fitnesstreats:

No-equipment “hands up” workout
This workout can help strengthen your spinal muscles while working on your balance using your core, glutes and legs. And maintaining your arms up during the whole workout will make your shoulders burn. Take your time to perform each exercise in a slow controlled motion.

  • 20 squats
  • 20 alternative backward lunges
  • 20 walking lunges (or alternative forward lunges if you don’t have enough space available)
  • 20 bird dogs
  • 10 warrior III yoga poses on right leg
  • 10 warrior III yoga poses on left leg
  • 10 get down & up starting with right leg (stay in a squat position when you’re up, make those legs burn!)
  • 10 get down & up starting with left leg

It will take you around 25 minutes to perform this circuit 3 times. Keep your abs engaged to protect your lower back!

For more information and ideas to warm up and stretch before and after this workout, please check out the whole post on my Wordpress-blog: www.fitnesstreats.com/2012/04/hands-up-workout

Resolution #10 /// February 15, 2012

Full 30 minutes of cardio yesterday. I tweaked the exercises I posted yesterday just a little bit. Instead of doing “easy mode” for 2:30 minutes, I broke that down to 1:00 minute of easy and 1:30 minutes of medium. I’m not sure how that really affects its efficacy, but I sweated more than ever and burned 285 calories in 30 minutes (so says the machine). 

So here is the original plan from Women’s Health:

Here’s mine:

During the 30 seconds of hard mode, I pedaled (uh…is that the right word? on an elliptical?) as FAST as I could, keeping the speed above 150 as MUCH as I could. I’m not terribly looking forward to having to keep up the pace for 1:30 minutes. The original post didn’t say whether or not speed is a factor. But to quote from It’s Always Sunny - speed is the name of the game.

Anyways, after that…

On machines

3 x 10 Triceps presses

3 x 10 Hip abductor

3 x 10 Hip adductor

3 x 11 Leg Presses

3 x 10 Gluteal each side (Ugh…love-hate with this machine. It faces the mirrored wall, so when I’m cursing the machine with every rep, I see myself and I can’t help but think, girl YOU LOOK GOOD. lol.)

3 x 11 Lateral pull downs

3 x 12 Rotary torso each side

Free Weights:

3 x 10 Bicep curls

3 x 10 lateral raises

I owe myself like 2 bucks for this workout. 

Time to try this out on the elliptical tonight! I think I’m going to equate effort with resistance, except for “7”. Seven will be a Nine I think. :) fitvillains: Take It To The Gym! The Slim Workout This is a 6 week cardio plan that you can take to the gym (or do anywhere). All you need is a stopwatch (or timer). The beauty of this plan is that it leaves you TONS of flexibility: you can follow the intervals with any cardio machine you like (treadmill, elliptical, rower, bike) OR take it outside and run, jog, hike etc. Simply boost or lower the effort you put in to the right level for YOU. If you’re using a  heart rate monitor, find your maximum (220-your age for men, and 226-your age for women), and simply add a percentage point to each of the suggested intensities. (2-3 becomes 20-30% of your maximum heart rate. 5-6 becomes 50-60% of your maximum heart rate, and 7-8 becomes 70-80% of your maximum heart rate). If you don’t have a monitor, use the ‘talk test’ & the guidelines below and check your breathing. It’s YOUR workout, so while you should push yourself, you can dial things back if need be. 2-3: Easy. You should be able to talk normally, and notice a small boost in heart rate. 5-6: Moderate. You’ll start breathing a little more frequently, and can speak in short sentences. You’ll feel like you’re working, but know that you can push harder. 7: Hard. You’re heart rate is up and you’re pushing yourself. You can speak a few words at a time, but your breathing should be more labored. You won’t want to be speaking very much. 8: Really hard. This is an intensity you only reach and keep up in short intervals. Give it your all (it’s not long). Speaking is very difficult, and breathing is fast. Your heartrate should be WAY up. Add 2-3 cardio interval workouts like these to your routine each week for 6 weeks, in addition to your resistance workouts. Each workout is only a half hour, and you’ll work up to tougher intensities as you go. Save a copy of this for your phone/timer! Switch up the machines/exercise you’re using from week to week (or willy nilly) for best results.
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Time to try this out on the elliptical tonight! I think I’m going to equate effort with resistance, except for “7”. Seven will be a Nine I think. :)

fitvillains:

Take It To The Gym! The Slim Workout

This is a 6 week cardio plan that you can take to the gym (or do anywhere). All you need is a stopwatch (or timer).

The beauty of this plan is that it leaves you TONS of flexibility: you can follow the intervals with any cardio machine you like (treadmill, elliptical, rower, bike) OR take it outside and run, jog, hike etc. Simply boost or lower the effort you put in to the right level for YOU.

If you’re using a  heart rate monitor, find your maximum (220-your age for men, and 226-your age for women), and simply add a percentage point to each of the suggested intensities. (2-3 becomes 20-30% of your maximum heart rate. 5-6 becomes 50-60% of your maximum heart rate, and 7-8 becomes 70-80% of your maximum heart rate).

If you don’t have a monitor, use the ‘talk test’ & the guidelines below and check your breathing. It’s YOUR workout, so while you should push yourself, you can dial things back if need be.

2-3: Easy. You should be able to talk normally, and notice a small boost in heart rate.

5-6: Moderate. You’ll start breathing a little more frequently, and can speak in short sentences. You’ll feel like you’re working, but know that you can push harder.

7: Hard. You’re heart rate is up and you’re pushing yourself. You can speak a few words at a time, but your breathing should be more labored. You won’t want to be speaking very much.

8: Really hard. This is an intensity you only reach and keep up in short intervals. Give it your all (it’s not long). Speaking is very difficult, and breathing is fast. Your heartrate should be WAY up.

Add 2-3 cardio interval workouts like these to your routine each week for 6 weeks, in addition to your resistance workouts. Each workout is only a half hour, and you’ll work up to tougher intensities as you go.

Save a copy of this for your phone/timer! Switch up the machines/exercise you’re using from week to week (or willy nilly) for best results.