Did you know that if you have weak glutes, butt muscles. it can make your belly stick out even more? Not cool, huh! We all want a tight, flat midsection but often go about achieving it the wrong way. I know of so many people that do crunches religiously yet complain that they don't get the results they want. That's because crunches aren't the best ab exercise to be doing. Most women actually engage their hip flexors more than their abdominal muscles when doing crunches, probably not the part of the body they intended to be working. You might wonder what to do now that you discovered that the well-known crunch isn't the go-to ab exercise. Well, I have a workout for you that will tone your middle, getting all the important little muscles of your core, and will also tighten up your glutes as well. Don't forget that diet is extremely important in maintaining a flat, strong midsection. If you want to be able to show off your hard earned work, you have to eat clean, healthy foods, being sure you get lots of lean protein in your diet, lay off the salt, and up the water intake. Also, be sure to get in some cardio on the days when you do this workout to up your calorie burn. Your best bet is to do intervals to really get your heart rate up and blast some serious calories. Also, don't forget to get in a good 3-5 minute warm-up before you do the workout and cool down at the conclusion of your session. Be ready to flaunt that tight midsection in no time and and have a healthier body to boot.
Do these exercises in this order 3 times a week, on non-consecutive days. Do one set of each exercise, in the order shown, to create a circuit. Rest 30 seconds after each exercise. Repeat the circuit 2-3 times based on your fitness level and time availability.
Workout:
1. Basic Plank - try to hold for 60 seconds. If you have to work your way up to that, break it into intervals, but challenge yourself.
2. Side Plank - try to hold for 60 seconds on each side.
3. Glute bridge - do 20 reps.
4. Lunge with rotation - holding a weight in front of you, lunge forward, then rotate your torso to one side, rotate back to the front, return to start. Rotate sides.
5. Repeat circuit 1-2 more times.
If you're not familiar with these exercises, just google them, then select images. You will be able to clearly see how to do all of them. Good luck!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Challenge a Friend
Check out this site, shared with me by the owner, www.getupandmove.me and then invite a friend or 2 to join you in the challenge.
Check Her Out
If you haven't heard of Tosca Reno before, check her out. She is a great fitness role model and advocate for clean eating. She has a website at www.eatcleandiet.com I find great recipes on her website as well as lots of support from fellow health nuts like me. She is also a contributor to Oxygen magazine, my favorite fitness magazine. So check that out too. I have a feeling you won't be disappointed.
Drop Sets
Drop Sets are one of my favorite workouts at the gym. I love to do them when I'm looking for an intense workout and haven't had a heavy lifting day in a while so my muscles are nice and fresh. I don't recommend it for newbies but challenge you to work up to it as you get more and more fit. I especially love to use the cable for drop sets, as I can do several exercises without changing my location at they gym. Be sure you don't have people waiting to hop on it while you hog it though, as these exercises do not give you a lot of downtime for rest. I also like to use the upright row machine, the leg machines, the lat pulldown machine, etc. Any machine with the adjustable pin and stacked weight system will work. I also find it easy to go over to the free weight section as all of the dumbbells are lined up and ready to adjust as needed but it can get tricky if it's busy over there. You want to make sure you have access to a variety of weights so if there's a lot of people using the free weights, the ones you need might not be available and you would not be able to continue your drop set pattern. Here's how to perform your drop set workout.
Try to choose 10 exercises to perform, but you can do more or less depending on the amount of time you have at the gym. For each exercise start with an amount of weight which is tough to lift, but not impossible. For example, I normally use 15 pound dumbbells for my biceps curls so I choose 20 pound dumbbells to start my drop sets. Do as many reps as you can without compromising your form, then switch to the next lowest weight and lift as many as possible. When you can't lift another one at that weight without sacrificing form, downsize to a lower weight and continue lifting until fatigue. So, after I perform as many reps as possible with 20 pound dumbbells, I put down the 20s and pick up the 15 pound dumbbells and continue to lift as many as possible. When I can't lift any more, I switch to 10 pound dumbbells, then 5s, then I'm done. You'll do each exercise until exhaustion, working your way all the way down the weight rack or weight stack. When you're done with each drop set, rest 1 minute before moving on to the next exercise.
Be sure not to do 2 exercises using the same muscle group back to back. For example, if you do biceps first, do triceps next, not another biceps exercise. Also, do not do more than 2 drops sets per muscle group. Do not perform this intense workout more than once a week. You don't want to end up hurt, just stronger and more fit. It's a great get in, kick your butt really fast, and get out kind of workout.
Here's a sample drop set workout I have used at the gym. Feel free to do this workout as is or adjust it to meet your needs or equipment.
Cable biceps curl (on cable machine)
Triceps pushdown with rope (on cable machine)
Cable machine chest flyes
Seated upright row machine
Overhead press machine
Leg extensions machine
Leg curl machine
Bench press machine
Stiff legged deadlifts with set barbells or dumbbells
Ab crunch machine
Be sure to rest a minimum of 1 minute between each drop set and be sure to get in a good stretch and a good recovery meal within and hour following your workout. Have a fabulously fit day!
Try to choose 10 exercises to perform, but you can do more or less depending on the amount of time you have at the gym. For each exercise start with an amount of weight which is tough to lift, but not impossible. For example, I normally use 15 pound dumbbells for my biceps curls so I choose 20 pound dumbbells to start my drop sets. Do as many reps as you can without compromising your form, then switch to the next lowest weight and lift as many as possible. When you can't lift another one at that weight without sacrificing form, downsize to a lower weight and continue lifting until fatigue. So, after I perform as many reps as possible with 20 pound dumbbells, I put down the 20s and pick up the 15 pound dumbbells and continue to lift as many as possible. When I can't lift any more, I switch to 10 pound dumbbells, then 5s, then I'm done. You'll do each exercise until exhaustion, working your way all the way down the weight rack or weight stack. When you're done with each drop set, rest 1 minute before moving on to the next exercise.
Be sure not to do 2 exercises using the same muscle group back to back. For example, if you do biceps first, do triceps next, not another biceps exercise. Also, do not do more than 2 drops sets per muscle group. Do not perform this intense workout more than once a week. You don't want to end up hurt, just stronger and more fit. It's a great get in, kick your butt really fast, and get out kind of workout.
Here's a sample drop set workout I have used at the gym. Feel free to do this workout as is or adjust it to meet your needs or equipment.
Cable biceps curl (on cable machine)
Triceps pushdown with rope (on cable machine)
Cable machine chest flyes
Seated upright row machine
Overhead press machine
Leg extensions machine
Leg curl machine
Bench press machine
Stiff legged deadlifts with set barbells or dumbbells
Ab crunch machine
Be sure to rest a minimum of 1 minute between each drop set and be sure to get in a good stretch and a good recovery meal within and hour following your workout. Have a fabulously fit day!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Homemade Clif Bars
I love a good Clif bar when I'm training intensely and on-the-go. They're a great snack to keep with you for an emergency or to tie you over until dinnertime. However, they can be expensive, especially if you buy them one at a time. They also have some chemicals in them which I prefer to keep out of my body. As a result, I've been experimenting with trying to make my own clif bars. I've tried some which required baking and others that didn't stick together well. I decided I liked the texture of the unbaked ones with the wholesomeness of the baked ones so I combined several ideas I have found and came up with the following recipe. I hope you find them to be as delicious as I did. Feel free to experiment with the recipe and add your own favorites to the mix. Let me know if you come up with any interesting twists.
Homemade Clif Bars
1 cup puffed brown rice cereal
1 cup oats
2 TBS ground flaxseed
¼ cup whole wheat flour
½ chopped nuts or seeds—I used pumpkin seed but you can use walnuts, almonds, or a mixture, etc.
¼ cup chopped pretzel pieces
¼ cup unfiltered honey
¼ cup molasses
2 TBS dark brown sugar
½ cup natural peanut butter or any nut butter
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Combine the rice cereal, oats, flaxseed meal, flour, nuts, pretzels, and cinnamon, in a large bowl. Be sure there's room to mix the sauce in.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the honey, molasses and brown sugar to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla until blended.
Pour nut butter mixture over cereal mixture and stir…Mixture will be stiff. Press mixture firmly into a lightly greased 8-inch square pan, like you're making rice crispy treats. Cool and cut into bars.
I found it easiest to cut once down the middle and then do several thin slices horizontally through the middle slice to create shapes like granola bars. Enjoy! (I like to keep mine in the fridge too. They're extra good cold.)
Homemade Clif Bars
1 cup puffed brown rice cereal
1 cup oats
2 TBS ground flaxseed
¼ cup whole wheat flour
½ chopped nuts or seeds—I used pumpkin seed but you can use walnuts, almonds, or a mixture, etc.
¼ cup chopped pretzel pieces
¼ cup unfiltered honey
¼ cup molasses
2 TBS dark brown sugar
½ cup natural peanut butter or any nut butter
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Combine the rice cereal, oats, flaxseed meal, flour, nuts, pretzels, and cinnamon, in a large bowl. Be sure there's room to mix the sauce in.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the honey, molasses and brown sugar to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla until blended.
Pour nut butter mixture over cereal mixture and stir…Mixture will be stiff. Press mixture firmly into a lightly greased 8-inch square pan, like you're making rice crispy treats. Cool and cut into bars.
I found it easiest to cut once down the middle and then do several thin slices horizontally through the middle slice to create shapes like granola bars. Enjoy! (I like to keep mine in the fridge too. They're extra good cold.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)