Inspired by more positive news regarding vaccines and an overall improving situation, I decided it was safe to once again celebrate spring, that time of year when we come out of hibernation. And what a hibernation it has been. Spring Training Total Body Intervals was designed to combat months of lockdown lethargy. Produced for Poolfit as an in-home workout, instructors who teach in the studio can also take away some ideas for their classes.
Poolfit is Fitmotivation’s sister site and was designed for fitness enthusiasts who want to exercise in their own pool. However, exercising in the pool is not always possible due to the weather or other unforeseen issues. Therefore, we started an in-home training series that would allow subscribers to substitute an in-home workout for those days they can’t get in the pool.
Lockdown Workouts
The inspiration for this video was my own experience over the past year with COVID lockdowns. It has been exactly one year since I have exercised in a gym. I do hope to return soon, but it has been by personal choice to reduce my risks. Consequently, I had to discipline myself to do resistance training at home after more than 30 years of morning workouts in the gym. Amazingly, I did pretty good disciplining myself and even created a split training routine similar to what I do in the gym. Day One: chest, shoulders & triceps. Day Two: back, biceps & abs. Day Three: legs. On a typical day I would either combine the resistance training with a pool workout or 30 minutes of power walking.
Equipment
The equipment I have been using at home includes rubberized tubing, hand weights and a stability ball. All of the equipment (except the 20lb hand weights) is available in the Poolfit Marketplace, which is an Amazon affiliate. The tubing is secured into the opening of a door jamb with a door anchor. The tubing I use in the video – REEHUT Resistance Tubing – came with the door anchor included. The 8lb hand weights I am using are the Debonia brand and include weight ranges from 3lbs to 15lbs. Wanting to challenge myself, I ordered a 20lb set of weights with a company called RitFit. The shipping was free and the weights arrived promptly. The stability ball I used in the video is by BalanceFrom and you honestly cannot beat the price. It even comes with a hand pump. A fitness mat is also good to have on hand as some of the exercises are performed on the floor. WATCH Mark talk more about equipment options.
Pre-cued Tabata Playlists
Despite my best efforts, I found myself getting bored with the resistance training workouts a couple months ago. Boredom typically manifests itself in extra long breaks between exercises, which is never good because then I start thinking about the problems du jour and everything I need to do. And that never bodes well for productive exercise. One day I decided to try exercising with a pre-cued Tabata playlist. BANG! Winner! Wow, what a difference in my motivation and performance. The fast pace keeps me engaged and the time flies by. The structure of the playlist and the 8 rounds also allows me to organize the exercises in a logical way. The playlist used in the video was Tabata 4 from Power Music’s virtual music category.
Spring Training Series
Inspired by an extra special springtime and renewed hope, I came up with the idea of posting a Spring Training series. There will definitely be a Spring Training Deep & Shallow Intervals Workout. Additionally, I am considering filming the three in-home split training routines I use for my own personal workouts. Total Body Intervals was just a sampling from these three workouts, which are much more in-depth and include other exercises for each muscle group. Your feedback is invaluable. Please let us know if you are interested in seeing these split-training in-home fitness routines. In the meantime, wishing you springtime joy and the faith the better days are truly around the corner.