A 20-minute core and conditioning workout to feel great (and sweaty!)

LOL, you guys, it’s been five whole months since I shared a conditioning workout with you. A little ironic, because in those five months I’ve been attending a weekly class that is basically a sadistic hour of EMOMs, AMRAPs, ladders, and other confusing torture devices…and I love it. (ICYMI, I wrote about this class last week in my post about fun!) It’s very hard for me to make myself do cardio, but when the cardio is made up of a bunch of mostly resistance training exercises, I can bear it. And man, let me tell you, the endorphins are second to none. Plus, I feel less winded rushing up the subway stairs. Turns out cardio is good, actually?

I also loved how Virginia Sole-Smith described one of my conditioning workouts in her excellent post about doing the January strength challenge:

After the first week I realized that “core and conditioning” is sneaky code for cardio (sorry but what else do you call a minute of mountain climbers followed by a minute of skaters followed by a minute of wood chops, Anna?!). At first I was a little mad about this. Was this not a strength training challenge? Shouldn’t I have another day of lifting more weights (the exercise I like most) and not high intensity interval training (the exercise I have historically hated most of all)??

But something weird happened the second time I did the core and conditioning video. I… did not hate it. Instead, I appreciated that it was only 19 minutes. I did it on a day when I otherwise definitely would not have worked out – I was out of town and taking a child to an extensive day of medical appointments. But before we left, I spent 19 minutes sweating it out in our AirBNB and felt… shockingly good. Clearer, less ache-y from sleeping in a weird bed, ready to do a stressful day. Guys, I think endorphins might be real??? I have always been skeptical about this because I am not a person naturally inclined to move. I literally ran two half-marathons in my twenties and never once felt as good as I did after those 19 minutes. (It turns out eating first helps.) If you also hate cardio, I am here to say that there may be a redemption story for us in HIIT workouts. It’s still cardio (gross) but it’s SHORT. Somehow this makes all the difference.

If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will! But of course, if this isn’t your vibe today, you can always check out the index for other options:

Other than your mat, all you need for today’s workout is a set of medium to heavy dumbbells.

Let’s go!