Two Heart-Pumping Workouts

Looking for new ways to get your heart pumping with a few great workouts?!  Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced exerciser, these workouts are designed to be challenging, but do-able, and you are certainly going to crush some serious MEPs.  So, strap on your MYZONE heart rate monitor and let’s pump it up!

First, a solid warm-up is in order.  Start out by doing 5 minutes of a light cardio warm-up (i.e. walking, jogging, cycling, elliptical) aiming to work into the blue zone.  Next, try a few of these dynamic warm-up exercises (check out the Fitness Friday Periscope broadcast to see our Master Trainers go through these exercises).  These exercises should keep your heart rate in the blue and green zones and should take another 5 to 7 minutes.

Walking Knee Grab:  Walking forward, grab your right knee and pull it into your chest.  Repeat on the left.  Complete 8 to 10 reps on each side as you walk forward.

Walking Figure Four:  Walking forward, grab your right knee with your right hand and your right ankle with your left hand, lifting your ankle in alignment with your knee and making a figure four.  Repeat on the left.  Complete 8 to 10 reps on each side.

Walking Quad Stretch:  Walking forward, grab your right ankle behind you and pull your heel toward your bottom.  Repeat on the left side.  Complete 8 to 10 reps on each side.

Lateral Shuffle:  Shuffle to your right for 8 to 10 large steps.  Repeat to the left.

Inch Worms:  Hinging forward at your hips, reach your hands down to the floor (keep a slight bend in your knees).  Walk your hands forward as far as you can without dropping your hips to the floor and then walk your feet in towards your hands.  Repeat 8 to 10 times.

Scorpion:  Lying with your abdomen on the ground, take your hands under your armpits as though you were going to do a push up.  Rocking to your right side, take your left leg over your right and touch your foot down on the right side.  Repeat on the left side.  Complete 8 to 10 reps on each side.

Reverse Lunge with a twist:  Standing with your feet hip width apart, step your right leg back behind you (maintaining hip width distance) far enough so that when you bend your knees, both are at a 90 degree angle.  Set your right knee down on the ground, and rotate your arms and torso to the right. Repeat on the left side.  Complete 8 to 10 reps on each side.

Now that you are warmed up, let’s rock and roll.  Below are two workout profiles that are designed to earn you at least 100 MEPs.  Remember that the weekly recommended physical activity guidelines equate to earning 300 MEPs per week, so complete three of these workouts each week, and you have met your minimum recommended amount of physical activity for the week!

Listen to your body and do what you can do - - feel free to modify or progress the workouts (or ask your trainer to do so) as appropriate for you.  You can complete these workouts using any cardio or body weight modality of your choice.  Aim to match the recommended training zones.  Important:  Cool down for 5 to 10 minutes in the blue and gray zones following your workout.

Tempo Pyramid Workout (33 minutes, 100 MEPs):

After your warm-up:

High Intensity Interval Workout (31 minutes; 100 MEPs):

A heads up:  At first, your recovery might take longer than one minute to get down from the yellow zone into the green zone.  We recommend waiting until you recover to the green zone before going back up into the yellow.  For example, say it takes you a minute and a half to recover back down into the green after spending a minute in the yellow.  Cool.  Wait for that minute and a half until you hit green, then go back up into yellow for the next minute-long interval.  

Eventually, your heart rate recovery will improve and you will drop back down into the green much faster following an effort in the yellow or red.  Check out our Fitness Friday Periscope broadcast about heart rate recovery to learn more.

After your warm-up:

This workout is a beast with four efforts in yellow at 1 minute and four efforts in yellow/red at 2 minutes.  You can always start with doing one or two yellow efforts and one or two yellow/red efforts and then work up to doing all four efforts.  Again, listen to your body.

We’d love to see you doing these heart-pumping workouts!  Post your actions shots and/or your move profile to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and hashtag: #myzone #myzonemoves #effortrewarded #heartmonth #hearthealth.  Keep moving forward!