The Amazing Stickie and Lateral Lunge to Curtsy

The Amazing Stickie knows that compound exercises compound the benefits to her body.  So today she is doing lateral lunge to curtsy.

 

She begins standing up straight.  She can hold a dumbbell or put her hands on her hips.  From there, she lunges to the left, her left leg bending and her right leg straight.  Then she pushes off with her left leg and crosses it behind her right leg, both knees bending into a curtsy position.  She returns to start and goes the other way.

A set of ten to twenty is good. 

Effects of Strength Training - 17 and Final!

All right!  We have made it to our final motivational reason to do strength training:  It helps us prevent or control a bunch of chronic diseases.  (Disclaimer:  working out is no substitute for actual medical care!  It is a useful adjunct to drugs and other treatments that your doctor can provide!)

Life is just better with less diabetes, coronary artery disease, arthritis, back pain, and depression.  Lifting weights seems like a much easier option than dealing with all those other things.

 

Go lift already.

Effects of Strength Training - 16

This one is a biggie.  Strength training is great for weight management.  When we lift weights, over time we shift our ratio of lean tissue to fat tissue.  That shift changes our metabolisms because our muscles burn more calories than our fatty tissue does.  This is good news whether we’re trying to maintain a healthy weight or reach one in the first place.

Note:  healthy bodies come in every size.  However, many people do want to lose weight for any of a number of reasons.  I’m here to support the goals of my clients and to help them be as healthy as possible.

 

A lot of people, when they want to lose weight, pile on the cardio.  Cardio is great.  It burns calories and makes us feel good and a bunch of other fab stuff.  But if we want to lose fat, we need to be lifting.

Monday Workout: Different!

End of the month means a different kind of workout format!  Do as many rounds as there is time for!

 

Elevated glute bridge	30
reverse lunge to press	40
db floor chest press	40
underhand bent over row	40
squat pop up	10
skater jump	40

The Amazing Stickie and Glute Push-Through with Activation

The Amazing Stickie knows that an exercise doesn’t have to involve tons of movement to be effective.  Today she is doing glute push-through with activation, which is a fairly subtle motion.

She stands with her feet about hip-distance apart and then extends one leg behind her with the ball of the foot on the floor, keeping her knee straight and her hips even.  Then she contracts her glutes to shift her hips forward without changing the position of her feet.  After a set of ten, she switches feet and does it again.

Effects of Strength Training - 15

I don’t know about you all, but I rarely think about how quickly my digestion processes what I eat.  But an efficient trip in and out is generally a good thing.  (I think we also have all, from time to time, wished that our guts would just get ON with it!)

Strength training tends to increase “gastrointestinal transit speed,” which means that we get better at getting what we need out of what we eat and ditching the remainder.  No one wants a bunch of waste piling up.

 

Work out:  go better.

Effects of Strength Training - 14

Strength training helps with our heart health by improving our blood lipid profiles.  Fewer lipids like cholesterol and triglycerides in our blood mean that we have a reduced risk of heart attack.

Pump some iron; dump some lipids.

Monday Workout: Been A While

It’s been a while since we did balance work.  Same goes for the burpees.  We’re fixing that today.  Three rounds.

 

(lunge) punches	30
1 leg deadlift	20
1 leg squat	10
mountain climbers	30
rows	20
burpees	10
suitcase swings	30
kickbacks	20
brains	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Bear Hold Plank Drag Through

Today the Amazing Stickie is working all kinds of things at once by doing Bear Hold Plank Drag Through.  She begins in a quadruped position with a dumbbell near her right hand.  To begin, she lifts her knees just off the ground and keeps them there throughout the exercise.  Then she reaches her left hand under her torso to grab the dumbbell and drag it over to her left side.  She repeats the exercise, dragging the weight with her right hand.

When learning this exercise, it is all right to put the knees down to rest as often as needed.

 

A set of ten is good.

Effects of Strength Training - 13

So we all know we want low blood pressure, or at the very least to avoid high blood pressure.  Strength training, while we are doing it, raises our blood pressure, but in a temporary way that has a longer term benefit:  it lowers our resting blood pressure.

In short, by temporarily adding stress to our bodies, we teach our bodies to deal with it.  That makes our blood pressure lower over time.

Effects of Strength Training - 12

Weight training increases our ability to use blood glucose.  I’m sure that we all thing about that all the time.  OK, not really.  But it is important.

Glucose is the main fuel we use in most of our cells and the exclusive source of energy for our brains.  We want enough for our uses, but not too much.  Excessive glucose in the blood is an indicator that we are heading for, or have arrived at, type 2 diabetes.  Weight training helps us stay in the Goldilocks (“just right”) range, where we fuel our cells but don’t overtax our ability to make and react to insulin, which is the chemical in our bodies that deals with excess.

 

Those of us who are already dealing with diabetes can feel better with weight training.  The rest of us can use weight training as part of our general preventive strategy.

 

Go lift.

Monday Workout: Everything

We’re working pretty much everything this week.  Three rounds.

 

kb alternate arm swing	30
kb hammer curl	20
kb halo	10
squat to leg lift	30
good morning/deadlift	20
Arnold press	10
woodchoppers	30
lunges	20
pretty princesses	10

The Amazing Stickie and Bulgarian Split Squat

Today the Amazing Stickie is doing Bulgarian split squats.  She begins standing up straight with one foot resting on a bench behind her.  She holds some dumbbells, but it is all right to learn this exercise with body weight and then add weights later.  Keeping her torso upright, she bends both knees until the back knee comes close to the ground and the front leg forms a right angle.  (It might take more than one try to figure out how far away from the bench to stand.  This is normal and part of learning.)

 

When she has done five or ten reps on one leg, she switches to the other side.

Effects of Strength Training - 11

It’s such a stereotype, that thing about the older person becoming forgetful or wooly or generally absent-minded.  Like a lot of stereotypes, there is a little bit of reality in there.  However, there is evidence that suggests lifting weights can help reduce or prevent aging-related cognitive decline.

How might that work?  Well, strength training is an activity of the central nervous system.  When we have to lift something heavy, we need our big brains to coordinate all the moving parts to use the right amount of force in the right direction at the right time.  That’s good practice for our cognition.

 

Of course, as we do strength training, our general health tends to improve.  That means we have better circulation, improved lung function, and efficient oxygen use.  All those things are good for our brains.  Plus with the mood-enhancing effects of exercise, we don’t have to deal with the brain fog of depression so much.

 

Lift heavy: get smart.

Effects of Strength Training - 10

One of the less pleasant aspects of getting older is that our bones lose density.  Lifting weights helps slow this process and also reduces the risk of osteoporosis.

None of us want to have fractures.  When we put controlled stress on our bones by lifting heavy objects, we cause them to get stronger and to maintain their density longer because they adapt to the challenges we give them.

 

Personally, I am NOT going to be one of those frail little old ladies.  I am going to be as powerful as possible as long as possible.  Who’s with me?

Monday Workout: New Combinations!

New exercises, even if they’re combinations of old exercises, keep our brains fresh.  Three rounds.

 

(lateral lunge to) curtsy	30
flies	20
db hip thrust	10
skier jump	30
rows	20
curls	10
step ups	30
bench press	20
side banana	10