W.O.W. March 14, 2012

Wow (get it, W.O.W.?), this is a long time coming:). I am so hilarious.

This is your Workout Of The Week:

You will need a set of dumbbells (or two if you think you might need to switch for lighter ones)

Warm Up

5 Jacks, 5 Burpees, 5 Tuck Jumps, 5 Single leg squat thrust on each side.

Perform the following drills for 50 seconds each, take 10 seconds to switch drills:


Alt row in plank position

Kneeling get up with one DB overhead on the right leg only

Kneeling get up with one DB overhead on the left leg only

Renegade push ups

Jackknife





Repeat all cardio drills
Repeat all DB drills

Repeat both one more time.

Stretch

Workout Of The Week October 13th, 2011

W.O.W. 10/13/2011

You will need dumbbells and a place to run for this workout.

Warm up for five minutes.


Perform two rounds of the following:
Single leg squat hop Right X20
Burpee X20
Single leg squat hop Left X20
Push up and row X20 (10 a side)
Run a fast 400 meter
Rest





Perform two rounds of the following exercises:
Frog hop X20
Jack squat thrust X20
Frog hop X20
Squat and shoulder press X20
Run sprints 30 secs on/30 secs off - 5X




Perform two rounds of the following exercises
Split jump X20
Tuck squat thrust X20
Split jump X20
Overhead lunge X20/s
Run 800 meters





Finish with 4 sets of 20 sit ups.

W.O.W. June 27, 2011

Work Out Of The Week

This is a complicated pyramid work out. It's complicated to figure out, not to do. You will perform 5 drills in order but the times will vary.

Here's the formula:

Drill #1-50 seconds
Drill #2-50 seconds, Drill #1-40 seconds
Drill #3-50 seconds, Drill #2-40 seconds, Drill #1-30 seconds
Drill #4-50 seconds, Drill #3-40 seconds, Drill #2-30 seconds, Drill #1-20 seconds
Drill #5-50 seconds, Drill #4-40 seconds, Drill #3-30 seconds, Drill #2-20 seconds, Drill#1-10 seconds

You can do the above with any five drills. The sequence is about 9 minutes long. Go through it in order, Drills #1-5, and then rest. Repeat everything but start with Drill #5 and go backwards.

Here are today's drills:



#1 Jacks

#2 Push Ups

#3 Jump squats

#4 Sit ups

#5 Burpees

Go through the above drills, rest, and then repeat in reverse order.




Yes, it's hard to keep your own time but there are ways to do it. There are interval apps for smart phones and there are watches with which you can program any interval length.

W.O.W. March 1st, 2011

Workout Of the Day

Warm up on the treadmill for 5 minutes then increase your speed and run hard for 3 minutes. Drop your speed and increase the incline to 10% and run for 2 minutes.

Hold one dumbbell up in your RIGHT hand, so it's overhead with a straight arm. Lunge forward and back with the RIGHT leg. Repeat 10X on each side for 4 sets.

Run fast for 3 minutes, decrease your speed and increase your incline to 8% and run for 2 minutes.

On the cable machine. Adjust a single-grip pulley about waist height. Step back and lunge forward with your LEFT foot and hold the lunge. Make sure the lunge is deep and static so don't move. Grab the handle with the RIGHT hand and pull it back in a row to your waist. The weight should be heavy enough that you feel off-balance. Repeat 12X on each side for 4 sets. The illustration on the left shows a one arm cable row and the height that I want but her feet are not in the position I want. If she puts her left foot forward and right leg and bends both knees she will be in a static lunge position.

Run fast for 3 minutes, slow down, increase incline to 6% and run for 2 minutes.


Perform decline push ups (feet on a bench or a couple of stacked plates, depends on how easily you do push ups). 4 sets of 20 reps.

Jog easily on the treadmill for 5 minutes.

And yes, stretch. Again I know it is highly unlikely that you will stretch on your own but please, stretch at least your low back, hamstrings and chest (see illustrations below).

Hamstring Stretch

Chest Stretch on the left, low back stretches on the right.

W.O.W. June 2nd, 2010

Once again, the following work out can be done in your home or at a gym using minimal equipment.


Warm up with light jogging or calisthenics.

Perform 50 jacks
Pick up two 25-35lb dumbbells and perform 20 close stance squats lowering until thighs are parallel to floor.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform 50 crouch squat hops - crouch down touching elbows to your thighs and then jump up forcefully reaching for the ceiling.
Pick up 10-15lb dumbbells and alternate lunge while performing a shoulder press with both arms. Keep palms facing each other during the shoulder press. Repeat for 20.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform ten 8-count bodybuilders - this is an embellished squat thrust: hands down on the floor, kick your legs back, push up, hold a plank and do two jacks with the legs, hop in and hop up reaching for the ceiling.
Lying on floor or bench pick up your heavier dumbbells again. With knees and hips at a 90 degree angle perform 20 dumbbell bench presses. Make sure your knees and hips are in the correct position. You should feel your abdominals fully firing throughout the drill. If you don't, push your feet further away from your body.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform 20 tuck jumps, trying to hug your knees to your chest on every tuck.
Grab one of your heavier dumbbells. Hold a plank position (top of a push up) and perform a one arm dumbbell row, 15 per side.
Repeat both two more times.

For abs perform 3 sets of 20 military sit ups. Hook your feet under a couch or bar, place your hands across your chest (making an 'X') and bring your elbows all the way up to your knees.

Stretch. I know your won't but please, at least stretch your hamstrings. For me.

More Evidence on the Benefits of Interval Training

Interval training rocks. If you haven't been totally convinced yet read the following information as written in a Men's Health publication.

No matter what exercise you choose, there's only so much fat you can burn during, say, a 30-minute workout. And research shows that the better trained you become, the more your body's 'exercise efficiency' improves, meaning the same amount of activity burns fewer calories as time goes by. For instance, University of California, Berkeley, scientists have determined that to avoid age-related weight gain, avid runners need to boost their weekly mileage by 1.7 miles a year.

Sure, aerobic exercise burns calories. However, if you're already dieting studies show that distance running does little to further enhance fat loss. Most likely, this is because aerobic exercise doesn't boost your metabolism after your workout. But that doesn't mean cardio can't help: high intensity intervals-such as short sprints of 30 seconds or more, interspersed with a slow jog-are great for accelerating fat loss. Why? Because they're similar to weight training. After all, a 200-meter sprint challenges your lower-body muscles hard for 30 seconds or more, just like a set of 8 reps of squats. So by doing a few intervals on the days you don't lift weights, you can spike your metabolism even higher.

In other words, if fat loss is your goal, do intervals. If your just doing steady-state aerobic activity re-read the information study above. If your a runner you would have to run an extra 1.7 miles A WEEK, every single year just to stave off age related weight gain. So there's no fat loss involved. Think about how many more minutes you'd have to add to your elliptical workout every week. The elliptical is really a waste of your time to begin with, but pretty soon you would have to be on that thing for hours.

When I design workouts for clients, and the workouts of the week I post here, they include both weight training and cardio interval training mixed together in the same workout. If's efficient and very effective.

You have to get uncomfortable in order to move forward in your fat loss goals.

Know it. Embrace it. Now go out and do it.

Workout Of the Week April 1st

I haven't posted a workout for awhile so I think it's time. You all know I am all about intervals. I don't think any of us has time to waste so don't do it by getting on a piece of cardio equipment and slogging along for 45 minutes while you zone out to whatever is playing on the club's televisions. Walking outside has tons of benefits - nothing can beat fresh air, especially now that Spring has arrived - but don't forget, fat loss is not one of them.

Here's the workout:

First start out with Dillon lunges. I call them that because the owner of the studio where I train my clients does them with her clients all the time and they are awesome.

Take a GIANT step forward, lean down and touch the ground with BOTH hands just to the inside of the front foot. Continue that same movement as you walk forward (find a long hallway or place in your gym that you can cover some space). Perform a set of about 20 total steps. Immediately follow the Dillon lunges with squat and drop. Perform a wide squat then pivot to the right and drop into a lunge. Repeat left and continue R then L for a count of 10 - R/L counts as one. The lunge in this pattern is slightly diagonal, not completely to the side. It should feel fairly natural to perform. Take a short break and then complete two more cycles of both exercises.

Now find a treadmill or a 3 mile route outside with a steep hill somewhere around the middle of the route. I prefer outside just because of all the other benefits associated with being outside (fresh air, sense of well-being, anxiety/stress release because of the wide-open space, etc). Jog to warm up, about 5-10 minutes. If you are outside the route will dictate how much you will warm up. Once you get to the hill run up it as fast as you can and jog slowly back down, taking small steps. Repeat the hill runs 10 times. Jog home. If you are on a treadmill take the incline up to the highest setting which is usually 15%. You will also need to increase the pace to something that is super hard. Run that hill for 15-20 secs then decrease both speed and incline. Repeat 10 times. As you can see running this routine on a treadmill is somewhat more cumbersome so I suggest you go outside.

You should be gasping for air at the top of the hill. Have fun.