This was my view over the weekend in beautiful Calgary, Canada. Breathtaking! It’s my home away from with a taste of clean air.
I’ve started a new tradition with my good friend Shawna every October. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving the first week of October, I thought that was pretty funny at first been then decided it would be fun to celebrate two Thanksgivings every year.
We’ve kept that going two years in a row, I meet Sev, her one eyed Rottweiler mix, he sure loved chewing on my toes and elbows.
I couldn’t resist and gave her a deep core workout…the “3 Balls of fury”
Here’s the Pilates demonstration for you…
Here are the steps:
#1 Ball of Fury – Ball with Dumbbell
– Keep hips inline to the knees, hips off ball at all times
– Keep spine and belly button pushed into the ball
– Hold dumbbell with both hands
– Arms straight over head
– Curl up twist at the obliques to each side
– Don’t let the arms cross in front of your chest to twist
#2 Ball of Fury – Ball inner thighs with Dumbbell
– Ball in between the calves, do not hook your feet around the ball
– Dumbbell in both hands
– Keep spine down and stomach pulled in
– Arms over head
– Knees in line to the hips
-Legs extends from the knee to the sky
– Intensify the move by extending the legs at 45 degree angle
#3 Ball of Fury – Ball in hand
– Ball in hands ball overhead
– Knees bent, feet flat on the floor
– Beginner, knees and feet apart
– Intensify the move, knees and feet together
– Articulate spine as you roll up
– Keep chest opened
– Do not fall down, control your move down
You can begin with timed sets, 30 seconds of work for a total of 3 rounds, to help you focus on controlling the move. To kick it up a notch, try 3 Rounds, 10 reps of each movement. Keep in mind Pilates core moves are designed to be low rep and intense. Do not break form! When your muscles are fatigued and holding form is a challenge, modify the movement by keeping your knees and feet pulled in to the midline of your body.
To repay the favor of course Shawna gave me one of her Challenge Burpee workouts…
What are friends for?
Are they there to nauseate and torture you? Would you really consider someone who dreams up ways to make a person hurt a good friend?
Well, that’s the kind of friend Shawna is,
She’s my Canadian connection and Challenge Workout fanatic.
She’s always a good sport and actually made a return visit to me in Calgary. I must not be that bad right? The fact is, she makes my core hurt in the same way I make her hurt, so I’d say our love/hate relationship is pretty strong.
We did a fun burpee/jump rope combination together, followed by my ‘3 Balls of Fury’ Pilates moves. It was fair to say that we were both pretty pooped out in the end. Then we had a chance to do what ‘normal’ people do, so headed off to Banff and we enjoyed the beauty of the season.
We did a fun workout together where we paired two of my favorite exercises. The cool thing about this workout is that all you need is a jump rope and a set of dumb bells.
The jump rope is really a great alternative to running since it’s easy on the knees. The impact is much less than you’d imagine, especially when you do a double foot jump. You’ll engage the upper body too so it’s really a full body exercise. Both jump rope and burpees are intense so your workout time is reduced. You can increase your metabolism and boost fat burning/muscle building in no time with both these exercises.
The jump rope set is straight forward enough. Just do it. Do any sort of jump you can to keep the rope moving for the set. If you can’t jump rope anymore, just throw the rope aside and do the phantom skip as Sylvia demonstrates.
The burpee is another story and takes a bit of practice. It’s not as complicated as it sounds, once you watch the video it will be a snap. Here are the steps:
1. Hold the DB’s by your side
2. Drop the DB’s to the floor
3. Do a squat thrust to high plank
4. Push up
5. Renegade row
6. Bring the feet back to hands and stand up
7. Hinge at the hip to do a RDL (Romanian Deadlift)
8. Upright row to place DB’s to shoulders
9. Squat with DB’s in front rack position
10. Push press
11. Bring the DB’s to the sides again
12. Repeat 😉
You can do 1 min of the jump rope followed by 1 min of the burpee combo exercise for up to 12 min of sweaty work. If one minute is too much, then adjust the time to what you can handle. Scratch that, adjust the time to just a little more than you can handle, I always want you to reach a little further.
Here’s a video demonstration:
You can find 50+ burpee variations and cool workouts HERE
Or more FUN fantastic jump rope plans HERE.
Plus after eating my fav pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving these workouts are much needed!
Shawna K says
Sylvia, it’s always a pleasure to provide a nauseating workout for you and do one of yours in return. Can’t wait to have you visit Calgary again!