Daily Archives: December 17, 2010
Fitness Friday : Two New 30 Minute Strength Workouts
By popular demand! It’s been a while since I updated my Ways To Move page so I decided to incorporate these workouts into the usual Fitness Friday post.
The following workouts are shorter than my usual ones – 30-40 minutes. For those days when you’re cramped on time but still want to get a decent strength sesh in. Especially important during all the busyness of the holiday season! The first workout is meant to be performed at a gym, but the second one you can do anywhere. So now you really have no excuses to skipping out on the strength training ;)
30 Min Full-Body Weight Lifting Workout
Alternating Sets – perform three times through
| Push-ups | 15 reps | n/a | Chest, front of shoulders |
| Bench dip | 15 reps | n/a | Triceps |
| Kettlebell swings | 20 reps | 15-20 lbs | Quads, glutes, inner thigh, back of shoulders |
*If you can’t do toe push-ups, instead of doing them on your knees, do them on an incline off a bench or Smith machine. This mimics a full push-up more and better prepares you to do them off the floor.
Alternating Sets – perform three times through
| Wall squat with hammer curl | 15 reps | 8-15 lb dumbbells | Quads, glutes, biceps |
| Walking lunge with alternating shoulder press | 20-30 reps | 8-15 lb dumbbells | Quads, hips, glutes, shoulders |
*When doing the lunges, step forward with one foot, and press the opposite arm above your head as you lunge. This is to help keep your balance. Doing the same side at the same time may cause you to fall over! Remember not to rest your foot between lunges, keep moving forward.
Alternating Sets – perform three times through
| Back extension on ball | 15 reps | n/a | Lower back, glutes |
| Sit ups on ball | 20 reps | 0-15 lbs | Abs |
*When doing the back extension, think about squeezing your butt every time you lift up. It will take some of the pressure off your lower back and get your glutes working.
Alternating Sets – perform three times through
| Hamstring curl on ball | 15-20 reps | n/a | Hamstrings, calves |
| Prone jackknife | 15-20 reps | n/a | Abs, shoulders |
*If the hamstring curls are too easy, try lifting one foot off the ball and pulling in using only the other foot. MUCH harder!
30 Minute Living Room Workout
This is based off a workout I designed for my sister a while back. She’s in good shape and said it was brutal. Mission accomplished!
This chart is colour coded into mini-circuits. Perform exercises of the same colour one after another three times through, then move on to the next colour coded set. Once you finish the whole thing, start from the top! You should be able to get through the whole thing two times in 30-40 minutes with no breaks. Or you can just keep doing it until you’re blue in the face ;)
| Jumping Jacks | 30 sec | Cardio |
| Speed skaters | 30 sec | Cardio, Back, Glutes |
| Jump squats | 30 sec | Cardio, Quads, Glutes |
| Mountain Climbers | 30 sec | Cardio, Back, Shoulders |
| Wall sit | 60 sec | Quads, glutes |
| Wide pushups | 15 | Chest, front of shoulder |
| Narrow pushups | 15 | Chest, triceps |
| Lunge jumps | 30 sec | Cardio, Quads, hips, glutes |
| Plank ups | 60 sec | Abs, shoulders, chest |
| Swimming | 30 sec | Back, glutes |
| Roll up | 15 | Abs |
My only tip for this workout is to blare some motivating music and have fun working up a sweat in your living room!
As for my workout today, I walked all around my hometown with my mom. Fresh, non-polluted air. Empty space. Grass. It’s good to be back :) Happy weekend friends! xo
