35-Minute Cardio + Strength Workout

Happy Monday, party people! I hope you all are enjoying a lovely weekend. I know that I certainly am. A volleyball game on Friday night, one of my volleyball players' quinceneras on Saturday night, a picnic at Hermann Park last night, and a whole lot of rest and relaxation have made up my weekend. I've been productive, yet lazy, and I don't even feel guilty about it. I have been absolutely exhausted, falling asleep right when my head hits the pillow, so a low-key weekend is just what I needed. Even though I'm missing my best girls while they're on a weekend trip to LA. But, duty calls. And I know there will be plenty more trips to take. Besides, as fun as that would have been, it would not have taken away any of my exhaustion. So, I'll just keep telling myself that!

And while I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this post, I did promise you guys a blog post today, so I'm sharing another quick workout with you guys. The other night I planned on meeting some friends at House of Pies for dessert, but I wanted to squeeze in a quick workout before heading back down Westheimer. My original plan was to swim, but an hour of sitting in traffic slayed that plan. No matter, though, because sometimes a time crunch is all I need to do something a little bit out of the ordinary. I don't typically gravitate toward doing these types of workouts, unless my original plan doesn't pan out, which is why I have to share them with you guys when I do. It looks very similar to most of my cardio and strength combination workouts, but maybe this one will resonate with you and get you moving on this Monday morning. I know after this gets posted, I'm going on a leisurely bike ride around my neighborhood, as I gear up to run 10 miles this evening. The marathon training is very real.

As usual, let me explain. I did ten total sets - six of round one, and four of round two. The only thing that changed in the round one version was the squat jumps, jumping lunges, and burpees. The first time through, I did 10 squat jumps. The second time through, I did 20 jumping lunges (10 on each leg), and the third time through, I did 10 burpees. Then I started the sequence over. Once I had done each of these exercises twice, I moved on to round two. I think you'll recognize all of these exercises, except for maybe the one-legged sit squat. For this exercise I grabbed two 8-lb dumbbells and found myself a bench. Using only one leg at a time, I squatted down to the bench, and then lifted myself back up. I did five reps on the left leg, and five reps on the right leg. Don't knock this one until you try it, because it's much harder than it looks!

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This workout is quick, it's sweaty, and it will leave your upper body feeling it the next day. But that could be because I'm bad about regularly incorporating upper body strength into my workout regimen. September goals? And on that note, can you believe it's already September? Time flies!