It’s music festival season which means long days of standing and dancing! If you’ve ever been to a music festival, you know what a marathon these events are. You’ll need stamina and endurance to get you through such an event. For this work out we’ll focus on moves that will build your cardio and fast twitch muscles so you can jump higher than anyone to see the stage and dance the day away without losing your breath. Be sure to hydrate yourself throughout the day at these events. Even if you’re not a festival-goer, this endurance building workout is a great way to get you into shape for the summer!
High Knees– Stand with your legs in parallel hip distance apart. Keep your hands palms down in front of you at waist height. Lift your right knee up to meet your right palm. As you bring your right knee back down, quickly bring your left knee up to meet your left palm. Start to pick up the pace and add a little hop to each leg lift. Stay on the balls of your feet. Do this for one minute as a warm up. For less impact, you can take the hop out and just make them high knee lifts.
Plank Corkscrew– Get into a high plank position with your shoulders over your wrists and feet hip distance apart. Keep your abs tight as you rotate to kick your left foot to your right and tap the foot with your right hand. Go back to your plank position and repeat on the other side. Do two sets of 10 to each side.
Hop to Push Up– Stand with your legs together and hop on your right leg as you bring your left knee up to as close to hip height as you can. Without placing your left foot back on the ground, place your hands on the floor as you extend your left leg behind you. Walk out to a pushup position with your left leg lifted at hip height and do one pushup. Walk your hands back to your feet and stand back up without ever placing your let foot on the ground and repeat. Do 10 on each leg.
Runner’s Lunge to Skip– Lunge with your right leg forward and your left leg extended straight back. Place your left hand on the floor to the left side of your right foot and bring your right elbow back up behind you. With all of your weight on your right foot, jump straight up as you bring your left knee up to hip height and your right arm forward, left arm back. Lower back down into your lunge and repeat. Do two sets of 10 on each leg.
Explosive Sit Up Squat– Lie down on the ground with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Bring your arms up over your head. Using your core, roll up with your arms in front of you for assistance. You need momentum to get all the way up onto your feet into a squat position so you may have to kick your legs out a bit before hopping onto them. Jump straight up from your squat. In one movement, land with your knees bent and sit right back down to roll back into your start position. Keep your momentum going and continue to do ten in a row.
To get the most benefits from this heart pumping, strength training workout, plan on doing it 3 times a week for several weeks before the big event. How do you prep your body for summer events like music festivals?
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Photo: Alessandra Ambrosio via Instagram; Video: Crystal Chin
