We are all well aware of the benefits of working out and how important it is to get in your strength training.
However, whether you work out in the gym or do at-home exercise, it’s easy to fall into a rut of doing the same routine over and over, or just cycling through a couple of basic workouts.
Monotony in your workouts not only leads to boredom but it can also stagnate your progress and lead to fitness plateaus. Varying your workout routine keeps things from feeling stale and too easy.
The alphabet workout is a really simple way to rejuvenate your zest for working out and inject some much-needed fun back into your fitness routine.
If you’ve never heard of the alphabet workout or it’s been a while since you enjoyed spelling your way into shape, keep reading to learn all about the alphabet workout and how and why you should start adding it into your workout rotation.
We will discuss:
- What Is the Alphabet Workout?
- How to Do the Alphabet Workout
- Marathon Guide Alphabet Workouts
- How to Make Your Own Alphabet Workout
Let’s get started!
What Is the Alphabet Workout?
The alphabet workout is a creative workout wherein each letter of the alphabet stands for a different exercise.
For example, letter A might be 15 jumping jacks, letter B might be 10 push-ups, letter C might be 30 seconds of bicycle crunches, and so on.
There isn’t one specific alphabet exercise workout set in stone, so you will find an infinite number of iterations where each of the 26 letters stands for a different number and type of specific exercise.
The exercises are usually body weight strengthening exercises or calisthenics, but you can also do the alphabet workout with weight lifting exercises using dumbbells, barbells, circuit training machines, and so on.
Theoretically, you can design an alphabet workout to have whatever type of exercises you want to focus on, and can even make sport-specific alphabet workouts.
For example, a swimmer could have letter A stand for 25 meters of freestyle, letter B could be 25 meters of kickboarding, letter C could be 25 meters of backstroke, letter D could be 50 meters of breaststroke, etc.
You can repeat exercises for different letters with or without changing the reps.
How to Do the Alphabet Workout
Once you’ve made your alphabet workout by assigning an exercise to each letter or finding the alphabet workout online that meets your needs, all you do is pick different words, phases, or sentences to spell for your workout.
Then, perform the exercises designated for each letter of the word or phase in order.
Many people spell their full name or choose a powerful sentence like “I am a strong athlete,” or “fitter, faster, stronger, better.”
As you can imagine, certain words and phrases are going to be much harder than others, particularly if they have double letters or many of the same repeating letters within them because that will require you to perform the same exercise either back to back or numerous times during your workout.
That’s where the challenge—and fun—comes in.
It’s fun to do the alphabet work out in a group where different people are spelling different words, causing a bit of competitiveness and schadenfreude when someone is saddled with a bad hand.
Overall, the point of the alphabet workout is to have some variety in the exercises that you do, while also forcing you to perform exercises that you might otherwise neglect.
Additionally, depending on the exercises in the alphabet workout you do and the ones that are on deck based on the words you spell, the alphabet workout can be a great way to build muscular endurance because you don’t have a say in what exercises you have to do back to back.
This means that you might get push-ups twice in a row or a bunch of leg exercises sequenced together.
The benefit of this is that you’re forced to try your best even when your muscles are tired. The challenge can make you that much more mentally and physically tough.
Marathon Handbook Alphabet Workouts
The following are some alphabet exercise workouts we’ve created for you to try:
#1: Marathon Handbook Bodyweight Alphabet Workout
This bodyweight alphabet workout requires no equipment so you can perform it at home or when you’re traveling.
There’s lots of cardio and strengthening moves, so you’ll get your heart pumping and muscles burning!
A: 30 High Knees
B: 30 Bodyweight Squats
C: 30 Bicycle Crunches
D: 30 Jumping Jacks
E: 30 Mountain Climbers
F: 30 Side-to-Side Hops
G: 45 Seconds Right Side Plank
H: 45 Seconds Left Side Plank
I: 20 Alternating Jumping Lunges
J: 60 Seconds Russian Twist
K: 20 Wide Hands Push-Ups
L: 50 Alternating Reverse Lunges
M: 50 Alternating Forward Lunges
N: 45 Seconds Up-Down Plank
O: 20 Jump Squats
P: 60 Seconds Plank
Q: 45 Seconds Flutter Kicks
R: 25 Push-Ups
S: 20 Burpees
T: 15 V-Ups
U: 60 Seconds Squat Hold
V: 20 Single-Leg Glute Bridges Per Side
W: 15 Tuck Jumps
X: 60 Seconds Bicycle Crunches
Y: 10 Diamond/Narrow Push-Ups
Z: 25 Superman Back Extensions
#2: Marathon Handbook Strength Training Alphabet Workout
We’ve created this version of the alphabet workout for those who have access to a gym or have weightlifting equipment at home.
You can swap out any of the exercises that you can’t do with the equipment available to you.
A: 15 tricep extensions
B: 15 jump squats
C: 45 seconds bicycle crunches
D: 15 lat pull-downs
E: 15 bicep curls
F: 15 tricep dips
G: 20 Pallof press
H: 20 hip thrusts
I: 20 alternating jumping lunges
J: 60 seconds Russian twist
K: 20 hamstring curls
L: 15 single-arm row per arm
M: 15 single-leg Romanian deadlift per leg
N: 12 Bulgarian split squats per leg
O: 20 jump squats
P: 15 overhead presses
Q: 15 goblet squats
R: 25 push-ups
S: 20 burpees
T: 15 V-ups
U: 60 seconds plank
V: 12 reverse fly
W: 10 pull-ups
X: 12 sumo squats
Y: 10 chest press
Z: 15 hammer curls
#3: Marathon Handbook Fartlek Running Alphabet Workout
The alphabet workout can also be used for running. You can create a fun fartlek workout by spelling different words or phases.
Each letter of the alphabet can stand for a different duration and intensity of a hard interval.
After warming up for a few miles, start throwing in surges based on the letters of the word or phase you chose.
Use a standard recovery jog interval in between each hard effort, such as 60 seconds (or shorter or longer based on your fitness level).
A: 30 seconds at mile pace
B: 20 seconds at mile pace
C: 35 seconds at 5k pace
D: 90 seconds at 10k pace
E: 45 seconds at 5k pace
F: 90 seconds at 5k pace
G: 45 seconds at mile pace
H: 15 seconds sprint
I: 20 seconds at 800 meter pace
J: 2 minutes at 10k pace
K: 4 minutes at half marathon pace
L: 50 seconds at 5k pace
M: 50 seconds at 10k pace
N: 30 seconds sprint
O: 3 minutes at 10k pace
P: 60 seconds at 5k pace
Q: 3 minutes at half marathon pace
R: 25 seconds at mile pace
S: 55 seconds at 5k pace
T: 55 seconds at mile pace
U: 40 seconds at 5k pace
V: 10 seconds sprint
W: 25 seconds sprint
X: 60 seconds at half marathon pace
Y: 75 seconds at 5k pace
Z: 75 seconds at mile pace
How to Make Your Own Alphabet Workout
Making an alphabet workout is as simple as coming up with 26 different combinations of exercises and number or reps or duration.
It’s even fine to recycle the same exact exercise and reps for multiple letters. This is just like doing multiple sets of the same exercise in a workout, which is standard practice.
For instance, letters L and T can both be 15 push-ups, or you can make the letter L 15 push-ups and the letter T 18 push-ups. There are no rules!
Challenge yourself by choosing exercises that you usually avoid.
Once you come up with your alphabet workout exercises, you can reuse the same template for numerous workouts by spelling different words, or you can make a brand new one.
The only rule you should hold yourself to is sticking with the word or phase you’ve chosen once you pick it—no switching just because you don’t like the exercises you got!
The alphabet workout should be fun. It’s a way of gamifying your exercise routine.
Enjoy it and be creative. Let us know if you try out any of our versions or design your own alphabet workout!
If you need some more ideas of exercises to add to your list, you can check out our different exercise guides for runners: Upper Body Workouts For Runners, Squat Variations For Runners, Plank Variations For Runners, Plyometrics For Runners and Bodyweight Workout For Runners: No Equipment Required.
