Welcome to Week 4—the final week—of the SELF Better Together Challenge! Today we’re kicking things off with a full-body cardio workout, and we’ve got some good news and some bad news along with it. The good news? Today we’ll be introducing an infamous move: burpees. The bad news? Today we’ll be introducing burpees. LOL.
Love them or hate them, burpees are sure to up the ante on any workout. They’re meant to be hard no matter your fitness level, as the goal is to do them as quickly as possible so your heart rate will skyrocket. On the plus side, their ability to make your heart pump so quickly makes burpees an extremely efficient and effective cardio exercise. And, they work pretty much your entire body, as SELF previously explained.
A burpee is a single move that incorporates jumping, squatting, planking, and, if you want to make it extra spicy, doing a push-up. Like many other exercises, burpees become easier the more you practice them. You’ll also feel more mentally prepared for the challenge once you get used to facing them head on. If you know you hate burpees, or you’ve never done one before and now you’re a tad nervous to try, that’s okay. You can always give them a shot today, see how you feel, and, if you choose, never do a single burpee again.
It can feel good to return to moves we’ve previously felt uncomfortable doing, or were too scared to try, and see if we can approach them with a new and different mindset. Trying new things and allowing for second chances is integral to living an expansive life, anyway. Why not start with a little round of burpees?
So without further ado, enjoy this full-body cardio workout. We’ll see you on the other side!
The full-body cardio workout below is for Day 22 of the SELF Better Together Challenge. Check out the full month of workouts right here. Or go to the workout calendar here. If you haven’t signed up to receive daily emails, do that here.
WORKOUT DIRECTIONS
Do each move below for your selected interval of work and rest. At the end of all the moves, rest for 60 seconds. That’s 1 circuit. Do the circuit 3–5 times. Then try the countdown finisher.
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Option 1: 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds of rest
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Option 2: 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest
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Option 3: 50 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest
EXERCISES
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Jump Rope Shuffle
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Glute Bridge March
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Russian Twist
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Lateral Lunge Shift
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Burpee
COUNTDOWN FINISHER
Start a timer for 5 minutes. Do each move below for the indicated number of reps, as quickly as possible, with no rest. After you finish all the moves, hold a forearm plank until the timer runs out. Note: Each side equals 1 rep.
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Skater x 50 reps
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Jumping Jack x 40 reps
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Squat x 30 reps
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Russian Twist x 20 reps
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Squat Thrust x 10 reps
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Forearm Plank Hold