Training

Learning to Back Flip: My Attempt at Overcoming Fears and Unlocking My Potential

Back in December, goodnessknows approached me with a challenge: try something new in the first 30 days of 2017 that helps you work towards the person you want to be.

Basically, try something that will help unlock your potential.

And sure, I could have chosen something small, something that would have helped me grow as a person on a daily basis. But I wanted to go bigger. I wanted to tackle a fear that had been holding me back for a while—so I chose to learn to do a back flip.

So why a back flip?

As many of you know, I have zero gymnastics background. Due to many reasons, I’ve always had a fear of going backwards—while back flips and back handsprings come naturally to some, they’ve always been about the scariest thing possible for me. Even attempting to work towards a skill like a back flip is something that even just a few years ago I would have been way too scared to even try. I would have thought it was impossible.

Tackling a big fear like this is my way of proving to myself that I don’t let my fears control me and that I am strong and capable (even if I fail a lot).

In partnership with goodnessknows and their awesome snack squares, here’s my journey to learning to back flip:

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Why You Should Work Out Even Harder

I don’t know about you guys, but when I work out, I work out hard.

Yes, I know there are times when going slower is necessary. After all, you can’t exactly learn to handstand by going full speed—you have to be patient and go slow to master the balance needed to hold your body in position upside down.

But most of the time, my favorite workouts are the ones that leave me dripping in sweat. The ones where I’m punching, jumping, or sprinting as hard as I can (and don’t forget about burpees!).

These are the workouts that leave me gasping for air and sweat dripping down my face.

These workouts leave my muscles burning, feeling like I couldn’t push past another rep even if I wanted to.

And these are also the workouts that make me feel absolutely awesome. Like I-can-conquer-the-world-and-go-after-all-of-my-dreams awesome.

Proving to yourself that you can absolutely crush your workout makes you feel like you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. And there’s nothing more satisfying than that.

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Why I Fell in Love With Handstands

Those of you who have been following 12MA for a while now might remember that even just a little over six years ago, I could barely do a single push up.

And sure, these days I can bust out enough push ups, pull ups, and single leg squats to make my former self proud, yet I never take that strength for granted.

I remember what it felt like to barely be able to hoist my suitcase over my head on an airplane, and the feeling of embarrassment and reddening of my cheeks as I held the entire airplane up. I remember how I would struggle during a hike or get incredibly anxious before trying a new sport or activity because I was so worried I’d be the weakest, the least skilled, the most out of shape person out there.

Which is why deciding I really, really wanted to learn to do a a handstand was such a big, scary, yet incredibly meaningful step for me.

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7 HIIT Workouts to Help You Work Off Holiday Treats

 

During the holiday season, there’s no doubt that it can be difficult at times to stay on track with eating well and working out consistently.

To help you stay on your healthy eating and training track, we’ve put together seven quick HIIT workouts that you can do almost anywhere.

We tend to indulge more than usual anyway during the holidays, so staying on track with our workouts is even more important than usual.

Because many of us are traveling, five of these workouts are totally equipment-free, ensuring that you have no real reason to skip your workouts!

Also, because there many of you are probably surrounded by piles of snow, the workouts we put together for you can be easily done inside. There’s no jump roping or medicine ball slamming involved.

However, they do involve some totally apartment-friendly pull ups, which you can easily do if you have a doorway pull up bar. And if you don’t have it yet, you may want to ask one for Christmas 🙂

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7 Boxing Workouts to Burn Fat and Get Fit

 

I’ve mentioned before how much I love boxing and try to include boxing and kickboxing-related exercises in my workouts at least once or twice a week.

Not only is it a great calorie torcher, it’s one of the best stress relievers ever and will leave you sweaty and exhausted in a short amount of time (my favorite type of workout).

If you usually skip any boxing workouts on the site or in the app because you don’t have a punching bag, don’t! Even if you don’t have your own punching bag at home or access to one at the gym, boxing can still help you burn fat and get fit.

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Why You Should Learn to Do Pistol Squats

Do you press the “Next” button on your 12 Minute Athlete workouts app every time the workout calls for pistol squats? If so, it’s time to change that and learn to do pistols!

If you’ve been reading 12 Minute Athlete for a while now, you know that in addition to super quick and sweaty HIIT workouts we also love more advanced bodyweight and skill exercises. For example, last September, we did a 30-day pistol squat challenge and earlier this year, a 6-week handstand challenge.

But today, let’s talk about pistols.

Anyone Can Do Pistols–But It Takes Work

Pretty much anyone can do a quick 12 minute workout, which is why we absolutely love HIIT training. But tougher strength and skill exercises like pistol squats are not super easy to do right away.

I remember when I first got interested in pistols and tried to do a few—they were so terrible that I was absolutely sure I would never be able to do them. I wasn’t even close. I have long limbs and it’s there’s no question that pistols are harder for tall people.

But although I made being tall my excuse for a while, I soon realized that there are tons of tall people out there who can do pistol squats. Since I don’t like excuses, I quickly became determined and decided that I would be able to do them one day.

The bigger the challenge, the greater the reward. 

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5 Ways to Get Through a Tough Workout

Hey athletes! I was asked to participate in the #WorkForIt #EASPartner campaign, sponsored by EAS Sports Nutrition at Walgreens. Although I have been compensated, all opinions are my own.

There’s no question about it, the workouts we do on 12 Minute Athlete are tough.

It’s much easier to make up excuses to skip a workout and sit in the couch instead—and that’s what a lot of people do.

But not us. We are athletes, and we push through it, no matter what.

We sweat. We struggle. We work hard.

But that doesn’t mean we always look forward to our workouts. Sometimes, even we want to join the couch potatoes and do anything but train hard.

On days like those, we all need a little extra motivation. In partnership with the #WorkForIt #EASPartner campaign, here are 5 ways to get through a tough workout:

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How to Get Started Training With Rings

 

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably never thought about, let alone tried training with gymnastic rings.

But you should! Rings are not as intimidating as they look, and training with them not only makes you feel like a badass, it’s actually a lot of fun.

You’ve probably seen on TV (or perhaps at a Cirque de Soleil show) these awesome, insanely ripped and strong Olympic and other athletes doing all kinds of crazy things on rings (your next chance to see this comes soon, because the Rio Olympics are kicking off in August!). But if it has never even crossed your mind to try gymnastic rings out for yourself, I’d like to convince you that you should.

Why You’ve Never Thought About Giving Rings a Try

There a few reasons why you’ve probably never tried working out with rings. Let me guess…

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How to Balance Your Skill Practice and Regular Workouts

For those of you with a lot of fitness goals, knowing how and when to work on skills on top of your regular HIIT training or other workouts can definitely be a challenge.

Because while it’s awesome to include exercises like pull ups, pistols, and handstand push ups into your regular HIIT, AMRAP, or time challenge workouts, if you really want to build up a new skill, you’re going to have to commit some extra time and focus in order to really master it.

For example, here are some of the skills I’m working on right now:

  • Front and back walkovers
  • Handstand presses
  • Human flags
  • Tumbling (front + back handsprings, front + back tucks, headsprings)

These days, I continue to keep my regular workouts short, yet I commit extra time several days a week to working on these and other skills solely because I find it fun and rewarding to go after new challenges.

So what’s the best way to work on new skills without adding too much more time to your workout schedule and putting yourself at risk for overtraining? Here are the tips that have helped me the most over my fitness journey:

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7 HIIT Workouts To Do Before Summer Hits

 

We’re well into spring by now and summer is right around the corner, which means longer days, warmer temperatures, and hopefully a lot of quality time outside doing all kinds of fun things.

To get you ready for all the fun summer activities, we’ve put together seven challenging workouts in partnership with SYMYX ELEVATE that will help you to get super strong, boost your conditioning, and improve your confidence before summer rolls around.

Why Does Being in Good Shape For Summer Matter?

Although there’s no reason not to be in great shape all year long, most of us want to be especially fit in the summer when there’s so much going on (and let’s be honest, it’s also great to feel good about how you look). Being strong and fit lets you enjoy all the fun summer activities and so much more.

Strength matters! From rock climbing to strenuous hikes to stand-up paddle boarding—whatever you try in these upcoming warmer months, you’ll need your body to be strong and capable, and working out hard now is the best way to make sure of that.

You also don’t want to get exhausted after just a short time doing these types of activities, so you better get your heart pumping now with some cardio.

And no, I don’t mean that you have to go and run for two hours—I personally would never go for a long run. There are better ways, like doing HIIT a few times a week!

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