I did a little perusing online and found Julie’s favourite home circuit workouts which were ideal for doing in an hotel room. I decided to give the jump rope circuit a go and so packed up my jump rope and I was good to go.
I thought the burpees and high knees might be the killers, possibly even the plank…
I changed the jump rope to 45 seconds and added on 5 extra exercises…
- Back Plank with alternate leg raise * 15 each side
- Side Plank with under body curl * 15 each side
- Spider Push Ups * 15 each leg
- Fire Hydrants
- Alternate Squat Front Kick
And the whole thing together took about 25 minutes. Just near the end, face a little sweaty, I noticed my back was starting to hurt when I attempted I got the final couple of jump ropes. Occassionally my lower back gets a little sore from running, never my upper back. Turns out (after doing a bit of Googling) that the cause was more than likely the jump rope and my lack of upper back strength.
Upper back pain is most often associated with muscle weakness and tightness in the shoulder and neck stabilizing musculature. The rhomboids and trapezius muscles both have insertions in the upper spine and work to stabilize the shoulder, upper back and neck. High velocity rope spinning motion used in jumping rope can leave these stabilizing muscles tired, adding stress to the upper spine.
Source: Livestrong
Note to self…focus on some upper back exercises (a week and half later this is yet to be achieved apart from some dumbbell rows). Before I go there….you may have noticed the pink bowl of deliciousness that has been appearing….peanut butter and jelly smoothie, yes sir-ee! Absolutely incredible! (More on the smoothie below).
In order to focus my mind, and subsequently strengthen my back I’ve put together the following upper back workout. I completed this Sunday morning and plan on incorporating at least 2 of the exercises every day as part of my weight (body or otherwise) training.
If you have any queries about other exercises just leave a comment below 
Workout and run complete, no better time for a smoothie if I do say so myself. Peanut butter, raspberries, strawberries, banana, a little bit of jelly and PB on top along with some dried banana…one word..awesome!
What are your favourite upper back exercises?
Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie
Servings – 1 (2 cups)
Preparation Time – 5 minutes
Ingredients
Smoothie
- 250ml (1 cup) almond milk
- 1 small frozen banana
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
- 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
- 1 scoop Sunwarrior Vanilla Protein Powder
- 1 tbsp Peanut Butter
- 1/2 tbsp maple syrup (optional)
Toppings
- 1 heaped tsp raspberry or strawberry jelly
- 1 heaped tsp peanut butter
- 4-5 pieces of dried banana
- 1 fresh strawberries sliced
Directions
- Blend together all smoothie ingredients. Serve topped with jelly, PB, dried banana and strawberries!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I love jump roping! I love the way it gets my heart pumping in a short amount of time. Now that the weather is nicer, I can go jump rope outside!
Your smoothie looks delicious, as always! I’ve never added PB to a smoothie before, but I’ll give it a try.
I just clearly need to strengthen my back first, it’s still a bit achy!
Hmmm….I’m going to have to do some research because I sometimes have back pain that sounds very similar to yours and I know that all of my back muscles could use a little strengthening. My gym has a skip fit class that I go to once in a while — it’s a great cardio workout!
PS – awesome smoothie combo!!!
Oooh skip class sounds like fun! I think my running form needs a bit of work too.