Hi friends!  It’s hard to believe Fall is already here!  This summer absolutely flew by!  Between the move and vacationing, things have been a little nuts around here, but things are FINALLY starting to settle down a bit.  In my last post, I mentioned planning to start prep in August for a November show.  We all know how life throws curveballs, and I got a bit of an unexpected surprise when I ended up getting a small stress fracture in my foot that required rest and a boot for several weeks throwing my plans completely off course.  I basically had what felt like a sprain at the top of my right foot for several weeks.  I thought between the move and my usual running, plyo, crazy workouts that it was nothing.  It kept getting more annoying and the pain got worse.  I hobbled around for about a month before finally caving and seeing a sports orthopedic doctor on the advice of both my coach and MAT therapist.  The treatment—anti-inflammatory prescriptions, rest, and a boot for at least 3 weeks.  There was no way I’d be able to get ready for a show by November—I saw the doctor the week I was supposed to start prep!  Fortunately, I was still able to work out, I just didn’t put much weight on my foot, and had to modify my leg workouts.  I also stopped doing cardio—thankfully my weight has maintained this whole time, despite not being perfect with my eating!  Some days were easier than others, but it slowly got better!  Honestly though, if wearing a boot for 3 weeks and postponing a figure competition are my only major problems in life, then I’m really doing okay.  Hey—at least since I’m not in Prep I can enjoy pumpkin spice everything season, right?!  Thankfully I just had my follow up appointment and things are looking and feeling better, so I can slowly get back into training legs as usual and cardio as I feel like it.  Other than that, it’s just been fun to enjoy our beautiful new home, and go through my normal routine.

In other news- I’m happy to report that I have officially started preparing to take my NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine—they’re the leader in personal training certification) CPT exam!  My book and studying materials are en route, so I will be able to start studying next week, and plan to take the exam in February.  You have six months to study, which is great because there is a TON of material to cover.  The test covers everything from anatomy and physiology, to exercise science, client assessment and evaluation, nutrition, supplementation, and a ton more.  I’m so excited to take my passion for fitness and nutrition to the next level, and use it to help others on their journeys too.  Here’s to a new adventure and learning ALL of the things!

Since I’m building up my client base, I really wanted to give you guys some ideas for cardio workouts.  An important thing to keep in mind when doing cardio is that interval training is best to really get the highest calorie burn in the shortest amount of time.  HIIT is where it’s at to get the most bang for your buck!  To be honest, I’ve kind of missed cardio these last few weeks!  I’ve done all of these—give them a whirl the next time you’re up for a sweat!  I guarantee you’ll get a great calorie burn!!

Tabata Workouts—these are some of my favorite forms of HIIT training!  Basically the idea is that you have all out intensity for a “work” period, followed by a brief “rest” period. You can download the Tabata Timer app, and set it to any split of the two that you’d like, but aim for about a 2:1 ratio of rest to work.  Trust me—you want a timer! Typically I do tabatas for 10-15 minutes.  When done correctly, that’s about all you can handle of these guys.  These are great for finishers on top of say 20 minutes of an incline walk, jog, or stairs.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• Set your tabata timer to 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest for 10 rounds, and do the following 5 exercises 2x through: squat jumps, mountain climbers, jump rope (in place is fine), butt kickers, burpees.   This should take you 10 minutes to do, or you could do a third time through for 15 minutes.
• Battle ropes! Most gyms have these—set your timer to 30 seconds of work, 1 minute of rest—aim for 10 rounds.  I LOVE to do these as a finisher on an upper body day—especially arms and shoulders!  Hit the ropes HARD as fast as you can, you can even alternate or make waves with the ropes.  Your shoulders should burn and your heart rate should be UP!
• Sled pushes—most larger gyms have these. Load that puppy up and push for 20 seconds with a 40 second rest.  After leg day it’s particularly good!!!
• 8 rounds of burpees on the 20 sec work/ 10 sec rest split is BRUTAL, but you feel like a BOSS after finishing it!
• For my lower body days, I love to do a split of lower body exercises with HIIT training—try the 30 sec work/ 1 min rest split again, but with squat jumps during the work period and body weight squats during the “rest” period, or lunge jumps/ lunges.
• Sometimes I’ll even challenge myself to do 50 reps of 5 different exercises 5 times—this can be pretty difficult, but it’s fun—do whatever you want, jumping jacks, high knees, skater hops, frog jumps, pop squats, you name it!

Treadmill Workouts:

Poor treadmills get a bad rap!  Honestly, they are a multi-purpose MACHINE and can be used for more than just running.

• Incline Walk—set the incline for a 13-15 and walk at a 2.8-3.0. You will feel this in your hams and calves.  I PROMISE.  Don’t hang onto the hand rails unless you absolutely need to, and then only for short periods of time.  Work your way up to 20-30 minute sessions.
• Sprint intervals—You can do these with or without a timer. Sprint for 20-30 seconds, followed by a minute to minute and a half of rest.  A sprint should be a speed of at least 8.0 on the treadmill.  During your rest periods, just hop up and put your feet to the sides of the belt.  I like to crank up the inline to about a 4 to make them extra difficult.
• Jogging intervals—you can walk (3.8-4.0) for 1 minute, then jog or run at a 5.0 – 7.0 for 2 minutes, this one’s much easier to do for longer periods of time. 10 rounds of it for 30 minutes, and 15 for 45 minutes respectively.

I also LOVE the stairmill for cardio!  It really works your lower body and glutes like no other.  Try the interval programs on the machines, or make your own intervals at high and low speeds.  I like to make my own, and skip steps on the lower speeds to really work those glutes!!!  The elliptical is also beneficial, but it’s not my preferred poison of choice.

Also—cardio is more fun when it’s nice outside!  Take your tabatas outside, or go for a jog around your neighborhood instead of on the treadmill.  It’s good for your soul!!!

Track Workouts:

When it’s not 100+ degrees outside here in Texas, I LOVE to hit the track with my girlfriends for a crazy cardio session.  Here are some of our go to workouts—most of these we’ll combine for a total time of 45 minutes to an hour.

• 15 minutes of stairs (run up the bleachers, walk down), 15 minutes of sprinting the straits along the track and walking the curves/endzones, 15 minutes of plyos consisting of the following: 1 min squat jumps, 1 min rest, 1 min jump rope, 1 min rest, 1 min burpees—3 rounds, with one minute between each round. THIS IS KILLER!!!!
• Suicide sprints– Sprint to the 10, jog back, sprint to the 20, jog back, etc. all the way to the other end zone.
• Jog a lap around the track, 50 jacks/ 50 squats/ 50 mountain climbers. Repeat 5 times.
• Running the stairs on one side of the field, sprint to the other side, do those stairs, then run around the track.

I hope y’all enjoyed these ideas—can’t wait to hear your feedback!  I’m working on putting more blog posts together, especially as I learn more these next few months as I’m studying.  Stay safe and stay fit!

Xo,

-Mere