Work Out, Together: Warm Up and Cardio

Doing a partner workout in the great outdoors with your friends, family or partner is an ideal way to boost your fitness and wellbeing together. Make it happen with our easy gamified workout, designed to increase your energy and endorphin levels. With hectic schedules and screens dominating our downtime, it’s tough to carve out quality time together. Getting active outdoors is the ultimate in multi-tasking – it helps you hit your exercise goals, while spending time with the people you love. “Everyone plays a part in keeping each other motivated,” says Harrison Bogdanovs, Head Coach at Virgin Active. Group Exercise Manager Carrie Hill also highlights the power of group exercise. “If you practise healthy habits, chances are your child will follow your example.” Exercising as a group doesn’t need the structure of a workout you’d do in the gym but, says Harrison: “Always have a good warm-up, a cardio, then a resistance-based component, and finish with a cooldown and stretch. “Depending on your group fitness level or your children’s attention span, aim to work out for anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes.”

The warm up

Try this fun game with your friends – you might just forget that it’s exercise! Do each exercise for 60 seconds RUNNING ON THE SPOT 1. Run on the spot, knees high and arms pumping. BEAR CRAWLS 2. Support your body on your hands and feet and move forwards, backwards, then try the movement side to side. JUMPING JACKS 3. Start standing straight, arms down by your side. Jump legs out at the same time as lifting arms up overhead. LOW SQUAT BUNNY HOPS 4. Start in a squat and ‘hop’ or jump forward with both feet.  Land back onto both feet, squatting as deep as you can. Keep the exercises in this section at a low to mid intensity.

The Cardio Round

Mark out a ‘race track’ about 10m in length. Split into two teams. The first round is a standard sprint, then do a round of each of the below. SPRINT AS FAST AS YOU CAN 1. Try to be explosive with your energy here and push yourself as hard as you can. BACKWARDS RUN 2. This is a great exercise as it tests our coordination as well as giving us a cardio challenge. CRAB WALK 3. Start by sitting on your bottom, then lift up so your weight is on your hands and feet Shuffle sideways the length of the track. BROAD JUMP 4. Start with both feet planted firmly on the ground. Bend down and, using your arms to propel you, jump explosively up and as far as you can up the track, landing on both feet. Repeat! Once you reach the finish line, run back and tag your teammate. While awaiting your turn, jump up and down on the spot. Beginners should complete two rounds, intermediate exercisers can try four rounds and an advanced group could try to complete six rounds. Now that you've warmed up and got your heart rate up, have a look at the next round: resistance training and a relaxing cool down.