15 MINUTE Runners Legs Workout

This is a continuing series, please scroll past the exercise theory to get to the exercises if you have read this before.

Types of Exercise

There are five basic types of exercise that we utilize in our boot camps, these exercise categories include:

• Resistance Training - Develops strength and power and endurance to a lesser degree. Examples: Push ups, pull ups, sit ups, body squats, any exercise using benches, curbs or walls.
• Cardiovascular Training - Develops heart and lung efficiency and endurance. Examples: Running, hill repeats, plank relays, indian runs, jumping jacks, or any activities that we do at an elevated heart rate for an extended period of time, such as the Parkour Boot Camps or Super Sweatdowns where we don't let you fully recover to a resting heart rate.
• Agility and Speed Training - Develops fast movement and precision reflexes. Examples: Sprints, running sideways or backwards, curb exercises and Plyo Box or bench work, shuffles, martial arts movements.
• Plyometrics - Develops power in movement and resilience. Examples: Vertical jumps, long jumps, medicine ball exercises, hopping, skipping.
• Stretching - Develops flexibility. Examples: Hurdler’s stretch, most yoga poses, toe touches. Stretching can be done in many ways but we concentrate on dynamic or movement based stretching before exercise and static or non-movement based stretches post exercise. Follow our usual stretching protocol for all workouts.

Exercise Order

Exercise order is very important, so if I give you a list of exercises, please follow the order or their is a possibility of injury or you just won't get the full benefit of the workout. Generally speaking here is the order we follow in most boot camps:

1. We start with a basic dynamic stretching warm up and then move to low rep esistance exercises, which require more control and effort, and slowly work toward cardiovascular exercise, which consumes energy too quickly to do before resistance work. When we include power exercises such as plyometrics and speed and agility training, we schedule them in that order between resistance and cardio exercises in order to ensure the best performance and highest intensity for each exercise.
2. Remember to break periodically to catch your breath. We generally utilize 20/10 and 30/10 intervals and 60 to 90 second run periods between stations for Parkour workouts.
3. After a warm up, start with some low intensity exercise before you get into high intensity work. Alternate between high and low intensity periods and end with a low intensity period before the cool down at the end.

Core Fitness Fall into Winbter Circuit

Circuit training is another way to break down large quantities of repetitions while keeping the intensity high. In a circuit, several exercises are scheduled in rapid succession with only a few reps of each. In this circuit you are not allowed to rest between exercises. Use a 30/30 Interval and follow the exercise order precisely. Take a 60 second rest period after completing all the exercises in the circuit this may be walking or standing.

Circuit #1 (Performed on bench seat)

Tabata Intervals to be repeated 3 times before moving to the next exercise:

• Split Squat right toes on bench, left foot down - 3 x 20 seconds
• Pulsing Split Squat right toes on bench, left foot down - 3 x 20 seconds
• Deep Super Lunges, Left foot on bench seat, deep bend in right leg lunging right knee up to stomach - 3x 20 Seconds

Circuit #2 Same as number one but performed on right foot.

Circuit #3

Tabata Interval to be repeated 1 time through before repeating circuit:

• Running High Knee March - 1x20 Seconds
• High Knee Jumps- 1x20 Seconds
• Box Jumps - 1x20 Seconds

Cool down with walking for 30 to 60 seconds and then some static stretching. If you'd like to make this a longer workout you can turn it into a Parkour workout. All you need to do is jog from one bench area to another inbetween the circuit workouts. If this is too intense you can switch the intervals to 30/10, which will give you a little rest period inbetween each exercise.

I hope you enjoy the workout and we'll see you when we get back!

Best,

Rachel and Justin