Posts Tagged abs

Circuit Training for Upper Body and Core

Hi friends!  Happy weekend to you all!

As promised, I am back to share with you a little workout I put together last week for one of my ‘in-person’ personal training clients.  She gets a lot of lower body work outside of our in-studio sessions, so we focus on upper body, cardio and core movements.

She enjoyed this one a lot so I thought I’d post it here as well.  Every once in a while I should show you FITNESS stuff in addition to just healthy FOOD stuff, right? ;)

Be sure to warm up for a minimum of 5 minutes (and preferably 10 minutes) in order to get blood flowing to your muscles and raise your core body temperature.  Action pics are included after the list of circuits, to give you an idea of the movement involved.  Get your timer ready because you’ll perform each exercise for one minute!

A1: 1 Minute Punch Presses on the Ball

A2: 1 Minute Seated Rows with Exercise Tube

A3: 1 Minute Reverse Plank Posterior Lifts

A4: 1 Minute Cardio Interval (we ran on a treadmill)

A5: 1 Minute Rest 1 minute

Complete “A” Circuit twice through before moving on.

B1: 1 Minute Pushups (as many as you can full pushup style then drop to modified style on your knees if you need to)

B2: 1 Minute Squatting Punch Rows

B3: 1 Minute Upright Rows into Overhead Presses

B4: 1 Minute Cardio Interval

B5: 1 Minute Rest 1 minute

Complete “B” Circuit twice through before moving on.

C1: 1 Minute Dumbbell Flyes with a ‘Twist’

C2: 1 Minute Swimmers

c3: 1 Minute Bicycles

c4: 1 Minute Cardio Interval

c5: 1 Minute Rest

Complete “C” Circuit twice through before moving on to your cool-down (in the second set, C5: rest should be replaced with cool-down activity.)

Cool down with light cardio or walking for at least 5 minutes to bring your heart rate back down and allow your blood flow to normalize.

Action Shots to give you an idea on the movements:

Punch Presses on the Ball
Head and neck supported, abs and glutes tight, palms facing each other
Alternate arms pressing upward similar to punching

*NOTE* I prefer to keep my upper back, neck and shoulders on the ball and use my core muscles to stabilize my low back.  If you have any issues with your back, roll further onto the ball to ensure your back is being supported, or perform this movement on a weight bench instead.

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Seated Rows with Exercise Tube
Rowing movement, keeping torso steady

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Reverse Plank with Posterior Lifts
A Jackie Warner special ;) You’ll feel the whole backside of your body
Notice that the arms stay straight – these are not tricep dips.  You are lifting your butt up and down (squeeze the glutes!)

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Pushups

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Squatting Punch Rows
Palms are facing up on this one, alternating quickly right to left arms

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Upright Rows into Overhead Press
Four step motion here.

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Dumbbell Flyes with a ‘Twist’
the ‘twist’ here is that you start with your palms facing toward your head and as you lower into the flye, slowly rotate the wrists so that the palms face each other at the bottom of the movement.  Twist again on the way up back to the start position.

*NOTE* I prefer to keep my upper back, neck and shoulders on the ball and use my core muscles to stabilize my low back.  If you have any issues with your back, roll further onto the ball to ensure your back is being supported, or perform this movement on a weight bench instead.

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Swimmers
Opposite arm/leg flutter to simulate swimming.

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Bicycles
Fingertips are lightly touching head, NOT pulling on it.  Take elbow across the body to the opposite knee, then switch to other side.

Before beginning any exercise program, it may be recommended that person first consult a physician or other qualified health care provider. A physician or other health care provider can determine what type of exercise, the frequency, and the intensity are appropriate for each individual. A physician or other health care provider may be able to recommend an exercise program that will cater to a person’s specific heath concerns and needs.

Let me know if you have any questions on the workout or what your thoughts were after completing it.  Was it hard for you?  Or too easy?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends!

– Shari B. =)

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Flex-It Friday: The Abs Edition

Hi everyone!  Happy Friday!

Well, as it turns out, no one wants to bare their mid-winter abs.  Biceps are one thing, but it seems that abs are quite another indeed!  I was a little scared myself.  I’ve had a bit of a food fest since the middle of January and was dreading seeing my “winter abs” vs my “summer abs”.  In the dead of winter, I’m eating more grains and starchy veggies, not to mention those darn delicious vegan cookies from Whole Foods!  (I almost wish that I hadn’t discovered that tasty treat!)

But in the interest of following through with things I plan for the blog, I present to you my lonely version of Flex-it Friday: The Abs Edition.

Or as I like to call it:  “Fun with Self-Timer“.  :)

I must admit I feel a little weird doing this one alone.  But here goes…

Since we are supposed to FLEX for Flex-It Friday, I figured a side plank would be a good way to get a good shot of abs.  My first realization?  That I could definitely use a longer timer on my camera than 10 seconds!

In this one I totally wasn’t even in the shot!

Next attempt:  uh, getting closer.  A little heavy on the zoom button!

Nope, still not there.

Hey!  A body!  But no head!

And this time a head, but a BLURRY one!  This is impossible!  I want to know how Averie and Cindy get into their advanced yoga poses and take a pic!

I’m thinking Plan B is in order…

Scrap the self-timer….the camera gets to be in the picture too… Flex those abs!

Call it DONE!

I was pleasantly surprised to see that all the recent eating (bday dinner at the Melting Pot, the organic chocolate bars, caramel cream eggs, and Valentine’s Day candy) didn’t do as much damage as I had figured.  I can pinch more right now than I can in the summer, but I know that when the days are longer and warmer I’ll be right back to where I was before Thanksgiving.

For next quarter’s Flex-It Friday, what will you BARE?!! ;)   I’m taking suggestions!  Triceps?  Calves?  Your favorite strength exercise?  Favorite yoga pose?

Have a fabulous Friday friends!

– Shari B. =)

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Remembering to REDUCE and REUSE

Hello there blog buds!

Today is the first day of Cindy’s 30 Day Core Challenge so head on over to her blog today to check it out if you are interested.  I’ll be ‘watching’ this challenge from the sidelines only because I started the Physique 57 ‘program’ to review and as such, have more challenge to my core than I can handle already!  :)

Cindy, I’m thinking I’ll schedule the next Flex It Friday at the end of your challenge (making this one for ABS) so you can show off all of your hard work!  Whaddya think??? Are you game?

I hope you all had a marvelous weekend!  Mine flew by too quickly as usual.  As I mentioned in my Sunday morning post, we were planning an outdoor run since the weather was warming up somewhat.  We did get out for a run at 7:30 a.m. but apparently “Mr. Warm Up” was sleeping in.  It was 28 degrees, but WINDY so it felt bitter cold.  But it was still AMAZING!  I just love running outside.  The sun was shining and the sky was blue.  Idyllic. We just did a leisurely 3.5 miles and then spent a good 15 minutes stretching really well afterward.

It was fan-tabulous!

You know what makes beautiful runs even better?  Getting to have your ‘post-workout’ drink at Starbucks!!  I met up with another of my best friends for some chat time after the run and had a delicious grande decaf soy no-foam latte. And the cutest miniature donut you’ve ever seen!  It was too adorable to resist.  I am a sucker for miniature things. Maybe that explains why Rascal has me wrapped around his paw… he IS a MINIATURE Pinscher!

Could you resist this little face??

Didn’t think so!  ;)

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Switching gears:  I was thinking over the weekend about another part of The Kind Diet that really resonated with me but that I didn’t include as a part of the review.  It has to do with the phrase “REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE”.

I feel good about the amount of recycling we do in our household (vs. throwing things in the trash).  We are very lucky that our waste management company (Eagle Waste) includes recycling FOR FREE when you use them for your trash pickup.  You just have to have some marked bins.  What Alicia reminded me of after reading her book is that while recycling is great, you still want to focus on REDUCING and REUSING before you even go that next step of recycling.

I’d gotten so used to recycling that I confess I had kind of forgotten about the other two.  When I would rinse a glass jar that maybe had spaghetti sauce in it, I’d have normally placed that right into the recycle bin and felt that I was doing a good thing by recycling it.

Well, sort of.

Yes, it’s 100% better than choosing the trash bin.  But this weekend it occurred to me that there was NO REASON to recycle those glass jars when I could absolutely REUSE them. I can take my lunch in one so that I have something of glass to microwave my food in (since I do NOT like to heat my food anywhere near plastic if I can help it.)  Or I can store leftover veggie broth.  Or drink a cup of coffee out of one (or WINE!)

So yesterday when I did my weekly fridge organizing to make room for the groceries, I kept ALL of the glass containers out of the recycle bin, washed them and put them in my cabinet next to our drinking glasses.  I did the same with my Tokyo Joe’s plastic ‘take-out’ containers.  They are just as good as the GladWare that I have picked up once or twice at the store (the thin kind that is considered ‘disposable’ but that I use just like Tupperware.)

Now I know this is a health & fitness blog, but I feel that the health of the Earth qualifies for inclusion here every once in a while.  :)   Because the healthier Mother Earth is, the healthier WE can be too! And I figured if I needed a nudge to ‘remember’ to REUSE before I recycle, then maybe you might like a nudge too!

Are you a big recycler?  How do you REDUCE and REUSE? Please feel free to share any tips that YOU use for reducing and reusing in the comments section so that we can all learn and be kind to our environment!

Have a beautiful evening friends!

– Shari B. =)

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