Fitness at home: High intensity wake up workout

Here he talks us through some home workouts that you can do during the current UK lockdown.

Lockdown is getting tough isn’t it? It feels like we’ve got to a really weird point, where we are through the initial phase but there is no end in sight. That’s a difficult place to be and I know I am finding it tough, as are many others. It can be really hard to focus the mind but its important to try and stay positive.

We’ve found routine helps, just keeping a little bit of structure can help maintain well-being. Find whatever you can that helps you with this, whether its getting up at the same time every day, following a set-routine for working at home or even just eating meals at regular times.

Of course, exercise is a big part of this and having something to focus on (or dare I say look forward to) will help get you through the day. Get yourself out and about if you safely can, take in a bit of fresh air on a run or cycle and use whatever you can to work out at home. It can be hard to motivate yourself on your own, so if you’re looking for something more structured, have a look online for a huge variety of classes that you can follow.

We’ve got different ones daily on our Elevate Instagram (@elevatefitnessukgym) or Facebook (@elevate_fitness_uk) and there are loads of other great trainers out there too.

With that in mind, this week I thought we’d do a routine to wake you up. It’s high intensity!

Like other weeks, I’ve put it together for people to do without any equipment and you just need a small space to do it in.

Warm Up

If you’ve been reading these columns or following our classes, you’ll know we take this part seriously.

Part 1

We’re going to split this routine into 2 parts. The first part is focusing mainly on the legs and lower body and is about pushing yourself to achieve as many reps as you can. We’re going to do this as 60 seconds of work, 30 seconds rest, repeated across 3 exercises. The aim is to do a minimum of 4 rounds, with the ideal amount to be 6. For clarity, a round is 60 seconds exercise (20 seconds of each) and 30 seconds of rest.

Air Squats – 20 seconds

Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, squat in a smooth movement. As you bring your hips down, make sure you sit back into your heels and keep your chest as upright as possible. Try to get your thighs parallel to the floor, or as far down as you can go.

Lunges – 20 seconds

We’ve been using these a bit recently, so you should know getting used to them. From a standing start, step forward with 1 leg and lower your hips until both knees are bent at a 90degree angle. To maintain the right shape, don’t let your front knee go out past your toes and keep your back knee down towards the floor. Keep your upper body nice and upright throughout, looking forward and staying strong through the trunk.

Squat Jumps – 20 seconds

Air squats with an added explosion, stand with your feet shoulder length apart and hinge at the hips to bring your thighs parallel to the floor. As you get down, push from your feet off the floor, as high as you can jump. On landing, allow your knees to bend and come down into the squat to then explode up in the jump. Repeat for as many as you can in the 20 seconds!

Part 2

Ready for the second part? That’s got you going but this is the real workout. Here we’re going to go for 3 different exercises which are repeated twice in the workout (at increased intensity of course).

Once you’ve completed the whole cycle it’s a minute rest before going again. So this is what it looks like:

10 x Press Ups

5 x Burpees

30 seconds Pogos

15 x Press Ups

10 x Burpees

60 seconds Pogos

Got it? All of that is one round and we’re going to aim for a minimum of 3 rounds, ideally 5 if you can. Each person will work at their own speed, there is a lot to do here it so its just as important to focus on good technique as rattling through the routine.

Press Ups

Start in either a full press up position or on your knees if you need to. Bend at the elbows and bring your chest as low as you can. Keep your hips and weight forward and make sure your head goes forward, ahead of your hands. Remember we’re doing a set amount of these, so its not about speed its about getting the best technique to work your muscles.

Burpees

Of course we would have these in. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Bend your hips and knees into a squatting position and place your hands on the floor, kicking your feet back into a plank position drop your chest to the floor, all in one fluid movement. Then when you’ve got your chest down, press up with your arms and jump your feet forward, bringing the body up and jumping straight upwards to finish the move. That’s one done, 4 (or 9!) more to go.

Pogos

From a standing positioning, jump as high as you can with very minimal knee bend. The best way to do complete each jump is working with your ankles rather than the hips or knees. As soon as you hit the ground, bounce back up as quickly as possible on each jump - don’t let heels touch the floor, stay on the balls of your feet. Keep going for the full time limit.

Warm down

This is important after the work out you’ve just done. Walk things off where you can, have a drink and enjoy the buzz you’ve got from all that effort. I hope you’ve enjoyed this workout and its helped pick the mood back up and focused the mind.

If you want to see more of our workouts, either live or recorded, check out our Facebook @elevatefitnessukgym and Instagram pages @elevate_fitness_uk They’re free and available to everyone – we’ve got a great community at Elevate so come and join us!