I cheered for 10 years, 9 of those years being involved with competitive cheerleading. The workouts we did during conditioning season were a lot like boot camp. It was a rigorous cycle of cardio mixed with the common push-ups, sit-ups, ect. My favorite of these workouts were done at my All-star gyms. These workouts were group focused, relay exercises. For example, one of the hardest was an indian run (a line of girls would run as fast as they could and the girl in the back of the line would have to sprint to the front of the line and it would repeat.), then followed by a crab walk to the foam pit and having to use every muscle in your body to climb out the other side. It was torture. It was, that is, until I realized the effect of all this core training had on my body. Out of no where it seemed like I was toned EVERYWHERE, and I had more energy than I had ever had.
Since my cheering days, I have yet to find anything that has given me the same satisfaction. I have tried about everything, except for the Insanity or P90X workouts. I am going to try them, but before I pour myself into that insane of a workout I want to work up to it.
My first year in college I tried Zumba, and fell in love. I love to dance, and to have a group of women in the same scenario of trying to keep up and synchronizing and getting really into it, brought me back to cheerleading. I think this is why I loved it so much. Since then, a studio opened up near my hometown that offers the classes daily for a really affordable price, along with boot camp (that kicks your ass) and yoga. If it weren't for my weird hours at work I would go more regularly, so instead I have turned to workout videos and DVD's.
YouTube, to me, is a very underrated place to find awesome workouts online for FREE. Last year I did a Brazilian Butt workout and it nearly had me in bed for two days. It was so awesome. Along with that I have become really interested in the dancer inspired workout called "Barre." There are gyms in the area that offer the classes, but for an insane $200-300. If you can afford it, go for it. I, being a broke college student, can not. However, thanks to Pinterest and YouTube I have found the workouts online, and they WORK. I did a 39 minute workout this morning and am already sore.
Below I will include links to my favorite free workouts. What are some of yours?
