Tag: Wednesday 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: 20 Minute Bodyweight AMRAP {Cardio/Full Body}

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Good morning! It’s been ages since I’ve posted a workout for you, right?! I’m changing that today, though! I love the holidays for an excuse to get off of my regular schedule (eating, drinking, working out, working, etc.), but I have to say that getting back ON schedule is a pretty awesome feeling, too. So, if you’re feeling anything like me and craving a bit of normalcy, then I hope you give this workout a shot- it’s so very normal and classic Monique-like 😉

I did this when I was at home at my parents house a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure I wanted to workout, so I came up with something that included some of my favorite exercises and told myself that if I didn’t get into it after the first round, I could call it quits. Well, 20 minutes later, I was sweaty and so happy I got in a quickie workout. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way!

20 minute bodyweight AMRAP workout

A few explanations/videos in case you need a little clarification on anything…

  • Narrow & wide squat jumps– you’re taking a standard squat jump, but adding a little intensity. Check out this video for a demo.
  • Inch worm push-up w/knee tuck– I posted this on Instagram a few weeks ago- check it out here
  • Cursty lunges- alternate right to left, making sure you keep your hips facing the front direction and that your knees don’t go over your toes.
  • T-raise side planks- I posted this on Instagram a few weeks ago, too! I used a band, but you could easily do it without.  Check it out here
  • Burpee Jacks- Perform a standard burpee (with or without the push-up) and then when you come back up instead of jumping, do a full jumping jack.
  • Supine Extension- Lying on your back with your core engaged, lift your legs and shoulder blades off the ground and then crunch up and then extend back out.

If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I hope you give this a shot- it’s perfect for those days/weeks where you don’t have a lot of time to workout.

Questions for you: Did your schedule change at all throughout the holidays? How do you deal with schedule changes?

 

Wednesday Workout: Christmas Themed Edition

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Good morning! Can you believe Christmas is next week?! How the heck did that sneak up so fast? With that in mind, I thought I’d make today’s “Wednesday Workout” a Christmas/holiday theme, similar to what I did for Thanksgiving. A few of you let me know that you tried some of the workouts that I posted, so hopefully some of these will pique your interest, too!

  • First up is the 25 Days of Christmas workout that I posted last year. I decided to teach it last week and was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was! The members said it was hard, too, so there’s your warning 😉

25 Days of Christmas

  • Another fun workout that I put together when I first started teaching is the 12 Days of Fitness workout. It’s Dana’s favorite so I knew I had to share it with you guys!

New 12 days of fitness

Warm Up Your Core

Snowman Building Total Body Workout

Down the Chimney, Up the Chimney Christmas Workout

Thank you to everyone who let me share their holiday/winter themed workouts- I hope you guys find one you like and want to try try:)

Questions for you: Do you like themed workouts? Have your workouts had to suffer at all because of holiday craziness? Do you wish we New Englanders had snow?

Wednesday Workout: 2 Part (or partner) Stations Workout

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Good morning! These days I don’t tend to share workouts that I’ve taught, mostly because I teach a Burn class with a standard format that isn’t supposed to change week to week so that would get pretty boring 😉 A few months ago, I subbed for Athena’s 6am Total Body class and I was reminded of how fun it is to create different workouts and formats every week. There are so many options between how you want to set up the class, what equipment you want to use, etc. Totally loved it!

I wanted to share this workout with you because there are two ways you can complete it: solo or with a partner. I had the class partner up so that each partner did both moves at each station, but you could certainly do it on your own if you didn’t have a partner or workout buddy handy. You’ll be at each station for two minutes- 1 minute per move. Halfway through the circuit and at the end of the circuit you’ll complete a lovely little cardio blast- doesn’t get much better than that!

2 part or partner stations workout

Here are some explanations and/or demos of the exercises:

  1. TRX Row/Burpees– For the rows, you can make them easier by putting your feet closer to your body so that you’re at less of an angle. To make it harder, walk your feet out further away from you. Engage your core and pull your elbows back and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Remember to keep your shoulders pulled down away from your ears. Check out this video for a TRX row demo. For the burpees- you can either jump your feet back, walk them back, drop your chest to the ground, do a pushup… whatever version of the burpee you want to do- rock it!
  2. KB Goblet Squat/Jump squats- Here’s a video for Goblet Squats. For the jump squats, you can either go for depth and make sure to touch your hands to the ground each time or you can go for speed and do rapid fire baby jumps.
  3. Squat hold/Battle ropes- If you have a partner, one partner will get into a squat hold while holding the rope, acting as the anchor. Make sure to brace your core and position because it gets challenging to hold this as your partner does the ropes. Check out this video where I demo the battle ropes. If you don’t have a partner hopefully you have access to the standard rope setup!
  4. Dynamax ball Russian twists/cross body mountain climbers-With a Dynamax ball you’ll perform the standard Russian twist exercise (in a seated position, with your feet either in the air and bent at 90* or on the ground and moving a weight/ball from one side of your body to the next). For the mountain climbers, instead of bringing your knees straight forward to your chest, you’ll bring your right knee to your left elbow and your left knee to your right elbow. Go as fast or slow as you want/need.
  5. Forward lunge & twist/jumping lunges– As you step forward into a lunge on your right leg, lift your arms and extend a weight out in front of you. In your low position of the lunge, twist through your core and move the weight over to the right over your right knee. Repeat on the left & alternate right & left for the 60 seconds. Jumping lunges should be pretty standard 😉
  6. Push-up w/frogger stamp/in & out plank jumps- Perform a  push-up (either on your knees or toes) and then jump your feet up to the outsides of your hands and then back to your high plank/push-up position. If you’re doing the push-ups on your knees, just drop down to your knees after you jump back. For the in & out plank jumps you’ll start in a high plank position (shoulders, elbows & wrists in line, neutral spine, shoulders pulled on your back, core engaged) and jump your feet straight up to your hands (not to the outsides like the first exercise) and then jump back into a high plank and jump your feet out like you would for a plank jack. repeat.
  7. Stability ball pass/Skier jumps– For the first move, check out this video– make sure you’re keeping your core tight and your back flat against the ground. If this is too hard, ditch the ball and either keep your legs bent, lower them not so far or do one leg at a time. This video demos the ski jumps well.
  8. Side lunge w/center press/TRX Push-ups- For the side lunge/center press, you’re going to hold a weight in both hands at chest height. You’ll step out to the right and do a side lunge (sitting your butt way back, keeping your knee in line with your toes on the lunging leg and keeping the other leg straight) and then when you come through center, press the weight overhead. Repeat to the other side. TRX push-ups are almost the opposite of the rows discussed earlier, except instead of pulling your weight up towards the straps, you’ll be pushing your weight away from the straps as you extend. Again, the closer your feet are to you, the easier it is; stepping your feet back away from you & making your body more parallel to the ground will make it harder

I think that should do it! I hope you give this a shot- everyone seemed to like it and my sister said she was a little sore the next day!

Questions for you: Do you  like partner workouts? Do you like using TRX straps or battle ropes?

Wednesday Workout: Dynamax 25 Minute AMRAP Workout

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Hello! Happy Wednesday! I skipped out on posting a workout for you last Wednesday, but I’m so happy to be posting for you today because I think you’re really going to love this workout. When I saw Lauren post a workout focusing on Dynamax balls, it reignited my love for that piece of fitness equipment. Back in the day I taught a Dynamax Bootcamp at the Oak Square YMCA and it was one of my favorite classes!

The great thing about Dynamax balls is that they are super versatile- you can use them for cardio, strength, core, upper body, lower body… which is exactly what I did in the workout I’m sharing with you today. I used a 16lb ball for most of the workout but had to drop down to a 14lb one for a few exercises. By the time I finished the 25 minutes I felt like I had successfully worked my entire body- perfect for a quickie lunch break workout.

Dynamax Ball 25 Minute AMRAP Workout

It’s worth noting that I forgot to include an exercise when I was creating this graphic! 😦 After the slams I did reverse lunges while holding a ball overhead. Killer for the shoulders!

Descriptions/Videos

  • Squat & toss- Hold the ball at chest height and drop into a deep squat. As you’re coming back up to standing, toss the ball overhead. As you catch the ball, sink back into your deep squat.
  • Slams- In this video I’m not using a Dynamax ball, but you get the idea 😉 https://www.instagram.com/p/5H8B9HPWya/?taken-by=burpeestobubbly
  • Toe taps- place the ball on the ground and tap alternate tapping your right and left foot to the ball, trying to lift your knees as high as you can.
  • Plank w/side taps right & left- Come into a plank position with your hands on the Dynamax ball instead of the ground to help challenge your core a bit more.  From this plank position, step your right foot out to the side, left foot out to the side and then bring your right foot in and your left foot in so that you end up where you started. That’s one rep. Keep going for 15 more. Want to intensify it? Try doing it with a band around your ankles!
  • Chest press & lat pull in bridge position- check this video out for a demo of this: https://www.instagram.com/p/-CVEluvW7V/?taken-by=burpeestobubbly
  • Russian twists- coming to a seated position & leaning back enough to force your core to be engaged you’re going to hold the ball and twist from side to side with it. Your feet can be lifted for a more advanced version.

I think that should do it! I hope you try this- it’s a great quickie total body workout, which is perfect for this time of year since things tend to get busier and busier!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite Dynamax exercise? How are you going to fit your workouts in during this busy time of year?