Back to the grind Core Crew!

Monday’s are leg day and we’re stepping up our leg game to 3 rounds of 10 and adding a contest in the mix.

The wall sit is a great exercise to build strength in our quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. It’s also burns calories!

According to the Health Status website, a 150-pound person can burn about 5 calories per minute. If you hold weights in your hands, or place a ball between your knees, you can make the exercise more challenging. The more weight you hold, the more calories your body will burn.

How long can you wall sit? Today’s calendar calls for 3 wall sits at :60 each. After you’ve done your 3 rounds, do 1 more wall sit. Yes your legs will already be burning…but that’s when your true strength will shine through. On wall sit #4, hold it for as long as you can, then post in Strong to the Core using #WallSitChallenge and tell us how long you could sit through the burn.

Day 18 exercises: 3 rounds of 10

****Click here for how to videos****

• Goblet Squat
• Butt Lift Bridge
• Front Kick + Round Kick
• Wall Sit – :60 each
• Burpees
• Plank – :45 (2X)

Bonus: #WallSitChallenge – The wall sit challenge comes AFTER round 3.

When you’re done, go to this website, scroll down and enter your weight and how many minutes you were able to complete to find out how many calories you burned today doing wall sits!

Speed Work: This week’s speed work is going to be a little different. Instead of hurts of speed on a flat surface….it’s time to throw in some hill work. If you’re in a flat area like I am, find a bridge or a treadmill and challenge yourself!

Hill running increases leg-muscle power; improves fitness; and uses the muscles of the legs, arms and core in ways that are different than running on flat surfaces. Hill workouts can serve as a way to transition into more formal speedwork, or to balance intervals performed on a track or flat roads. Here’s the workout:

Short Hill Repeats – The focus of these short workouts is on speed, power and anaerobic energy recruitment. In general, these repeats should take about 75 to 120 seconds and your effort level should very high, an 8-10 on the rate of perceived exertion scale, if not all out in very short bursts. The grade should be relatively steep. Because you will be working extremely hard for a short period of time, your recovery time will be twice as long as the time it took to run the sprint in order to bring breathing and heart rate back to normal. If you are using heart rate training, these short bursts will be in Zone 4-5, with a recovery back to Zone 1-2. Your pace for short hill repeats will be faster than your race pace goal and medium length hills will be near or slightly above your race pace goal.

• 8-10x 200 meters (.12 mile) uphill

Remember to give yourself recovery time in between sets (twice as long as the set took) and make sure to get a good stretch in for the quads, hamstrings, calves and glutes when you’re done. Our 7 Key Stretches for Runners includes a stretch for each of these areas.

Today’s challenge is not about “victory” over your fellow Core Crew members…it’s about  pushing yourself farther than you through you could go. Don’t think about winning…even though that’s kinda fun too… Instead focus on overcoming that little voice in your head that says you can’t hold the wall sit for very long. Face that internal challenge and overcome your fear of self defeat.