Tag: circuit training

Wednesday Workout: 3 Circuit Total Body Blast

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Good morning! I have a few other draft blog posts that I need to finish up, but until I muster up the time/energy to post those, a workout post will have to do. While I haven’t been consistently following any sort of strength plan that would foster big muscle growth, I have been having fun trying new formats, exercises, classes, etc. However, I’m starting to feel like I’m ready to settle down a bit and create some sort of specific training plan to follow … at least for a little while.

The thing with me is that I get bored with workouts pretty quickly, so I tend to find myself jumping around rather than seeing something through to the end. There’s nothing wrong with this by any means- heck, as long as I’m working out consistently then I’m feeling pretty good, haha. But, as I’ve mentioned before, having no sort of plan makes it hard to see any sort of growth progress, or gainzzzz as I like to say 😉

I think another factor that makes it hard for me to stick with a consistent strength-focused workout plan is that those workouts tend to require a bit more time, unlike the HIIT style workouts I generally gravitate towards. When I’m not teaching, I like to be in and out of the gym as quickly as possible so I can use the extra time doing other things. Which is why workouts like the ones I’ve been posting have been my workout style of choice as of late. This workout left me pretty sore the next day, which I have to attribute to the leg-heavy aspect of it.

The way it works is you’ll complete the designated reps of each of the 3 exercises within each set for a total of 3 times before moving on to the next set. Each set/circuit has 3 exercises: legs, cardio, upper body, but like I said, the leg exercises were killer so I felt that the most the next day.I think with warm up this workout took about 30 minutes to complete.

3-circuit-total-body-blast

Explanations:

  • Step up-> lunge back- I’ll walk you through this one since it sounds more complicated than it actually is. You’ll need a step or some sort of elevated surface that’s safe to step up onto and you’ll want to grab either 2 dumbbells or 1 kettlebell. From there, step up onto the step with your right foot & drive your left knee up (engaging the core). Then, you’ll step back off the step with your left foot and bring your right foot back to come into a reverse lunge- both feet are on the ground. So it’s step right, left knee, left step down, right step back into reverse lunge. Then you’ll repeat on the left.
  • Push-up ->: knee tuck: Do 1 push-up and then when you’re back in the high plank position bring your right foot into your chest then the left foot. If you want to do your push-ups on your knees, just make sure you come up to your toes when it’s time for the knee tuck.
  • Banded side-step goblet squats- For this, you’ll need to put a resistance band around your upper calf area, right below the knee and grab a kettlebell & hold in the goblet position. Step your right foot to the right and sink into a deep goblet squat. Step your right foot back to the center and then step your left foot to the left and sink into a deep squat.

If you have extra time (and energy!), at the end you can do a finisher of 8 lateral ball slams using a Dynamax ball, 8 toe touches & 8 sit-up and toss for a total of 3 rounds. And then I think it’s pretty safe to say you’re all finished 🙂

I really loved this workout and plan on doing it again- I’d love to know if you try it!

Questions for you: How long do you normally spend at the gym or when you workout?

Wednesday Workout: 4 Exercise Core & Upper Body Quickie Circuit

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Good morning! Each week I always hope that I do a workout that is shareable with you guys. This doesn’t always happen, and to be honest, up until Monday night at the gym I wasn’t really sure I would even have a workout for you this week! Fear not, though, I not only have a workout for you, but it’s a super quickie circuit focusing on upper body and core- something I haven’t specifically focused on in any recent workouts.

As I’ve mentioned I am still fighting a cold so I’m taking my workouts down a notch. I wasn’t planning on working out on Monday, but I ended up being in meetings/trainings from 9:30-4:15 so saying I was going a little stir crazy is an understatement! I just felt like I needed some type of movement- nothing crazy or too strenuous, but something to get my blood flowing. I knew it was the right choice to go walk on the treadmill when the time and miles flew by. After I finished, I came up with this little circuit I am going to share with you today- it’s a perfect finisher or if you’re short on time, you can add a few more rounds and call it a day!

4 exercise core & upper body quickie circuit

Here are some explanations for the exercises:

  • Russian Twist & Press- Starting in a standard Russian Twist position (in a seated position, engage your core and lean back a little while keeping your chest open. You can either lift your feet up to bent knees, straight leg or keep them on the ground), twist your weight over to the right and when you bring it back through center, press it up at a 45* angle. Repeat to the other side so it goes: twist, press, twist.
  • Supine Extension- Grab a weight and lie on your back with your arms extended up over your chest and your legs straight up over your hips with your feet flexed. Next, inhale and make sure you engage your core as you lower both your arms and legs down as low as you can while keeping your lower back glued to the ground. Once you reach your lowest point, start your exhale and lift back up to the starting position. To make this easier, you can bend your knees instead of doing straight leg lowers, drop one leg at a time or ditch the weight for the arm lowers (lat pull).
  • Straight Leg Weight Presses– in the same position as the exercise above, you’re going to engage your core and lift your shoulder blades off the ground and reach the weight towards your feet.
  • Pull-ups- I was able to do 3 reps each round, but if you can do more- rock that! or, if you’re still working on your pull-ups, you can feel free to use a band or maybe to TRX pull-ups.

See? That’s it! Granted, the moves are challenging, but you can always modify up or down depending on your current fitness level. Form always trumps difficulty or reps. One other thing to note is that if you don’t have weights or a pull-up bar handy, you can do this with just your bodyweight (for a move to mimic pull-ups, I would suggest a superman pull).

I’d love to know if you try this 🙂

Questions for you: Do you like to do quickie finisher circuits at the end of a cardio or heavy weight focused workout? What type of workouts would you like to see more of/less of this year? Do you like the short ones like this or do you prefer the longer, full body ones?

Wednesday Workout: 3 Exercise Circuits

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Hi guys! How’s it going? Happy Wednesday 🙂 Between work and my own workout and teaching, Wednesdays are long days, so I’m always happy when I’m leading the cool down in my class because it means it’s all downhill and easy after that!

Before we get into the workout, I have a few wedding-related questions for you:

  1. Do you know of any photographers that you think I should look into? There are so many out there that are fantastic, but also super expensive. While we want good pictures, we are trying to be smart with our planning and vendor search so we are open to newer photographers who are looking to get more exposure. Any suggestions (new or seasoned photographers) are greatly appreciated!
  2. Band or DJ? I know bands are more expensive but I LOVE to dance and want people dancing all night and I feel like bands tend to get a better dance crowd going. Thoughts? Know of any good bands or DJ’s that are worth looking into?

thanks in advance!!

And now for the workout…. My schedule is finally allowing me to get back into more consistent training. Yesterday I even went into the scary part of the gym: the heavy weight lifting area with squat racks and benches and all of that stuff. Even though I know what I’m doing (for the most part), it’s still a bit intimidating to navigate my way around that area of the gym because it’s not a place I venture into very often. Once I figured out where everything was, I loved it- well, besides the nasty guys who think it’s OK to stare and check me out- what the heck is that all about?! It’s so disturbing and as much as I try to ignore it and avoid eye contact at all cost, part of me wants to say something.

Anywayyyyy. This workout was done in the area of the gym I AM super comfortable with: the UXF Zone area with the turf, battle ropes, KB’s, TRX, etc. I threw in some combo moves, singular moves and a little cardio. The battle rope/KB/weighted sit-up finisher was killer!

3 exercise circuits

Here’s a video demo of the first set: https://instagram.com/p/9wJSXJvWyB/?taken-by=burpeestobubbly

The next set goes like this: grab a set of weights and keep them by your side as your lower into a deep squat. As you rise, do a bicep curl and then press the weights up to an overhead press.

If you have other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me or do a quick search on YouTube 🙂

Questions for you: What part of the gym intimidates you? How do you push through that feeling? Do you notice that guys are disgusting in the gym by the way they think it’s totally appropriate for them to check women out? 

Wednesday Workout: At Home Dumbbell Workout Circuit

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Happy, happy Wednesday, friends! I tend to use Mondays and Wednesdays as my running days, but since I ran a 5K on Sunday, I decided to break out my weights at home and do a dumbbell focused workout instead. I ran the 5K in about 23:30, which is much faster than I normally run, not to mention I ran another 1.25 miles to get home, so I felt like I needed to give them a little break from running. Oh, and it was COLD on Monday so not having to bundle up was another reason for keeping my workout inside 😉

Once I was warmed up and started with the workout, I could tell I was more tired than I thought, so I took my time and took breaks as I needed to. It can still be hard for me to tone things down when I have a certain plan in mind, but I am getting better at listening to my body and slowing down when it feels like that’s what I need. Baby steps!

Anyway, this workout was done with dumbbells, but could easily be made into a bodyweight workout by changing up a few of the exercises or simply omitting the weights.

At home dumbbell workout

  • DB Front Squats- grab two weights and place the butt of each one on each shoulder. Stand with your feet wide enough to allow you to get deep into the squat, just make sure your knees and toes are in line to prevent knee injuries.
  • Weighted jump squats- you can either hold a weight in each hand or drop one and only hold one.
  • Push-up with walk-ups- As you can see in this video, you can either do the pushups on your toes or knees, depending on how you’re feeling on the particular day you do the workout. This is one of my new favorite moves!
  • I held weights for the lunge & taps, but you certainly don’t need to! I did not hold weights for the lunge hops.
  • Check out this video for the weighted supine extension

I think that should cover most areas of potential confusion, but let me know if you need more clarification on anything 🙂

Questions for you: When you workout at home do you prefer using weights or doing bodyweight exercises?