7 HIIT Workouts You Can Do With Nothing But a Jump Rope

 

I’ve been traveling a ton this summer, going everywhere from Portland, OR to San Diego. It’s been a lot of fun, but it also means that 99% of the time when I’m gone I don’t have access to a gym.

But I don’t let that stop me from working out every single day (minus one rest day a week, of course). Whenever I travel for work or play I bring a jump rope with me because I know that no matter what else I have available to me, I’ll always be able to get a good workout using a jump rope (of course I also can with zero equipment, but a jump rope allows me to be a little bit more creative).

Here are 7 workouts you can do using nothing but a jump rope:

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10 Reasons Why I Love Boxing So Dang Much

 

Most of you have probably noticed by now that I’m slowly starting to incorporate more boxing and kickboxing exercises into the regular HIIT workouts on the site.

It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do since I first started 12 Minute Athlete, but in an effort to keep things simple at first I decided to wait until people got more used to the workouts before I started expanding the exercises and equipment by too much.

So in an effort to start convincing the skeptics among you, here are 10 reasons why I love boxing so dang much (and why I hope you will too):

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How to Eat Healthy When Eating Out

 

I live in San Francisco, one of the coolest (in my opinion) cities in the U.S., and it’s absolutely packed with amazing restaurants.

Yes, I know that when I eat at home, it’s usually healthier since I can control exactly what goes into my meals. But really, what’s the point of living somewhere like San Francisco if you can’t experience all the great food it has to offer?

And that’s the conundrum that so many people experience when they’re trying to get in shape or meet their health and fitness goals. They know they should be eating healthy… but they also really love eating out.

And so do I.

In fact, that’s one of my biggest problems with bodybuilding-style fitness and nutrition approaches: they’re incredibly restrictive, and more often than not completely limit your ability to eat outside of your home.

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Founder of A Shot of Adrenaline, Todd Kuslikis, Talks Strength Building, Goal Setting, and Progressing With Bodyweight Training

 

Todd Kuslikis is the founder of A Shot of Adrenaline—an awesome site focused on getting fit and healthy through bodyweight training.

I’ve been a fan of Todd’s for a while now, and am in serious awe of his ability to do crazy tough bodyweight exercises like freestanding handstand push ups, muscle ups and levers. Recently, I was lucky enough to interview him about his own progress with bodyweight training and how he recommends others approach mastering their own body weight.

Here’s what Todd had to say:

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How to Practice Candlestick Rolls to Get Better at Pistols

 

Pistols are one of those crazy hard bodyweight exercises that require extreme levels of strength, balance, mobility, and coordination, making them tough for people of all fitness levels.

So in today’s video, I’m going to show you how to get better at pistols by practicing your candlestick pistol rolls.

You’ll want to start by first practicing a basic candlestick roll, so that you can get a sense of how the movement should feel before transitioning into pistol candlestick rolls. This will help you figure out the movement and the momentum needed to get yourself up off the ground back onto your feet.

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25 Mantras to Get You Through 100 Burpees

 

There’s no question about it: doing 100 burpees in a row is tough.

It doesn’t matter how fit you are, or how many burpees you do on a regular basis—there’s just something about doing 100 in a row that’s not only physically hard, but incredibly mentally challenging as well.

Honestly, as many times as I’ve done 100 burpees now, it’s still really hard for me. The morning I know that’s going to be my workout for the day, I secretly dread them and find as many ways to procrastinate actually doing them as possible. And that moment before I hit the GO button on the stopwatch? I get butterflies in my stomach even thinking about it.

That’s why I’m so incredibly proud of so many of you for getting past those mental and physical hurdles and doing the 100 burpee challenge every month. It’s not easy, and no matter how fast you’re able to do them, you should be proud of yourself for even attempting them!

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The 5 Best Stretches for Tight Hamstrings

One of the things that holds a lot of people back from doing moves like L-sits and pistols actually has nothing to do with strength. Instead, it has to do with a lack of hamstring flexibility.

When your hamstrings (the back of your legs) are tight, they may not only stop you from doing these types of fun and advanced exercises, they can also cause unnecessary pain and even injuries. That’s why working on your hamstring flexibility and foam rolling on a regular basis is so important—especially if you work out a lot like I do.

If you hate and/or procrastinate stretching on a regular basis, trust me, I understand. Stretching is not something I look forward to, partly because it just plain hurts! But, it’s incredibly important to do to keep your muscles healthy and injury-free, and will definitely help you improve at certain exercises as well.

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4 Drills You Can Do To Get Stronger and Better at Handstands

 

You might have noticed that I talk about handstands quite a bit on the site—and if you follow me on Instagram, you probably see that I actually do them pretty often as well.

That’s because handstands are one of the best possible exercises you can do—not only do they build immense amounts of upper body and core strength, they’re great for balance and challenge you mentally like crazy.

Yet there’s no doubt about it: handstands are hard. If you’re not strong enough to hold them much at all yet they can be extremely frustrating, and the balance part of handstands is ridiculously challenging, even for people who have worked on them for years.

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Cool New Archives, Gear Shop, Bodyweight Bundle And More!

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You may not have noticed quite yet, but there’s been some really cool stuff going on behind the scenes lately here at 12 Minute Athlete.

I just wanted to share some updates with you so you’ll know about everything going on. We’re constantly working hard to make the site and apps as awesome as they can possibly be, and there’s been some really cool stuff that you won’t want to miss!

Check out the latest updates:

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11 HIIT Workouts Perfect For Your Summer Vacation (No Excuses!)

 

There’s no question about it: once summer rolls around, it’s all too easy to get lazy and start skipping your workouts.

When you’re out of your normal routine and have to choose between a cold beer by the pool, or a workout and then a beer by the pool, a lot of people will just go straight to the pool and miss their workout altogether—which can then lead to bad workout habits later on.

But it doesn’t have to be that way! You can work out on vacation, even if you have very little space or equipment.

One of the best things you can do when you’re traveling is to bring a jump rope with you wherever you go—not only is it an awesome tool to add complexity to your workouts, it also takes up very little space and can be shoved in even the tiniest suitcase, no problem.

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