Quick Effective Workout

So...let's face it some days you just do not have the time or energy to devote all of "you" time to exercising. For instance, a day like today. I was running to a playgroup at 1:15 and my son was supposed to nap at 11. As mentioned in the previous post, he's been having problems in that area. Hey we all have our issues. Needless to say, he did not go down for a nap at 11. Instead he fought exhaustion for almost an hour where he finally clunked out for only 45 min! So during this time (nap time) I had a window to workout, eat lunch, and shower. Obviously the eating and showering can happen when they are awake. There are ways...working out though gets tricky. So, my workout had to be fast and it had to be effective. Here is what I did. Please feel free to take as much or as little from this exercise as you wish or can handle, and remember to always start slow.

I did 100 lunge jumps 3x ( counting 1 after both legs had a jump) then held forearm plank for 60 sec in between. Upon the last round instead of jumping right up from my forearms, I pushed myself onto my palms, so that I was then in straight arm plank and proceeded to do 100 mountain climbers. ( Holding straight arm plank and bringing your right knee into the chest then switching to the left. ) All of this 7-10 min (max) HUGE SWEAT. Once I was finished with the mountain climbers. I brought myself into a standing forward bend holding on to the back of my calfs. This helps with calming the heart rate, and opening up the back of the body. I slowly moved into prasarita padottanasana I. (Intense straddle stretch pose) Bringing my hands to the floor between my feet to deepen the stretch. I walked my hands over to the right and placed both hands on either side of my right foot, then folded completely over right leg stretching my hands towards the floor, reaching my nose towards my feet, and squaring my hips. I repeated this on the other side. With the stretching this workout took maybe 15 min. Again very effective.

When I was first getting back into shape, I did not do as many reps. I started very simple. I did 25 lunge jumps and held plank for 60 sec in between. Also I did not include the mountain climbers right away. I slowly worked up the endurance to get there then continued to build on. So maybe you are at the stage of doing 15 to 25 and that is enough for you. It's still something, you can still break a sweat, and still make a difference in your body. Trust you feel it the next day maybe even more so then after a 2 mile run.