Essentials = approachable and beginner-friendly. This 5 day challenge with Erica focuses on beginner-friendly total body strength training with sprinkles of low-impact cardio. Fine-tuning the exercises in this challenge will set your mind and body up for success in other workouts.
Who is this challenge for?
It's designed for beginners or those coming back after a break from the weights and needing to learn or practice fundamental movement patterns. Aside from these two buckets of people, this challenge takes us back to the essentials, which are always a wise idea to become stronger and more proficient no matter your fitness level. Anyone who has a goal of refining their form and laying a solid foundation to build upon will greatly benefit. These workouts will develop total body coordination and balance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, core stability, and cardiovascular health, and involve moving through various planes of motion.
What to expect
Day 1: All Standing Foundational Lower Body Strength
Day 2: Essential Upper Body Strength Supersets with Low-Impact Cardio Bursts
Day 3: Steady-State Total Body Endurance and Core
Day 4: Total Body Bored Easily Strength with Lower, Upper, and Combo Exercises
Day 5: Upper and Lower Body Strength with a Standing Cardio Core Intermission
To make room to focus on proper form, technique, and mind-body awareness, the formats in this challenge are fairly straightforward with rests after each active interval. By the end of the 5 days, you'll have comprehensively worked your entire body with an emphasis on strength training and a smaller focus on low-impact cardio, balance/coordination, and mobility. The vast majority of the exercises will be foundational, "basic" fitness exercises, but there will be some fun variations and moves thrown in (in true Erica fashion!). All workouts are rated a level 3 in difficulty with modifications shared throughout.
Equipment needed
Light to medium weights for your fitness level along with a mat are recommended for an optimal challenge experience. Keep in mind that the focus is on form and technique more than anything, so choose weights that will allow you that headspace. At any time, weights are optional! It's also important to not compare to the weights I am personally lifting.
Being a beginner or refreshing yourself on the fundamentals is a special place to be that holds so much potential! I hope this 5 day challenge brings about new discoveries for you and I look forward to hearing from you in the workout comments!
xxErica