For the 12 Days of Fitmas your Sunny trainers gave to you one doozy of a workout! Coach Annora and Coach Ashley bring the heat with this fun and festive workout that follows along with the classic Christmas song, The 12 Days of Christmas. But instead of getting a bunch of birds (seriously, why so many birds?!), you’ll get stronger muscles, a high calorie burn, and a ton of fun.
Each exercise in this high-energy sweat sesh has a purpose and a benefit, ensuring you jump into the holidays and New Year feeling your best! Subjecting yourself to such a tough workout is no easy feat, and the best way to get through it is understanding the “why” behind the programming. Let’s break it down!
1. Burpee
Everyone’s favorite exercise, the burpee, works your entire body and gets your heart rate going. It requires stability, strength, power, and endurance – so you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck here. The good news is, you only have to do 12 in total, all separated by other exercises. Same benefit, less pain!
2. Shoot Throughs
A combination of cardio and core, you’ll work on building strength through your abdominal muscles and increasing that heart rate once again. Bonus point – this exercise can double as a super cool dance move.
3. Pushups
You get a small reprieve here, as no jumping is required. But get ready to work your core and upper body by building functional strength through the “push” motion. This is a movement often used in common day to day activities, so building strength in your “push” muscles is essential.
4. Surrenders
Sigh of relief as you give your upper body a break with surrenders! Another highly functional exercise, this movement focuses on boosting your ability to get up and down from the floor in a kneeling position, and here’s the catch, without using your hands. Glutes, quads, and core are all big hitters here.
5. Squat Jumps
Not only is this a killer way to work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves, its also an excellent cardiovascular exercise. Because of the explosive nature of this exercise, you get a dose of muscular power training as well.
6. Lunge Jumps
Similar to jump squats, the jump lunge works on explosive power, lower body strength, and cardiovascular training. However, the lunge adds an essential element to your workout – balance and coordination training. The staggered stance of a lunge, plus the addition of switching your stance mid-air, activates the stabilizer muscles of your lower leg and hips. It goes without saying that the more stable you are on your feet, the better.
7. Good Mornings
Mainly targeting your posterior chain (back of your body) and core, this one is a burner for your hammies! An often neglected muscle group, good mornings target your hamstrings, effectively working towards evening out any muscular imbalances between the quads and hamstrings.
8. Lateral Lunges
It’s important to work your body in all different directions. Lateral lunges build muscle to support effective side-to-side movement, a motion where most people often lack strength. This helps you stay well rounded and strong through all planes of motion!
9. Superman Lat Pulls
Did you know that your core also includes the musculature of your back? It’s true! Because of this, core exercises that work more than just your abdominals (these superman lat pulls, for example) are an essential part of any training routine.
10. Slow Bicycle Crunches
It says slow in the name, but these crunches are anything but easy. The slower tempo of this exercise increases your muscles’ time under tension. The more your subject a muscle to longer time under tension, the more strength gains you will experience, and what better way to do that than with your abs?
11. Hollow Body Tucks
The nature of a hollow body abdominal exercise not only works your abdominals, but also increases your spine’s ability to stay neutral under load. Added movement from the tuck creates more opportunity for your spine to resist unwanted rotational forces, therefore translating to better performance in other exercises as well as activities of daily living.
12. Glute Bridges
If you’re like most people and sit at a desk the majority of your day, chances are you have overly tight hip flexors and underactive glutes. A glute bridge fights both issues, all in one exercise! You will strengthen your glutes and open up through your hip flexors with one swift movement.
Happy Holidays From the Sunny Team
We hope you enjoy this fun and festive workout with Coach Ashley and Coach Annora! It can be a difficult time of year for fitness, so keep things light with the 12 Days of Fitmas. Check off your daily workout without spending too much time or hassle between all the shopping, baking, and holiday parties. Enjoy the season, set yourself up to feel good, and Happy Holidays from all of us here at Sunny Health & Fitness!
1 comment
Love love your exercises