Happy Leap Day! Thanks to the extra day in February this year, we all get 24 more hours to do great things and be amazing.
…Yes, let’s go with that.
In honor of this special event, I created a leap-inspired workout circuit to liven up your day. It has a BUNCH of new exercises that I’ve never shared before. The routine is killer on your lower body and involves a lot of jumping and hopping because plyometric exercises are THE bomb for getting in shape.
I’ve included a lot of single leg versions of exercises in this workout because they’re really good for runners, especially, to strengthen their legs. Seeing as how my IT Band Syndrome doesn’t seem to want to GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE, I’m doing these types of exercises all the time. The following workout took me about 20ish minutes to get through twice.
Regarding the new exercises, click on the names below for video demonstrations (and see notes next to each):
Single leg cross hops (basically, jump on each foot, making a cross shape until you reach 20), squat jacks (stay low!), single leg deadlift hops, reverse lunge hops, skaters 3 ways (do the skater motion jumping forward and return to center, then to the side and back to center, then back at a diagonal and to the center; switch sides), lateral side jumps, frog jumps, and check my exercise guide for other demonstrations.
Once you get the exercises down, it’s just a matter of focusing on form to get your best possible workout in. (A few of these exercises are variations of ones they had me do in physical therapy, so I think they’re pretty legit.)
Do you know anyone born on a leap day? I’ve always found this concept so interesting!
Are single leg exercises part of your workout routines? I rarely did them before starting physical therapy, but now they’re a major focus of mine.
Love this! Well the workout, not your leg woes. I saw your Insta. What crap. 🙁 Are you/were you going to PT? Did that help at all?? Boooo! I really hope running makes a comeback for you soon. Breaks are so annoying when you just want to be out there.
The skaters in all direction would kill me! My gym is closing a few days in March so I’m pinning this now and saving for one of my at-home days 🙂
Yay!! Hope it burns so good like it did for me. My legs were like jelly after.
And ya, I did PT twice a week for like 2.5 months. It did help me slowly improve. But the past two weeks off it, I’m having a lot of issues. So I’m trying to just keep moving forward. I have a follow-up visit in a week, but I honestly don’t want to keep going back because $$$, sooooo we’ll see how things go. Bleh.
That’s a really good routine. I just hope it also works for me. I really need to tone my legs.