Monday Workout: Core

This workout has a bunch of exercises that challenge our core musculature.  Enjoy three rounds!

 

jacks	30
flies	20
curls	10
woodchoppers	30
bench press	20
YTA	10
mountain climbers	30
db pullover with bridge	20
brains	10

 

Thursday List: 9

Exercises you might want to include in your weight workout:

 

1.     squats

2.     lunges

3.     deadlifts

4.     bench press

5.     flies

6.     rows

7.     curls

8.     kickbacks

9.     ab work

Back to Basics: Strength 2

So:  you’ve got a workout.  Now what?

First things first:  you want to aim for two or three strength training sessions per week.  (OK:  some people do more.  That’s beyond the basics, for one thing, and also gets into dividing the body up into segments for things like “leg day.”  If you want to know about that stuff, poke me and we’ll talk.)  The overall principle is that you give muscles you’ve worked a day off between workouts.

 

There are multiple variables in weight workouts.  What you choose depends on your body, your goals, and your current state.

 

For each exercise, you need to consider how much weight to lift, how many reps and sets to do, and how quickly or slowly to do the lifting.  In general, if you are choosing lighter weights, you will be choosing to do more reps and/or sets.  Most of us will choose a moderate tempo for our lifts, unless we are working on power, which, by definition, is the ability to move a heavy weight fast.

 

However, once a workout starts, you may need to adjust.  Maybe last week I did my lifts with 7 gabillion pounds, but today I can hardly unrack 6 gabillion.  Or maybe I’m even stronger this week and need to use 8 gabillion.  (Yes, I am using fictitious measures because some of us get over-attached to the numbers.  That’s not useful.)  In general, I want the weight I choose to be heavy enough that it is challenging to complete the number of reps with good form.

 

Go play.

Back to Basics: Strength 1

Starting, or re-starting, strength training can be daunting.  Unless we happen to have a bunch of weights lying around (me!  I do!), we need to acquire some or go to a place that has them.  That can be intimidating or expensive or both.  Then we have to figure out what to do with the weights.

Most gym memberships come with a free orientation.  Gyms use these as a tool to sell personal training, but that doesn’t mean we have to buy.  (Buying personal training is definitely a useful idea, but when I did those orientations myself, I wanted to ensure that gym members knew how to use the equipment safely on their own.  Any reasonably ethical and responsible trainer should do the same.)  It is worth taking the gym up on the freebie rather than just relying on watching other folks, who may or may not know what the heck they’re doing.  In the orientation, the trainer should show you how to set up and use machines safely, where the free weights are located and what safety precautions to take (things like weight collars for barbells, for instance), and should help you figure out where to adjust seats and arms and such for best performance.  You should end up with a sheet of paper that tells you all that stuff for reference in the future.  That’s a great place to start.

 

Another possibility for a no-cost start is to take a trainer up on a first-session-free offer like I give.  Typically, this can include a fitness assessment and interview to discuss who you are, what you want out of a gym experience, what your injury history is, and what motivates you.  Then you get a workout.  That workout is one you can use on your own in future, whether or not you sign up for training.  Some trainers get grumpy if you take the free one and don’t sign up for training.  I do not.  I often encourage people I know shouldn’t be paying me (or any other trainer) to come for a free one because I think I can help them.  If their circumstances change in future, maybe they’ll buy sessions; if not, I’ve done a good deed.

 

Tomorrow:  some thoughts on specifics.

Monday Workout: Step!

New month!  Might be time to step things up?  Literally?  If you want more challenge, choose heavier weights!  Three rounds.

 

step ups	30
rows	20
quadruped lateral raise	10
kb swings	30
kb twist	20
kb 8s	10
skater jump or ticktock	30
kickbacks	20
pretty princesses	10

 

Monday Workout: Good News First

Good news!  We made it to the end of the month!  Bad news!  We get burpees in this week’s workout.  Four rounds.

 

1 min cardio
curtsy	30
flies	20
burpees	10
opposite knees	30
YTA	10
brains	10

 

Monday Workout: How Hard

As always, how hard the workout is depends on us.  When we choose heavier weights or change up the tempo (both faster and slower can be harder, depending), we are deciding how difficult things are going to be.  Choose wisely, for today’s body.  Three rounds, or the number that is appropriate for right now.

 

suitcase swings	30
bench press	20
reverse fly	10
1 arm clean and press	30
db pullover with bridge	20
1 leg squat	10
(lunge) punches	30
flies	20
plank to pike	10

 

 

Monday Workout: Back

We’re doing some stuff that focuses on the back of the body this week.  Our hammies will notice those db kicks.  Kettle bell swings work the entire back of the body.  And tap backs get those glutes working.  Three rounds.

 

db kicks	30
rows	20
YTA	10
kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s	10
tap backs	30
kickbacks	20
scissors	10

 

Strength Favorites 2

My next favorite strength exercise is the fly.  It’s not as popular, perhaps, as the bench press or as practical as the row, but it feels good.

We all need that feeling of expansion in our chests that we get in the lowering phase of the fly.

 

Additionally, when we do flies, we have to concentrate.  Form is important.  We need to pay attention to how far we can lower the weights and still get them back up.  We need to know how to protect ourselves if the weight becomes too heavy (Bend your elbows, bring the weights in toward your body, and then, if necessary, drop them on the floor.  You are more important than the floor.  And ripped rotator cuffs are No Fun.)

 

Another great thing about flies is that when we do them, we learn about the value of the eccentric contraction.  Eccentric, in this context, doesn’t mean slightly odd.  When we lift weights, the working muscles contract; this is the concentric phase.  Then when we lower them again, the muscles lengthen; this is the eccentric phase.  Because the eccentric phase cooperates with gravity, the job our muscles are doing in this part is controlling the descent.  When we do flies, that lowering phase requires control because if gravity takes over, we are back to that ripped rotator cuff scenario.  (Choose your weights wisely and it’s good to have a spotter.)

 

Go play.

Strength Favorites 1

Strength training is a good thing to lean into in August.  Most obviously, it makes us stronger.  That physical strength often translates into strength of character and other kinds of resilience, and who doesn’t need that?  Strength training has positive effects on our metabolisms and our body composition.  Plus we look cool.

There are approximately eleventy bazillion strength training exercises, so choosing a favorite has a certain amount of challenge.  If I had to choose only one, I would choose the squat.

 

Squats are the ultimate in practicality.  We have to do them many times a day.  They are the key to our independence in our old age:  when we can’t squat, we can’t go to the bathroom alone, and that’s a problem.

 

They’re also flexible.  We can do them with body weight wherever we are.  We can do them with heavy weights.  We can do them on one leg to work our balance.  We can use a barbell across our shoulders, dumbbells in our hands hanging at our sides, or holding a kettlebell at our breastbones.  Those of us who need a little more support can do them with a stability ball against a wall.  For additional challenge, we can squat on either side of a BOSU.

 

No matter how we do them, we’re working pretty much our whole bodies.  That’s efficient!

Monday Workout: Everything, but not on a bagel

We’ve got a little of everything this week:  a bit of rotation with the db circles, some lateral motion with the squat to leg lift, some balance work, and, of course, lifting.  Three rounds.

 

db circles	30
flies	20
Arnold press	10
jacks	30
bench press	20
curls	10
squat to leg lift/tick tock	30
1 leg deadlift	20
femur arcs	10

 

Monday Workout: Upper and Core

One of the things we’re working on this week is weight bearing on the upper body.  For bonus points, all the exercises that work on that also work on our core strength.  Three rounds.

 

step touch	30
renegade rows	20
hip rotations	10
step ups	30
good morning/deadlift	20
diamond pushup	10
woodchoppers	30
skullcrushers	20
plank up down	10

  

Interdependence: Pilates and weights

One way that interdependence plays out in workouts is in the synergy between weight training and Pilates.

As everyone knows, I offer both personal training and Pilates.  When asked which one someone should do, I usually say that both are good, and not because I want more business.  Both are good, and they’re better together.

 

Here’s why.  Weight training increases our strength.  It’s where we build lean body mass, encourage our metabolism, and acquire what we think of as “tone.”  Those are all good things.  However, if we want the most benefit from the work we do with weights, we need to hone our form.

 

This is where Pilates is so beneficial.  In Pilates, we train our proprioception (five dollar word for “knowing where our bodies are in space”).  We work on our alignment.  We challenge our stabilizing muscles.  We open up both our range of motion and our control of that range.  When we apply our Pilates skills in our weight training context, we get better results.

 

Conversely, when we bring our strength to Pilates, we open up more of the repertoire.  We can tackle some of the challenging exercises without worrying that our basic strength isn’t up to them.

 

All that said, some of us do better starting with one or the other.  If you want guidance, you know where to find me.