Functional Fitness

I’ve been a little behind the times in terms of working out lately–I still go to back-to-back TKD/BJJ classes twice a week and try to get some kind of workout on the off-days in between, but the struggle is real. The fact that I’m standing for 7-8 hours a day probably isn’t helping, but I like to tell myself to suck it up. I’m joining in this week for Self-Care Sundays at Cowgirl Runs with a ~45-minute functional fitness workout so you can stay healthy while working out in the comfort of your own home! :]

This is rather true. :P

Since I’m at least 50 lbs lighter than pretty much all my opponents, they usually just practice technique on me (thank you), and I’m apparently more flexible than everyone else they usually roll with, so I’ve been getting a pretty good stretch out of our rolling sessions lately.

I’m all for functional fitness these days because I want to improve in BJJ, and hooray for cross-training! I also desperately need to work on my somewhat-nonexistent endurance. What good is having strong legs in BJJ if I get tired halfway through our rolling sessions? :x

What I think I need is a change of pace! It’ll help to keep me guessing!

Disclaimer: I adapted this workout from here! Please realize that I am a single-striped white belt with little experience in the realms of BJJ (but I have lots of enthusiasm?!). Obviously, the best way to improve is to train and practice, but as that’s not always feasible, I wanted to cross-train on the side with something that wasn’t lifting weights (which is what I’ve been doing), and this is a great full-body workout! :O

Warm-up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks
• 30 BW Squats
• 20 BW Lunges (on each side)
• 20 Push-ups

Work-out
Focus on the form and the quality! You can double the workout if you want to make it more challenging!

1. 20 Spiderman pushups
   Similar to a regular pushup, except that you bring your elbow to the same-side knee as you lower yourself into the pushup!
2. 15 Shrimps (on each side)

   This is pretty much a vital technique for anyone who’s learning BJJ–vital for escaping when your training partner’s in a control position!

3. 25 Mountain Climbers (on each side)
4. 10 Walkout Planks with a 5-second hold
   

   Hold for 5 seconds at the end of “A”! (Image taken from here!)

5. 10 Bridges
   
6. 25 Reverse Lunges with Knee Raises
7. 20 Squat Jumps
8. 20 Single-Leg Hip Raises (on each side)
   
9. 3 x 1-min. Planks
10. 2 x 1-min. Side Planks
11. 10 Jack-Knife Sit-ups
    This is gonna be a fun one, considering that I can’t even do a regular sit-up, but…gotta aim high, right? :] I need something to shoot for!
12. 50 Punch Crunches
    

    If you want to make it harder, add a pair of dumbbells! :O But BW should be fine. :] (Image taken from PopSugar!)