In the summer, there is plenty of daylight both before and after work for me to run on the trails. However, during the fall and winter, the daylight isn’t as plentiful, and my trail runs are restricted to my days off. During the winter many of my runs are limited to well-lit, well-traveled parts of the city.
Changes in daylight, weather and air quality for those in much of northern California*, have forced many of my workouts inside.
Some people may like treadmills, but I do not. I will do almost anything to avoid running on one. I wanted to come up with a good workout for those days when it’s too cold, too dark, or you just don’t want to go outside. I wanted to make a workout that anyone could do at home, without any special equipment, and with very little space. I kept coming back to two exercises…Mountain Climbers and Burpees.
Whether you like them or dread them, these are great exercises for runners. You get to work on hip extension, gluteal strength, and core strength. The jumping, plyometric manner of the exercise can help to increase cardiovascular fitness, as well as the springiness (a technical term) needed to help absorb shock and propel you forward. Plus you get to do a little upper body strengthening at the same time.
How to do them:
Mountain Climbers:
This is the easier of the two exercises, and being able to master this movement can help you to do burpees with better form.
-Start in a push-up position. Have your hands placed on the floor, directly below your shoulders. Your feet should be behind you with your toes tucked.
-Bring one foot forward, so that it is next to your hand on the same side.
-While keeping your hands on the floor, use your legs to push off of the floor. While your legs are in the air, bring the front leg back, and the back leg forward so that it is next to your hand on the same side.
-Repeat.
Burpees:
There are two popular versions of this exercise. One involves doing a push-up, while the other does not. I recommend that if you have not done burpees before, you start with the non-push up version. Once you get the hang of the exercise, then you can add the push-up.
-Squat and place both hands on the floor.
-Keep your hands on the floor, and jump your feet back so that you are in a top of a push-up position.
-If if you are doing the version with a push-up, then bend your elbows and lower your self to do the push-up.
-Jump your feet forward (keep your hands on the floor)
-Once your feet land on the floor, lift your arms overhead and you jump.
-Repeat.
So after my lovely explanation and demonstration, you might be wondering how many of these should you do. Well, that depends. I recommend that if these exercises are new to you, you aim for doing sets of ten. You can rest for up to 2 minutes (depending on your fitness) before doing 10 more. In total, you can aim for doing 3-4 sets of ten repetitions.
When I’m doing these exercises, I prefer to alternate between sets of mountain climbers and burpees. By the time I finish the set of mountain climbers, I seem to forget how difficult the last few burpees of the previous set were.
Start practicing now! How many can you do before you get winded? Stay tuned for some upcoming posts where I incorporate these exercises into a quick, but effective wintertime workout.
*The Smokey air in northern California is due to a devastating forest fire in Chico, CA. My heart goes out to all those affected by this fires in California, and I am thankful for those brave souls involved in fighting the fire as well as search and rescue.