After a 20 minute warm up on the elliptical, I went on to complete a circuit workout that concentrated mostly on total-body strength exercises.
My workout looked like this:
The second circuit kicked my booty. Fifty mountain climbers is no joke!
I need to do more circuit workouts. They keep me interested and breathing heavy. Plus, the variety keeps my body guessing which is always a good thing since I seem to get caught in an exercise rut all too easily.
Breakfast
After braving a serious thunderstorm that rolled in while we were at the gym, we made it home and sat down to a comforting breakfast.
A two-egg sandwich with cheese and jelly plus apple slices!
The cool, crisp apple was a perfect addition to my typical egg sandwich. Mmm!
Time to get crackin’ on a freelance project! I’m writing about seafood for a summer publication. Talk about planning ahead!
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Might be a silly question, but do you count one mountain climber as one knee in, or as both left and right knee in? I usually do mountain climbers by time rather than counting.
both knees in = one
you did mountain climbers after deadlifts? I can’t decide whether you love or hate your ass. My guess is that it doesn’t get sat on much.
i actually feel mountain climbers way more in my shoulders than my butt!
Mm..that english muffin looks good. I haven’t had those in such a long time! Good luck with your freelance post 🙂
Love the new “Pin It” button under your workouts! Sounds like a true Pinterest fan 🙂 It’s such a helpful way to keep random workouts you come across all in one place!
thanks! i just added it today! 🙂
How do you make up your workouts? You seem to just decide when you are at the gym. I’d like to follow a specific written program and thought about Jamie Eason’s 12 week trainer program,but I notice it requires 6 days in the gym later and a lot of complex gym equipment. I like to keep things simple but would like to also have strength and lean muscle. A written plan to focus on from week to week would be nice. Do you have suggestions for this?
i typically write down an idea for a circuit before the gym and keep it in my gym bag for whenever i am in the mood to do it! i also need some kind of direction.
Sounds like a great workout Julie!! I did a mostly upper-body focused workout today and I’m already feeling it. Good luck with your freelance article… any chance you’re writing about salmon? 😉
ha! not salmon exclusively, but it will be highlighted!
Ughhhh mountain climbers! They hurt so good! The only thing I hate worse than those are Burpees!
I need to save this workout! I tend to look to you for strength training inspiration because i have no idea what I’m doing in the weight room of the gym. I definitely need to look up mountain climbers, although I thinkkk I have an idea what they are.
if you click the link in the above post, it will take you to a youtube video where a trainer demonstrated them!
I love mountain climbers and burpees!! SO hard 🙂 Especially right after each other.
WOrkouts are so great when they are shooken up a bit, ya know! Nice.
Adding circuit training to my repertoire was one of the best things I’ve ever done for my body! My class members love it. I’ll have to give yours a go!
Julie!! I have a question about your warmup’s before you weight lift, etc. So I too drag myself out of bed at 5AM to exercise and up until this week have never done any cardio prior to working out–I always had the misconception that I would not be able to push as hard during my weight’s circuit if I did…but I started running a fast 2 miles everyday before my workout, and so far so good, but I always feel like I can’t lift as much with my legs…so I guess what I am asking is if your 20 min’s on the elliptical is intense, or just moderate? Thanks!!
it’s moderate!
I love the pin it button! Also, I am probs the only ocd freak who noticed but the link in your tweet took me to some website about cloud cost efficiency or something! A good laugh when I was expecting a work out post! Needless to say I found your post anyway! haha
thank you! i don’t know how that happened!
I love the pin it button under your workout. Very convenient. I love the idea of doing your chest press on a stability ball. I hate crunches and love finding sneaky ways to include abs in my workouts.
I love the workout! I’ve been trying to incorporate more strength training lately!
mountain climbers are KILLER. they get my heart rate racing like nothing else!
I have a love/hate relationship mountain climbers…although the hate part seems to take up a larger fraction ;)!
Impressive, killer workout!
I LOVE circuit workouts. They’re definitely my favorite way to get in a great workout. I love the looks of this one! I’ll have to try it out.
I love love love the pin it option! Makes it easer to track down various workouts right before hitting the gym.
Love the new pin option!
Wow, you are amazing with your workouts!! That breakfast looks awesome! 🙂
I love the workouts that you post! When I’m feeling uninspired before I hit the gym, I know I can come here and find an easy to follow workout for the day. Thanks!
I can’t wait for my marathon to be over so I can start doing more workout like this one! I’ll have to pin it as a reminder 🙂
Your freelance work always sounds like fun. 🙂
Love the use of the Pin it button! That workout will def make the rounds!
Circuit workouts are becoming one of my favorite things. They are definitely harder than just jumping on the elliptical for 40 minutes. I did a boot camp yesterday and can feel the burn so much more than normal!
Awesome workout, Julie! I love mountain climbers. Don’t you feel like such a beast when you’re done?! 😉
I LOVE circuit work outs, short and sweet. Most of the time I’m over before I know it and usually wanting more. That and running are my go to workouts 🙂
Your breakfasts always look so yummy!
I have been wanting to shake up my work out routine as well! I feel I am getting a bit bored. I think today I am going to try a new interval workout on the treadmill!
hi julie! That pic of your breakfast looks absolutely yummy and got me craving eggs! How do you get them so crispy though? Do you use butter/mar/oil to fry them first and then add the cheese? Asking you because mine never look so good!
Ohh that breakfast looks so tasty! Glad you made it home safe in a thunderstorm, that is never fun!
That looks a great circuit workout! I love circuits too because they keep things fresh and are so challenging. Mountain climbers are the beast, though. Ouch!
No procrastination for you haha! Already writing summer articles before it’s even winter.
My issue with mountain climbers is that I have to pause every so often to pull my shirt back down. Though I might do it a little more frequently than necessary just to give myself a little break… 🙂
I’m taking this workout verbatim today! Question, did you do the hamstring ball curls with a large medicine ball on your stomach? I think that’s how I do them!
Haha I just posted about a circuit workout! I love them 😀 Yours looks awesomeee!
Circuit training is fabulous!!
I definitely need to get some circuit training in, it really does get your heart pumping. Haha I guess I’m almost nervous to add it in since I’ve never done circuit training on my own before!
Just wanted to pop in to say that I did Ryan’s Shoulder Move on Tues night at the gym. I can definitely see how it hits the entire shoulder and would help to add that nice cut right above the bicep and below the shoulder. Yay for buff arms! I’m also trying to do push ups daily thanks to Caitlin HTP’s little challenge.
OOH this workout looks awesome! I might have to try this out tonight!
Did this workout today with a little something extra… in the middle of the 2 circuits we added 8 sets of sprints on the treadmill of 20 secs on/ 10 sec rest!
I work at a magazine and we’re doing Easter! It freaks me out when it is only November! Might try your circuit work out next week, I have my first race on Sunday so dont want to tire my muscles out before it!