21. Mail Box Number Run – Jot down on an index card some of your favorite bodyweight exercises numbered from 0-9 (need ideas, check the link in the Roll the Bones section above). Take off and run to the 5th mailbox up your street. Advanced runners could stop at every 10th mailbox, and novices could stop at every 3rd mailbox. Use the last digit on the mailbox number to determine your exercise. Continue for your desired workout time or distance.
22. ScrABble – This idea puts the AB in Scrabble! Grab a bag of tiles and let’s destroy your core! Pick one tile and do the following:
- A-E = Russian Twists
- F-M = Plank hold with arms tapping ground to the side
- N-R = Flutter Kicks and Dollies
- S-Z = Plank hold with legs tapping ground to the side
You can do these for a specific time period or rep number. You could also play Fitness Scrabble with a willing soul, and every time you score, your opponent has to do that number of reps of an exercise of your choosing. You can apply this idea to any board game. For Monopoly, every time you pass Go, collect $200 and do 10 push-ups. Need to buy houses and hotels? It will cost you money and "sweat equity"…10 squats per house and 5 burpees per hotel. You make-up the rules and have a blast!
23. Partner/Group Anything– Over Christmas, I organized a fun kettlebell run up a big hill in my hometown with my friend’s Crossfit gym. When I told him about the idea, I said, “If I do this by myself, I will look foolish, but if I do this with some of your die hard athletes, we will look awesome!” This is true about everything in life. There is strength in numbers. Use group psychology to your advantage and join group workouts, clubs, fitness groups, running teams, and just hang out with people that you want to look like. This past Saturday morning, it was 23 degrees outside. There was no way I would have gotten out of my cozy bed at 7am to swing kettlebells by myself. But I knew I had 6 friends meeting me in a local elementary school parking lot (quick shout-out to my F3 brothers..Aye! www.f3nation.com). That is motivation and that is how you get results. The entire time we laughed about how crazy we were to be doing this. We had a great time, a great workout, and created a great fitness memory.
24. Lottery Workout – Here's an idea to take to your local gym. Write down your favorite pieces of equipment and favorite exercises using them on slips of paper or separate cards. Put them in your pocket and draw them at random. Commit to spending one hard minute doing what is on the slip. Here are some examples:
- Jump rope
- Dumbbells (Standing Shoulder Press)
- Treadmill (Sprint for 1 minute)
- Pull-up bar (Pull-ups or Hanging Knee Tucks)
- Mat/Core area (Favorite Core Challenge)
- Kettlebells (Snatch)
- Barbells (Romanian Deadlifts)
- Elliptical (Sprint for 1 minute)
Feel free to add to or edit the list above. Time how long it takes you to get through the entire circuit including rest and transition time. This might get tricky in a crowded gym, but people will love to see you running around to the different areas. Every time you repeat the circuit, beat your total time and the number of reps you get for the strength exercises in your allotted minute. The order will change every time but hopefully you can keep beating your time. If the reps drop or this starts to take too long, change it up with new exercises or rest a bit more between sets.
25. Stairway to Heaven– Check out this classic Power Devo as I describe how to transform your stairs into the ultimate home gym. Sometimes fun is fitting your workout around the “to do” list of your life. We are all busy, but if you can knockout a quick staircase workout, then you can start to see that fitness is becoming fully integrated into your life. For one of my bootcamps, there are several staircases available, so we have a program called "Stairway to Heaven". I put a different strength implement (sandbag, kettlebells, bands, barbell, medicine ball) at the bottom of each staircase. The group divides up and has to sprint each staircase and use each implement at the bottom for the exercises I have described. This is a great cardio and strength challenge!
Wrapping it up…as my clients will tell you, I will never claim to be the smartest, best, or strongest coach. But I would love to be called the most creative! I hope you take one of my ideas and make it better. Life is too short to view workouts as limited, grueling torture sessions that you can only do in a gym with equipment. Move, play, explore, and take whatever you love doing and think, "How can I turn this into a workout or add movement to it?" If you have that mentality, you will love being an athlete and fitness enthusiast forever!
