all you bike lovers out there!

And just to sweeten the deal, one hour of riding a bicycle can burn anywhere from 200 calories on a leisurely ride to over 1,000 calories at a racing speed! Chances are that you will burn between 500-600 calories an hour doing any one of the workouts below.

Bicycling is also a great way for those with knee, hip, or back issues to get in a great workout. There is almost no impact on joints but the repetitive motion helps lubricate and ease movement.

PopSugar has created a great 30-minute bicycle workout for the novices and bike professionals alike. I cannot wait to try this one out!

This 30-minute ride from Shape is a bit easier than PopSugar's, but will give you a great workout all the same :)

This HIIT workout promises to torch 200 calories in 20-minutes. That is time management at it's finest.

If you are looking for a challenge, this one is an hour long advanced workout for those who want to sweat and, probably, burn upwards of 800 calories!