Jyiah Long: Workout Time!

jyiah long

Picture this, it’s conditioning day for you and your team and you’re absolutely DREADING this moment. You dread it so much that you just want the class to be over as soon as possible! While conditioning, some of these thoughts may go through your brain…

Why is this so hard?

It is supposed to hurt there? Am I doing this wrong?

Ouch… my arms!

Don’t worry, almost every athlete feels this way. Conditioning isn’t supposed to be easy, you know. Even when we are in classes remember to find the joy in it all. Some of the tricks I use for a positive mindset when conditioning gets tough is breathing, repeating positive thoughts in my head like “Go! Go! Go! You’re almost there…” and above it all… remembering how strong I’m going to be when it’s all over.Now, those are things you can do while at the gym or your studio. But today I want to give you some fun games you can use to have fun the next time you condition on your own! The first one up is…

Around The World

This one is probably one of the easiest workouts you could do! It’s simply eight jumping jacks and one burpee (including push up). The catch is you have to do it towards every wall, doing the first wall twice. It can get tiring sometimes, but it’s a quick and easy way to get the body warm.

The Song Workout

When practicing at home, I like to time my workouts to songs! So, depending on the beat of the song or duration length, I do a different workout each time! For example, if the song was about 2-3 minutes long, I do 100 crunches/sit-ups for the first minute or so, and then bicycles for the next 30 seconds. This one REALLY gets the abs working. Make sure to keep those shoulder blades off the floor!

Add On

This is a game I used to play in gymnastics class but you can totally use this as a fun way to condition! Let me explain. Someone starts off with an eight count of a certain workout move and then someone adds on for the next eight counts. For example, let’s say my sister did high knees for an eight count, so on top of that, I add ten push-ups. Each time someone adds something on, you repeat the cycle! (Starting with high knees then doing the push-ups, etc.) You add on and on until the end of two minutes.

The Card Game ( My favorite! )

This was my tumbling teacher’s idea–shout out to Ms.Risa of Temecula Valley Dance Academy! What you’ll need is a stack of cards, two+ people, and a timer. The objective of the game is to get more cards than the other team. Seems innocent right? So…what’s the catch? Well, each card you pull out of the stack means something different.

For example, hearts could mean push-up high fives. (Do a push-up, high-five your friend while in the push-up position, and then go back down.) But it can be anything you want.

Make sure you have a move for every card! (Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs!)

Now that’s settled, let’s talk about the numbers, Kings, Queens, Jacks, Aces, and Jokers! ( Wow, this is getting long isn’t it? )

Depending on what card you get is how many times you do that move, except when you get a Joker, they’re a free pass! You get to pick another card from the stack. This a MAJOR advantage to your team, you’re closer to winning with these!

Back to what I was saying, if you have 7 Hearts, you would do seven of high-five push-ups and so on. Pray for your friends that get Aces! Those mean 15! You’d probably want to get a Jack, those equal to 11 while Queens equal to 12 and Kings equal 13!  Whoever has the most cards by the end of the game, wins! This goes on for five minutes, so take deep breaths and try to have fun dancers!

I hope you enjoy and try out these fun conditioning games! Maybe you’ll even find something new for your team to do!

Let me know how it goes!

PEACE!

– Jyiah ✮

Instagram: @jyiah_jyaele

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