Rock Your Body!

Do any of you recognize this lady? Yes? No? You may have seen her workout videos on youtube? Her name is Zuzana and as you can see, she is fit! Zuzana and her husband Freddy operates the site Bodyrock.tv. Zuzana offers tons of workouts and videos on her site without the need to go to a gym. She does use a couple of pieces of equipment but they are pretty easy to find or construct at home. Seriously, you can use 2 chairs and a broomstick to make a horizontal pull-up bar. I believe she started doing this because she moves around/travels often and wanted to keep in shape without relying on a gym. 

I am posting about her today because I love her workouts! I do her workouts in between days when I am not running. Her workouts are brutal, especially if you have not been keeping up. I stopped doing them over the holidays and started up recently and almost died in the middle of a workout. She has some beginner stuff to build you up to the regular workouts. I've been working out for many years and her interval-training style of workouts always kick my butt. I am usually sweating like a beast after doing just 20 minutes of this stuff. It is all about how much you put into it. Let's face it, I've done her workouts but I am not as fit as her. Why? Two things. Genetics and I am not as disciplined with my eating (portions and clean food) as she is. Plus I run, which causes me to eat more to fuel said runs. But I enjoy running so I don't mind that so much. Even if it was possible for me to do everything identical to her, I will still never look like that because we are not twins. I will only be the best version of me.  

Her workouts are not for the faint of heart. She makes it look that way but don't be fooled. You should always do them at your own pace. I've wanted to write this post for a long time now because I've been doing these workouts for about a year and have really grown to like them and love incorporating them into my training. I do them on-and-off depending on my running schedule but they work! On my Training tab, on days where I state that I do BW (Body Weight) Exercises, I am really doing one of these routines. These workouts are hard so they are more challenging on days following a longer run. These workouts have helped me strengthen my legs and increase my endurance without running everyday. It is actually a total body workout but I am emphasizing legs and endurance so other runners can relate. Often, I find that I would rather run than do these workouts because running seems easier in comparison. I can at least let my mind wander while I run on the treadmill but there is none of that doing these. You pretty much need total mental focus to get through the workouts. They are short but intense.

I really like these workouts because it has helped me become mentally stronger with regards to my running. The workouts really challenge me to push pass my point of comfort. Which has helped me get pass physical as well as mental struggles I have on long runs or those last pesky miles of the marathon. So there you have it. It's free, it works and you don't need to go to the gym! How about that?