No better way to celebrate…well…anything…than with a sweet treat, right?!
Especially if that sweet treat is a PARFAIT workout!
The Sweet Treat Parfait
To do the Parfait, you will end up doing 10 rounds, adding an exercise each round.
Start with the Super Crunches. Then repeat the Super Crunches and add in the Rotational Squat to Lunge. Then start back over with Super Crunches and do the Rotational Squat to Lunge plus the next exercise in the series. Each round you will add an exercise until on the 10th round, you complete all 10 moves. (So the first “two rounds” basically you will do Super Crunches and go right back into Super Crunches as that first round has only one move.)
Do each move for the reps listed next to the exercise. Rest only as needed. Try to go as fast as possible while maintaining proper form and challenging yourself.
CIRCUIT:
5 reps Super Crunches
10 reps Rotational Squat to Lunge
5 reps Corn Cob Push Ups
10 reps Squat Jump Bulldogs
5 reps Banana Twists
10 reps Snowboard Hop Skiers
5 reps Push Back Push Up
10 reps Crossed-Leg Lift
5 reps per side Tabletop To Side Plank Kick
10 reps Mountain Climber Burpees
If you love this Parfait, check out another killer one in my Cardio Burner Cards!
EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:
Super Crunches:
To do Super Crunches, start by lying on your back with your legs out straight on the ground in front of you and your arms together in front of you. Then sit up, coming up to balance on your butt as you tuck your knees in and reach your hands toward the outside of one knee. Then lie back down, but do not fully relax back onto the ground. Press your low back into the ground as you straighten your legs out and keep them off the ground. You can even stay slightly crunched up with your shoulder blades slightly lifted up off the ground to help keep your abs engaged. Do not fully release and relax back onto the ground. Then sit back up and reach between your knees. Keep your feet off the ground and balance on your butt as you reach between your legs. Lie back down then crunch up and reach outside the other knee. Those 3 crunches equal one rep. Make sure that as you relax back open between reps, you keep your abs engaged. If you feel your low back engage, don’t straighten your legs out as close to the ground. Keep your legs up higher. Or even perform more of a crunch as you perform the reaches instead of coming all the way up onto your butt.
Rotational Squat to Lunge:
To do the Rotational Squat to Lunge, start standing with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Squat down, sitting your butt back with your chest up. Sink to about parallel, making sure to sit back in your heels. Then jump up off the ground, and as you do, pivot and bring one foot forward and the other back to sink into a lunge. If you pivoted to face toward the right, you will want to jump and land with your left foot in front and right foot back as you sink into a lunge. Sink as low as you can without rounding over. Make sure your front heel is down on the ground and your weight is centered. Then jump back up and pivot back center to land in a squat. Again jump up and this time rotate to angle toward the other side, jumping your other foot forward to sink into a lunge. So jump to face toward the left, landing with your right foot in front and left foot back. Jump back center and sink into a squat. Beginners can step instead of jumping and can even perform a shallower squat and lunge or even perform a straighter leg lunge to focus more on the glutes and keep it lower impact for their knees.
Corn Cob Push Ups:
To do Corn Cob Push Ups, set up in the high plank position with your feet together. Your hands should be just outside your chest or maybe slightly wider. With your body in a nice straight line, lower your chest to the ground. Holding just hovering over the ground, shift your weight to one side. Then shift back center. Then shift your weight to the other side. Come back center and then press back up. Make sure your body is in a nice straight line the entire time. Beginners can do this from their knees or off an incline. Make sure as you move at the bottom that your butt doesn’t go up in the air.
Squat Jump Bulldogs:
To do the Squat Jump Bulldogs, start standing tall. Perform a jump knee tuck, tucking your knees up as high as you can toward your chest as you jump up. Land back down and sink into a squat. Bring your hands up to your chest and then rock forward, dropping your hands down to the ground. As you rock forward and your hands hit the ground, bend your elbows to drop yourself forward toward the ground, performing a mini push up. Push back up, extending your arms to push yourself back into a squat. Make sure your heels come back down and you pause and use your core to stabilize in the squat. Then jump back up, tucking your knees back up. Then repeat, the mini push up. Move quickly back and forth. The further out you rock in the push up, the harder the move will be!
Banana Twists:
To do Banana Twists, start lying on your back with your legs out straight in front of you and your arms relaxed overhead on the ground so that your biceps are by your ears. Draw your legs together and keep your arms up by your head as you lift up into Banana. Engage your abs as you press your low back into the ground to crunch your shoulder blades up and lift your legs a few inches up off the ground. Beginners may need to lift their legs up higher to keep their low back against the ground. Do not tuck your chin as you hold in Banana. Try to keep your neck relaxed. Then, without touching your feet down or using your hands to push up, come up to balance on your butt. As you come up to balance on your butt, bending your knees slightly to bring them in toward your chest as you bring your hands down and together in front of your chest. While balanced on your glutes with your feet up off the ground and your hands together, rotate your hands down toward the ground outside one hip and then back up and across your body toward the ground outside the other hip. Try to stay balanced without touching your feet down as you rotate. Bring your hands back center and then lie back down into Banana, extending your arms overhead while straightening your legs out. Do not completely relax out. Keep your abs engaged and press your low back into the ground as you keep your shoulder blades slightly crunched up and your legs up off the ground. Then repeat, sitting back up and twisting each way.
Snowboard Hop Skiers:
To do Snowboard Hop Skiers, start with your feet in a slightly staggered stance and your back foot out in front of your front foot. Look forward over that front leg and then squat down to place your front hand down on the ground by your toe. Do not simply round over to place your hand on the ground. Squat down. Do not touch the ground if that means rounding over with your butt up. Then jump up and rotate, switching to land in the slightly staggered stance on the other side. Sink down then reach your hands down to jump back into a high plank position from your feet and hands with your hands under your shoulders and feet close together. Holding the plank, jump your feet up and in toward one side, bringing your knees as close to the outside of your elbow as possible. Jump back into the high plank position center then jump your feet up to the other side, again bringing your knees as close to the outside of that elbow as possible. You want to feel your core rotate to tuck your knees up to the outside. Jump back center then jump up and in to come into that snowboard squat position. Lift your hands up and jump back to that first side before jumping back again to repeat the plank and skier hops to each side. You can include just two snowboard hops and always jump back on the same side if you alternate which side you start with and have an even number of rounds. Or you can include 3 snowboard hops even so you are alternating sides you jump back for the skier hops on.
Push Back Push Up:
To do the Push Back Push Up, set up in the high plank position with your feet about hip-width apart or slightly closer together and your hands just outside your chest. Beginners can also do this from their knees.Then from this plank position sit your butt back toward your heels as if doing a child’s pose without your knees on the ground. Beginners can actually do child’s pose, sitting back with their knees down. As you come back forward stay as close to the ground as possible. You are shooting forward into the bottom of the push up. You want to think about skimming forward with your body just off the ground. Once you’re in a nice straight line at the bottom of a push up, press up to the high plank position then sit back again to repeat. Do not let your elbows flare way up above your shoulders as you come forward or push up. You want your upper arms to create more of an arrow shape with your body or even stay in slightly closer to your sides. Beginners can do this all from their knees. To make this move a little less advanced from the toes, you can reverse the move. Instead go from the high plank to the bottom of the push up then from the bottom of the push up sit your butt back onto your heels. You will then come back forward into the high plank position to repeat. This makes the movement a little easier on your upper body, but far from easy! If the knee version is too easy but the others from the feet are too much, try placing your hands up on a low incline!
Crossed-Leg Lift:
To do the Crossed-Leg Lift, lie on your back on the ground with your arms down by your sides. Lift both legs straight up toward the ceiling and then bend one knee and cross that foot behind the calf of your leg that is straight up. As you do this, push that straight leg up toward the ceiling as you lift your butt up off the ground. Feel your abs working to press that toe up toward the ceiling. Lower down and then straighten the bent leg out as you cross the other foot behind your other calf. Again press the foot up toward the ceiling using your abs to lift your butt up off the ground. Keep alternating sides, really lifting toward the ceiling. Beginners may keep both knees bent while still crossing one leg behind if needed to modify.
Tabletop To Side Plank Kick:
To do the Tabletop to Side Plank Kick, it may be easiest to set up first in the side plank from your hand. Stack your feet and engage your back to support your shoulder. You can reach your top hand overhead. From the side plank position, lift your top leg up and kick it forward as you reach your raise hand to touch it. After touching your hand to your foot, straighten them back out. And as you bring your arm back out and straighten your leg back out toward the side plank position, bend your knee, rotating your body open toward the ceiling as you put that foot on the ground behind. You will move into an almost turkish bridge position. From here, raise your straight leg up (the one that was your bottom leg in the side plank) and reach the opposite hand to touch your toe. You are doing a kick from a tabletop position and reaching your hand to touch your toe. Place the straight leg back down and move back into the side plank position and kick the top leg forward as you reach to touch your toe to repeat the move.
Mountain Climber Burpees:
To do the Mountain Climber Burpee, start standing tall. Then bend over and squat down to put your hands on the ground in front of your feet as you jump back into a high plank position. From this high plank position, perform a push up. Keep your body in a nice straight line as you lift and lower. Beginners can go down to their knees and come back up to their toes at the top for the knee tuck. After pushing back up, tuck one knee in toward the same elbow. Then place the foot back and perform another push up. Once you push back up, tuck the other knee in. Do one final push up then jump your feet into your hands and stand back up. Jump at the top then repeat the move. Beginners can also do this off an incline. And while there are 3 full push ups, you can modify by taking out a push up and doing both knee tucks in a row. You can also modify the push ups by doing them from your knees or off an incline.
