Fit Bit Friday 14
Good morning friends!
How are ya this morning? I hope your week has been wonderful, and if you’re like me, I bet you’re counting down the hours till the weekend starts! Monday is Thanksgiving for Canadians, so I’ll be thoroughly enjoying my long weekend – and a little turkey too. 
Before we get onto Thanksgiving festivities though, I’ve got a workout to kick your weekend off right. Here you go, this week’s Fit Bit Friday!!
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Work It Out
In the past, I’ve been a fan of getting my hard sweaty cardio out of the way prior to doing my strength training. While I realize that this can be beneficial for those that are more likely to bail on cardio if they do weights first, it means I don’t always have as much strength as I could by the time I get to my strength training workouts. In order to break this pattern, I decided earlier this week to totally mix things up and alternate the two. Now if you’re a die-hard runner and your mornings just don’t feel complete without a little jaunt either outside or on the treadmill, don’t worry – you’ll still get to do that! Let’s get to the specifics…
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The Mix It Up Workout
***Disclaimer: As with all workouts posted on Eat Spin Run Repeat, please check with a medical professional before beginning any exercise program. I am not a certified personal trainer and all workouts found on my blog are based only on my own experience.***
You’ll start off with a running warm up to bring your heart rate up and get some blood pumping to your working muscles. After the first 15 minutes of cardio, you’ll jump off and hit the weights to work your arms. Then, it’s back on the treadmill for another 15 where you’ll do a tempo run, gradually increasing your speed to a level that’s pretty tough, but that you can maintain for longer than, say, a balls-to-the-wall interval. After that, back to the weights for lower body, then back to the treaddy for 15 mins of intervals. This is your last cardio set, so make sure you hit the intervals hard and make yourself work for the breaks! Lastly, a little more lifting to target the back and chest, followed by a good stretch.
Now I realize this is a lot to remember, so if you’d like to print a PDF of this workout, you can do so by clicking here.
** For a description of split squats, click here, and for a renegade row how-to, click here.
So there you go – cardio and weights, all mixed together into a single workout. When you’re finished, be sure to stretch out the muscles you worked with the weights. If you’ve got time, it’s also not a bad idea to do a few more lower body stretches, particularly for the hip flexors and IT bands.
Turn It Up
Sometimes, I like to run with music on really, really loud. This is usually when I’ve got a set of tough intervals to do and I need the beat to keep me running fast. Other times I like to run in silence. For those in-between times – usually on a long steady run, I like my music to be something in between too. Perfect example: Rise Again by DJ Sammy ft. Loona.
Driving beat, but calming at the same time. What do you think?
Have A Read
- Traveling for work? Check out these 10 Awesome Hotel Gyms for Breaking a Sweat – via Huffington Post. Check out the cycling studio at The Houstonian!!
- Need to update your iPod? Check out Shape Magazine’s Best Workout Songs for October 2011.
Questions for today:
- Non-fitness related: For my Canadian readers, what have you got planned for the Thanksgiving long weekend?
- What do you prefer: Running with music or without?
I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend, and Happy Thanksgiving!!
happy thanksgiving, angela! safe travels!
i’m working sat & sun, then we have a family get-together later on sunday. monday is OFF!
if i’m on a treadmill, i definitely need my music! outside, i alternate: sometimes, i want to be in the zone and take my music, sometimes i want to be zen and soak up my surroundings. and i like to switch up my music to go with my mood!
good for you for changing up the order of cardio and strength training this week!
That’s great that you get Monday off Cathy! Sounds like you’ve got a fun family get-together ahead. Have a wonderful weekend!
Basically a ton of pumpkin pie, turkey and hopefully more pumpkin pie! Happy Thanksgiving weekend
Sounds good to me!!
I love your workout posts, they really inspire me to get moving, especially on a Friday! Thanks for doing this. No excuse for not doing exercises over the weekend!
You’re so welcome Jennifer! I’m always happy to help, and I hope you have a fabulous weekend.
Thanks for the weights reminder. I only have been doing xcountry since school started and have been missing my other workouts!
I am spending the weekend with my family, going to the Oktoberfest parade and doing homework.
happy thanksgiving to you too. enjoy your long weekend and thanks for another great post!
i am thrilled to not be the one hosting the big family gathering this weekend… i get to just show up!!! of course i’ll help… .what a treat this is for m!
Happy Thanksgiving!! I always have to work out with music unless I swim. I find it really motivates me and gets me to push through my workout.
Great post Angela, I’m a sucker for tables! Also, thank you for linking back to my site when you used the image, that’s how I found your post
This looks like a great workout, and I’m with you on the loud running music! What kind of music do you listen to? Sometimes I like rock (Eye of the tiger, etc) but other times I’m in the mood for some faster dance music… or I’m just lazy and listen to Top 40 radio 
Hi Alisha! I’m glad you found me! I also like a bit of rock when I work out, but I’d say the majority of my playlists are made up of dance remixes of top 40 songs. (There’s a bunch of songs on my Tunes page, as well as one in every Fit Bit Friday post on my Workouts page). Since I teach spin, I tend to run to the same playlists and go through my classes in my head as I’m running. I find that the faster beat in most of my spin songs helps me to run faster too. On long runs, I love Dash Berlin – 2 of their songs, Waiting and Disarm Yourself are great!