5 Exercises to Love and Hate at the Same Time

We all have it–that exercise that makes your eyes go wide whenever your coach tells you its up on today’s list. I’m pretty sure you don’t have just one name at the top of your head right now. I whipped up a list of the most commonly practiced and dreaded moves for any fitness level. See if any of these make it to your list too.

5. Plank

“If you think time flies, you haven’t held a plank recently.”

Whether you’re on your forearms, on your hands, or balancing on the blade of your bottom foot to work the obliques, holding a plank is more challenging than it looks. If held with proper form and alignment, you’ll be sweating in under two minutes. Find two minutes too easy? Try holding it for four or even five and do it every day to condition the core.

4. Pushups

As if the regular pushup isn’t difficult enough, there are tons of variations to this monster exercise. Once you’ve mastered the regular wide-elbowed pushup, you can move on to the tricep pushup and probably the one-hand pushup. If  you get bored, go play around with it. The possibilites are endless, and sometimes, even close to impossible.

3. Plyometric Jumps

I think it’s fun jumping on boxes landing as lightly as you can on your feet. But as soon as your heart starts racing and the legs begin to burn, the cute kind of fun goes away. It’s still fun but then you start to feel that this workout means serious business. I love box jumps and the reason why I love it is probably why I also hate it so much. Plyometric workouts are no joke. The explosive moves build muscular power. You become strong without feeling bulky or heavy.

2. Pull-ups and Chin-ups

I used to think the horizontal bar is the enemy. I couldn’t do one pull-up to save my life. Now, I think I have a chance. I can pull up once and that’s it. LOL. For most women, pulling up without jumping is a feat. Most of us don’t have the upper body strength for it especially when starting out. And sometimes, even when you do have upper body strength, you realize that it’s not the same set of muscles required to pull that bar below your chin. I learned to love the horizontal bar because it gave me something to work for and look forward to. When you find something you can’t do, you’ve found yourself a starting point to what could be an awesome journey. So track it and work towards that goal. Oh, and have you seen that viral video of American Ninja Warrior, Kacy Catanzaro? If that doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will.

1. Burpees

At the top of the list is the ultimate calorie torcher. When I first tried doing burpees I seriously wondered why they weren’t called “Barfees”. Burpees is actually the name of the person who developed this exercise in the 80’s. It was used during military drills to see how fast army men could drop (to dodge a bullet) and get up again to shoot. It’s a total body workout that involves nearly every major muscle group and challenges your endurance. While it looks pretty simple, it’s guaranteed to get your heart racing, and your lungs gasping for air.

I hate burpees because they’re tough. But I learned to love them (but still hate them) because they really work. I teach dance fitness classes once or twice everyday and Burpees help me survive them without feeling zapped. The fact that you can do them anywhere is an added bonus.

Which exercises have made it to your “love-hate” list? Holler at me and let’s compare notes. <3