30-day challenges | candies & crunches

Hi friends!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my one and only brother! At times, he’s a pain, but I love him very much and wish him the very best!!!

A random funny fact: I just caught my pup, Bella, drinking my tea. My bad, I put it on the floor to cool down and totally forgot about it! Can you imagine?! *I guess, she does take this after her mommy! Not that I ever want this to happen again.* Obviously, my first reaction was to get the cup away and not to take a picture, but this is how she looked after the fact:

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Back to business *lol!*, if you have been following my blog for a while, you know my deep love for the monthly Spartan challenges. Here are some I participated in before:

In my opinion, they are easily incorporated in any workout and are super fun!

This time around, I completely forgot to let you know about the new challenge, blame traveling for that! *Haha!*

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All you have to do is to incorporate movements that require a partner to complete. That being said, if you prefer doing exercises on your own, you can simply motivate each other. Who doesn’t like being cheered on?!

Also, make sure to check out The Extreme Team Facebook page for their daily Spartan workout inspiration.

Here is an amazing partner workout by Fitness Blender.

– partner squat & row (14 reps)
– crunch + pass (15 reps)
– partner push plank (14 reps)
– partner sit + overhead pass (10 reps)
– partner hand push (30 reps)
– lunge + rotation (7 reps to each side)
– leg raise push down (14 reps)
– Russian twist pass (10 reps each direction)

Here is another cool *and somewhat funny* video to give you more ideas.

The amazing thing about partner workouts is they not only hold you accountable, competitive and motivated, they are fun.

Don’t forget about running with a partner either! I found a great article on Active.com with some interesting running workout suggestions. Here they are:

Triple Fast Slow: Take turns implementing three speed surges at the pace and duration of your choice, recovering as much as needed. After these three repeats, your partner has the chance to take the lead.
Adventure Run: Take turns plotting out a new route, make sure to point out all any interesting facts you know about it.
Snap The Whip: It is very similar to the first workout, but here you are trying to ‘drop’ your partner “with a quick burst of speed, by picking a really big hill, or perhaps using sustained tempo”. Make sure to set some ground rules. The article also suggests that “the leader should stop their work interval when the other person has “snapped” instead of building up a 1/4 of 1/2 gap.”
Track Relay Runs: “This is a great replacement for speedwork session that has intervals shorter than a mile. Best done on a track or a set loop, you and a partner can take turns running around the track; running is your work interval; the non-running is your recovery. Instead of doing 8 x 800 (1/2 mile) with 400 recovery on your own, you can now run 800, tag your partner, and then jog 400 while they run 800 so you are ready for them to tag you back. You can do this with all types of distances, simply do the math on where you need to stagger your recovery to be in the right place if you are running 600s or 1200s, etc.”
Circuit Running: This is a run during which you can have some fun. Make sure to mix in some burpees, mountain climbers, push ups *check out my Sunday’s workout for inspiration*.