Fired Up…for the Outback Bowl + a Crazy Hard Tabata Workout!

This post and tabata workout are sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. 

I am so looking forward to college football bowl season this year as I eagerly wait to see where my Georgia Bulldogs will end up. After last week’s big upset of Auburn beating Alabama, we’ll be facing off for a second time against Auburn for the SEC Championship! Our only loss of the year was to Auburn a few weeks ago and I’m hoping for a different outcome this time. 🙂

As I’ve mentioned quite a few times over the years of writing my blog, I was born and raised a Dawg fan and graduated from the University of Georgia.

I spent a many a Saturday in Sanford Stadium decked out in red and black belting out, “Gooooooo Dawgs, sic em, woof, woof, woof.” I miss it so much and I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve made it to Athens for a game.

I just think there is something that is SO exciting about college football so I was excited to partner with Outback Steakhouse and ESPN to talk about how their getting fans “FIRED UP” with the help of Lee Corso, Mack Brown and Steve Spurrier…three legendary former football coaches. (Although I can’t say Steve Spurrier is exactly my personal favorite after all of the years he was our nemesis at Florida and South Carolina!)

The coaches are talking about everything from wedding dates to trophies to losing your voice on game day and more. My personal favorite is Coach Mark Brown’s video on how couples who get married on game day Saturdays get him fired up. Y’all…after college it was SERIOUSLY a huge thing to avoid planning your wedding on a UGA game day. And if you did, you better have a TV and expect that people would be watching it. Crazy, right!?

Definitely head over to ESPN to watch the videos for a good laugh, especially my fellow college football fans.

The Outback Bowl will be in Tampa, Florida this year. Tampa in January sounds nice. 🙂

And now, I have a FIRED UP!!! tabata workout for you that might be my toughest tabata yet. You’re definitely going to have to dig down deep and find your inner athlete on this one.

FIRED UP!!! BODYWEIGHT TABATA WORKOUT

Remember, tabata intervals are 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 8 rounds total which is 4 minutes per exercise. I recommend using a tabata timer app to help you keep track of it all. This workout, as written, is 39 minutes long. I guarantee you that it would still be intense even if you shortened it to 4 rounds/2 minutes per exercise. There is a LOT of cardio, plyo and core going on here along with plenty of upper and lower body strength.

The best part? It’s bodyweight only so you can do it anywhere. Here’s the workout…

Here are the movement demos.

180 Squat Jumps: place some sort of target in the middle of your mat (water bottle, cone, weight, whatever). Stand on one side of it and find a low squat position tapping the target with your hand. Explode up, jump and rotate to the other side of the target, landing in a low squat. Really focus on exploding up and opening the hips and landing low to absorb the shock. If you don’t want to jump, step quickly back and forth.

Push Up, Side Plank: perform one push up (knees or toes) and then rotate over to the side for a side plank. Do another push up, side plank other side. I like to keep my feet split for the side plank rather than stacking for ease of transition to and from the push up.

High Knees: Start with your hands right above hip level and lock your elbows in tight. Alternate tapping your knees to your palms. You can do this fast like you are running or more like a march for a lower intensity (but still hard) option. Sometimes I like to go high intensity for one round, low for the next and alternate for the 8 rounds.

Frog Jumps: begin in a high plank position and then either step or hop your feet to the outside of your pinky fingers and then step or hop back to plank. When you come up to the top of the mat, make sure your but is low and your chest is high and you’re not rounding the back. These are suuuuper fun! 🙂

Seated Knee Tucks: I learned these back in my high school football cheerleading days so it was only fitting to add them in here. Start in a seated position with knees into the chest. Lower to hover shoulder blades and heels off the mat with straight legs (almost like you’re getting ready to do flutter kicks or canoe pose for my yogis) and then sit back up to the bent knee position. If you need a little extra help, place your hands on the floor beside your hips with fingers facing forward and keep your palms grounded throughout the movement.

Plie Squat Jumps: start with feet out side and toes turned out. Place hands on hips and squat down and then explode out of the legs to jump up. Land back in your low squat. If jumping isn’t for you, just a normal plie air squat can be subbed or a tap and reach plie squat. You would tap the ground with your fingertips at the bottom of the squat and then big reach overhead at the top.

Tricep Dips: I used yoga blocks because that’s all I had but you can also use a table, chair, bench, whatever you have to perch on. Start with straight elbows and hips close to your working surface. Chest up and shoulders down and back. Bend the elbows and SQUEEZE them together behind you and then straighten the arms back to starting position.

Burpees: you knew we had to end with burpees! They’re the cherry on top. Any burpee that works for you works for me here. You can go all the way down to your belly or just to high plank. You can jump or step back and up. Just keep moving!

As always, I’d love your feedback if you try the workout and I’m happy to answer any questions you have about it.

Are you a college football fan? If so, who’s your team and how are they doing this year? 

Favorite college football tradition from your alma mater? 

Have you ever been to a bowl game?