Fitness Friday 3/4: 3 Squat Variations to Try At Work

Today's workday workout is lower body focused, mainly on the quads and glutes.  These squat variations are quick, but man do they work!  Luckily today's workout is only done one time through (most of the Fitness Friday mini workouts are done 2 or 3 times through), so this will only take you about 4 minutes to complete.  Try it out on your lunch break with a coworker, or when you need an energy boost mid-afternoon.  Let's get that body movin' and out of that desk chair today!  Ready?!

Fitness Friday 3/4

Today's Fitness Friday mini workout is only done one time through for the full workout, but try to fit it in at least 3 times today.  Try to take as little of a break as possible between exercises.

Squatted Step Touches (1 minute) - get low in a squat with your chest up and gaze forward.  Staying in that low position throughout, step to the right with the right foot, and bring your left foot over to meet it.  Now step to the left, and bring your right foot over to meet it.  Alternate that step-touch pattern for 1 minute, maintaining the low squat position.

Square Pattern Squats w/ Lunges (15 seconds each) - This series of moves is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  Bear with me - it's a long explanation (click here for a pictorial description of this one from a previous workout post.)  Picture an imaginary square on the floor.  In each corner, you're holding a low squat with your legs and feet together.  The horizontal sides are wide stance squats, and the vertical sides are lunges (the leg that's forward in the lunge is the one that's on the outside of the square).  Each position is held for 15 seconds, for a total of 2 minutes.  So, for example, start in the top right corner of the square and hold a squat for 15 seconds with your feet and legs together.  Next, step out to the left into a wide stance squat and hold for 15 seconds.  Now bring the right foot in and hold a low squat for 15.  Step back with your right leg and hold a lunge for 15.  Step your left foot back into a low squat again and hold... so on and so forth until you complete the full square and wind up back in the top right corner (or wherever you started).  Feel the burn!

Wide/Regular/Narrow Squats (1 minute) - start in a wide stance, feet wider than shoulder width.  Do 1 squat.  Bring your feet closer together (about hip width apart this time) and do another squat.  Now walk your feet in so they're close together, knees touching, and do 1 squat.  Now reverse that patten.  Keep the pattern going (narrow/regular/wide/regular/narrow) doing 1 squat in each position for 1 minute.

That's it for the workout, but remember to do this 2 more times throughout your day today!

Readers: chat with me!  Do you exercise at the office?  What do you like to do?  Does your workplace ever hold any type of exercise or fitness programs for employees?  What do you do to get more activity during your workday?  Up to anything exciting this weekend?

Wednesday Warmup 6/3: Legs, Glutes & Cardio AMRAP

Happy Wednesday to you all!  We're halfway through the week - how's it going for you so far?  My week has been a long one already, but I'm keeping my head high and trying to focus on what I can do to keep my fitness levels up while my work schedule is packed.  Before I get into the workout for today, I'd like to address a housekeeping issue I've been having with my posts.  If you're a subscriber, you may have noticed that the posts are getting delivered to your email a day later than they were posted on the blog.  I've done some troubleshooting, and hopefully I've remedied that by now (fingers crossed!).  If it continues, bear with me while I try to get things working properly again.  Okay, now onto the fitness for today!

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Wednesday Warmup 6/3: Legs, Glutes & Cardio AMRAP

Set your timer for 10 minutes and get through as many rounds of the 6 exercises as you can!  Ready, set, go!

Glute Bridges - lie down on your back with your hands at your sides, knees bent and feet flat on the floor.  From here, press your pelvis up toward the ceiling, keeping your shoulders and back on he ground, squeezing your glutes at the top.  Lower back down.  Continue the bridges for 20 reps.

Split Lunge Jumps - start in a lunge on one leg, knees bent about 90˚.  Propel yourself up into the air, switching legs and landing back down in a lunge on the opposite side.  Continue the jump lunges for 30 total (15 each side).  Trainer Tip: lessen the impact on your knees by stepping up and back to switch legs instead of jumping.

Pistol Squats - start standing on one leg, with the other leg extended out straight in front of you, arms extended out as well.  Keeping that leg raised and straight, lower yourself down as far as you can in a squat on the other leg.  Do 15 of these on one leg, and then switch to the other leg and repeat.

Tuck Jumps - Speed is the name of the game with these.  Jump up bringing your knees to meet your hands.  Do 10 jumps total as quick as you can - like hot potato between your feet and the ground.

Squats + Calf Raises - here you're doing regular squats, but when you raise back up, go up on your toes in a calf raise (both legs) at the top.  Then lower yourself back down in a regular squat again.  Repeat that for 30 reps.

Crazy Jacks - these are fun!  It's like regular jumping jacks, but alternate bringing your knees up to the side when your arms go up in the air.  So, as your arms go up, bring the right knee up to the side.  Bring them back down and immediately hop into the next "jack" bringing your left knee up and out to the side.  They're kind of confusing at first, but once you do a few, you'll get the hang of them! :)

Readers: chat with me!  When do you like to work out during your day?  Are you a morning workout person or someone who likes to workout at night?  Evening workouts are better for me, so I'll probably be doing this one when I get home from work if I can't make it to class tonight. :)