As mentioned earlier, I’ve been busy working on my fitness this summer.  I’ve been training for a 10k race, the first I’ve done in forever and being 40-something and just because i think it’s better for our bodies, I’ve been trying to cross-train.  So I might only run a couple times a week but I do lots of yoga in between, strength training and other cardio.  I dunno if it’s “right”, but I’ll find out when I run my race.  The bootcamp stuff is also intriguing to me.  It’s hard as hell but what a great use of time – you can really challenge your body parts in a short period of time. 

Honeybunny sent me a link to this chick,  I’m not going to ask how he found her but he wanted to know if it was real exercise – like, do people really do that?  From what I saw I said, yeah she and her sandbag are doing a real workout there.  It looks painful as heck but she says she only does it for 15 minutes per day. 

Anyhoo a friend of mine passed me some bootcamp workouts from a program she did at the gym.  And then that made me think of my own.  I have a wide stairwell that goes up to the yoga studio and always thought that there could be a lot of exercises you could do just using those two bottom stairs.  I thought of things I could steal from those step classes I did long ago, a few things from yoga and some other stuff I made up. 

The numbers here are place holders. You want to do it until you feel it in the muscles you’re working the first time around, because you do the routine twice. Here it is:

First, turn on some rockin’ dance tunes

  1. Step up to the 1st step (or jump with both feet) and do a deep squat, step down and repeat x30
  2. Step up and down the 1st step as fast as you can x50
  3. Put your foot on the 2nd step and lunge.  X20  Change sides
  4.  Step up to the 2nd, bring arms overhead and tip your body forward to Stick Pose/Warrior 3 engaging your glute (don’t hold), step down x20 total
  5.  Do full push-ups with hands wide on 2nd  step x15
  6. Turn to face the right side, left foot on 1st step.  Squat down, then with weight on left leg straighten both and lift right leg out to the side.  X20 then change sides
  7. Tricep dips from 2nd step x10
  8. Facing away from steps, put top of foot on the 1st and lunge x20 then change sides
  9. Come into Updog with hands on 2nd step (so shoulders are over hands, engage your abs so your hips don’t sink too much) then bend your elbows a few inches and straighten again. X 15
  10. Do your favourite abs exercise.  I was back on my butt, hands on the floor kicking my legs out straight and bringing them back, knees to chest (x10) then with my weight on one side of my butt, I kicked to each side (x10) then center again (x10) 

And then do it again!