4th of July 100 Burpee Challenge (And Corinna on Getting Back in Shape After Having a Baby)

100 burpee challenge

It’s time for another 100 burpee challenge!

I have no doubt that this is going to be tough for some people—it is Fourth of July weekend, after all.

But holidays are no excuse for not getting your workout in—just get it done early in the day and you can spend the rest of your time watching fireworks, barbecuing, hanging out with your family, or doing whatever else you do this weekend.

You’ve got this, athletes!

Before I remind you of the 100 burpee challenge contest rules, I wanted to check in with Corinna, a seriously awesome 12 Minute Athlete reader, personal trainer in Australia and recent new mom.

Corinna had her son Hugo 7 months ago, and although it hasn’t always been easy, has made incredible progress ever since. She recently knocked her 100 burpee time down by 4:03—seriously inspiring!

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New Year’s Resolution Check-In (Six Months!)

We’re now officially halfway through the year.

I know, where has the time gone? I swear, the more I want to accomplish, the faster time goes by. Crazy how that works.

At the beginning of the year, I promised to check in with you every three months to see how your progress was going and to help keep you accountable for your resolutions. Well, April has already passed us by, and now we’re into July.

So how are you doing with your goals for the year?

Are you making progress? Feeling discouraged? Or have you forgotten about them altogether?

If that’s the case, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most people forget about their New Year’s resolutions within just a couple of weeks. The good news? You still have time.

We still have six months of 2014 to accomplish all our goals!

But first, let’s take a look at how you should have created your goals in the first place—and whether you might want to reevaluate your goals for this year.

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17 Things That Don’t Feel Like Exercise (But Actually Are)

Not too long ago, I picked up a skateboard for the first time since 8th grade.

By the end of the afternoon, I was admittedly a little tired, and even had broke a sweat. But I didn’t think anything of it—it was just so much fun.

The next day, I was shocked—my legs were actually sore, and I’d only done a moderate leg workout the day before. My calves hurt, and so did my quads. I racked my brain for what I’d done the day before to cause the level of soreness I was experiencing. And then I figured it out: it was the skateboarding!

By skating, I’d actually been exercising without even realizing it.

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Are Cool Downs Really Necessary?

 

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been told for most of your life (especially if you were a high school athlete) that you need to cool down after you exercise.

I specifically remember being told this after my soccer games as a teenager or even in P.E. after running sprints. My coach told me I could not sit down, no matter what—even though all I wanted to do was lie there in a heap of sweat and exhaustion.

Later on, when I studied for my personal training certification, I quickly realized there was a general consensus among trainers about how to properly go about working out: a 10-minute or so warmup, a 45-minute-ish workout, and a 5-10 minute cool down. Now don’t get me started on the warmup/workout time (I’ll save those for another post)—today I just want to focus on the cool down, and whether this consensus is actual science that you need to follow.

So what happens when you skip the cool down completely after your workout (as many of us no doubt do)? And are cool downs really necessary?

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How to Build the Ultimate Home Gym

 

I really, truly believe that you can get an awesome workout using absolutely ZERO equipment.

You’ll see these types of workouts appear regularly on 12 Minute Athlete, and can find examples of them here, here, and here. But if you’re really set on ditching your gym membership and want to do the home workout thing, you’ll probably want to slowly build up your equipment and set up a space that keeps you feeling motivated and ready to work as hard as you can.

Now, unless you don’t live in a tiny apartment or in a city, you probably don’t have a dedicated space you can carve out solely for your home gym. I definitely didn’t until I got lucky and was able to claim a space in my garage in my latest home. But you can still create an awesome home gym even if you have to put everything away every time you use it.

Here are what I consider to be the essential items, nice to have items, and recovery gear every home gym should have:

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100 Burpee Challenge (And How Erin Knocked Almost 5 Minutes Off Her Time)

Tomorrow is the official start of the June 100 burpee challenge. Time to get excited!

But before getting you guys fired up to do the challenge, I first wanted to check in with Erin, last month’s contest winner. Erin knocked an impressive 4:29 off her 100 burpee time from April to May, so I thought it’d be pretty motivating to check in with her and see how she did it.

Because remember, while aspiring to reach a certain time at some point along your fitness journey awesome, it’s really all about YOUR improvement and how hard you can keep pushing yourself to get better and fitter than ever before.

First, let’s check in with Erin:

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How to Get a Really Strong Core With L-Sits

 

L-sits are one of those exercises that if you’ve never actually tried them before, look pretty, well, doable.

All you have to do is hold yourself up with your arms, straighten your legs and BAM—you’re in an L-sit. But in reality, they’re much more difficult than they sound.

I can clearly remember my first time trying an L-sit—I was at a bar in New York City with a few other trainer friends of mine, and the guys were demonstrating their L-sit skills off of a pool table (yeah, showoffs). I hadn’t been a trainer for very long at that point and hadn’t really ever seen one done, but I gave it a shot and completely failed.

I remember making up some excuse that my arms were too long or something like that—but looking back, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I simply wasn’t strong enough to do them.

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4 Common Excuses Not to Work Out (And How to Push Through Them)

Let’s face it, we’re all pretty good at making excuses not to work out at times.

And while it’s certainly important to listen to your body and take a rest day when you need it, most people end up taking more rest than they actually need—not because their body is asking for it, but because they keep finding excuses not to work out.

But you’re not going to let excuses stop you, are you? Because you’re awesome and you’re a total badass. Excuses won’t hold you back!

Here are 4 common excuses not to work out, and how to push through them every time:

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12 Minute Athlete Now on Android!

12 Minute Athlete Android app

It’s here!!! 12 Minute Athlete is now on Android.

After months and months of emails from you guys asking when the 12 Minute Athlete app is going to be available for non-iPhone users, the Android app is finally here.

I’m not going to lie, I definitely did more than a few celebratory handstands to celebrate. And made some protein pancakes, because, what better way to celebrate than with protein pancakes?

Of course, it only took about six months longer than I’d hoped. Who knew it was so difficult to translate an iPhone app into an Android version? All those screen sizes make it so much harder!

But, after months of frustration, crazy amounts of testing, and of course, lots of love, the 12 Minute Athlete HIIT Workouts app is officially in the Google Play store TODAY.

Get the Android app!

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You Can’t Fake Sweat

Note: This is a guest post by Thad Peterson from You Can’t Fake Sweat.

Working out sucks.

Burpees make my heart pound and light my lungs on fire. Wall balls make my legs burn. Crunches make my stomach quiver.

More often than not, when I’m in the middle of a hard workout, I just want it to be over. I want more air in my lungs. I want my heart to stop pounding against my chest. I want the pain to go away.

And even when it’s finally over, I am left there sweating. Dripping wet.

That means my clothes are left soaked with perspiration. Which means more laundry to do. I hate doing laundry.

Yet that feeling of sweat pouring down my face is perhaps the most glorious sensation I know. I love sweat.

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