Challenge Workouts

Here’s a fun idea…

Listen to this song, it’s just over 3 minutes of quad burning fun.

Every time you hear ‘Bring Sally Down’ squat and hold until you hear ‘Bring Sally Up’.

You can see a sample of the workout here:

Let me know how your quads feel after that 😉

Try it first with just your body weight for set one and then add a load (with a barbell or dumb bells resting on the  shoulders) for your second time around.

Now, to finish off your legs, you’re going to want to really target your hamstrings and your bum.

I have two moves that you’re really going to love (hate)….

First of all, you’ll do the mother of all squats, the L squat and go directly to a reverse lunge, try not to touch your foot down in between each move, (but you may need to touch down as you get tired and your balance starts to go).

Do 5 reps per leg.

Then you’ll finish with a reverse lunge, followed by a jumping lunge with the same leg.

Do this 10 per leg.

Do two to three rounds of these two sets.

If you want to add a third round, do this:

Set your timer for 30 seconds work/10 seconds transition

• Reverse lunge + lunge jump left
• Reverse lunge + lunge jump right
• Squat jump
• 5 pulses and a squat jump
• Skater
• Front plank recovery 30 seconds
• Repeat

These are fantastic moves that will tighten and tone your legs. Remember to start with doing them unloaded, then to add to the fun, use a barbell for the Sally song and use dumb bells for the L squat/reverse lunge. I never load anything that involves jumping, so the reverse lunge/lunge jump is done with just body weight.

When you train your legs, you can be assured that your entire physique will improve. A nice bum doesn’t come without a lot of sweat. Obviously proper nutrition plays a big part too, but you can really shape your tush with the right moves.

If you’re looking to train those trouble spots, including your legs, core and possibly some jiggly arms, you’ll want to look at this.

 

It’s easily the exercise that folks mess up the most…

What is it?

 

 

 

 

The kettlebell swing.

Many are intimidated by the kettle bell swing, it’s a fairly simple move once you get it, but it can be a tough one to master. It can cause back pain and it will minimize the effectiveness of the move when it’s done incorrectly.

Don’t be mistaken though, I love the KB swing, it works the under-used posterior chain (that’s fancy talk for the back, bum and hams). But it’s ONLY effective when you’re doing it correctly.

So, in this blog post, I’ll explain WHY you want to learn how to do the KB swing for fast fat loss and amazing fitness results and then the BEST WAY to learn this awesome move.

Take a look here:

Many are intimidated by the kettle bell swing, it’s a fairly simple move once you get it, but it can be a tough one to master. It can cause back pain and it will minimize the effectiveness of the move when it’s done incorrectly.

Don’t be mistaken though, I love the KB swing, it works the under-used posterior chain (that’s fancy talk for the back, bum and hams). But it’s ONLY effective when you’re doing it correctly.

I’ve asked my pal, Chris Lopez to explain a little more about the kettle bell swing and why you want to use it. Plus he’ll give you a sweet and simple workout at the end. Take it away Chris….

Fuggedabout the Kettlebell – A Simple and Unassuming Swing Workout

by: Chris Lopez

StrongFirst Level II Kettlebell Trainer

Master Certified Turbulence Trainer

“It’s not about the kettlebell. The kettlebell responds to what your body tells it to do. Therefore, move your body appropriately and the kettlebell will end up where you want it.”

That’s a quote that’s stuck with me the first time I heard it from my coach many years ago and it  really hammers home a point that people miss when it comes to their kettlebell training.

When you’re training – regardless if you’re using kettlebells, bodyweight or barbells – you must have an “internal focus”. 

That means that we don’t concentrate on what the kettlebell is doing – the external resistance – but on what our body is doing…we shift the focus internally.

The kettlebell will react to how we position our body.

The kettlebell is a feedback tool.

It’s like a computer monitor.  All the cool stuff happens on the screen of a computer, but the real work, the “magic”, happens inside the hard drive and the processor.

The kettlebell becomes secondary.

When I taught our good friend Shawna K the kettlebell swing last July in San Diego, I started by teaching her how to do the Hardstyle Plank.  I did this because it establishes the “root” position – knees locked, glutes squeezed, abs braced, lats fired, face relaxed – which is the FINISH of the kettlebell swing.

And then after teaching her the hinge and the hike pass, I told her that the goal is to get to the root position to finish every single rep.

Therefore when you swing a kettlebell (or clean it or snatch it), your goal is to GET TO THE ROOT.

You shift your focus not on what the kettlebell is doing, but on what your feet, knees, hips, abs & lats are doing.

The kettlebell reacts appropriately by floating.

If your focus is external (ie. if you focus on lifting the kettlebell), you lose focus on what’s meant to change.  Remember, we’re trying to change our bodies, NOT change the implement we are using to make that change.

Get to the root as quickly and explosively as you can and the kettlebell floats.

Other examples…

When you press, push your body away from the kettlebell with stiff knees, squeezed glutes and braced abs.  Doing this will protect your shoulder and allow yourself to use your lat as a shelf from which to press from.  Don’t focus on lifting the kettlebell up over your head.

When you deadlift, think about wedging yourself underneath the bar to keep your joints aligned and your back safe. DON’T just pull the bar up off the floor.

When you’re doing squats, push the floor away to get up out of the hole.  Notice how your spine automatically aligns and straightens up.

And this is a lesson that you can use not only with kettlebell training, but when you have a barbell on your back, when you’re doing your pull-ups or push-ups or when you’re doing something as simple as bicep curls.

Finally, not to get all philosophical, but this is a great life lesson…

Think about all the times that you’ve compared yourself to another person.  All the times that you’ve felt envious or jealous because someone has something that you wished you had, or had accomplished something that you wish you did.

How crappy did you feel about yourself?

The problem is that focusing on the external – on being envious or jealous of the other person because of their possessions or accomplishments – only makes YOU feel like crap.  It does nothing to serve you as a person.

This is what materialism and selfishness is built on. It’s the foundation of the advertising industry.  Ads psychologically make you wish you were like the people in the magazines, billboards or commercials – with the new cars, the expensive clothes, the fancy vacations, the big houses – and plays on what you don’t have.

Instead, what if you focused internally?  What if you compared yourself to the you from 5 years ago?

What if you just quit playing the “Keeping Up With The Jones” game?

What if you stopped caring so much about what other people think or the things they did and just focused on what you’ve accomplished?

What if you shifted the focus internally?

How much happier would you be?

That’s the lesson for today – focus on the internal.

Express gratitude for the strides that you’ve made to better yourself over the years.  Celebrate your victories.

And when you train, let the kettlebell react to your body when you perform your get-ups, swings & presses today and see how much stronger, fluid and athletic you feel.

Focus on what YOU are doing and let the world react accordingly.

In order to really understand the internal focus, here’s a simple (not easy) kettlebell swing workout that you can do today…

Start with a moderate sized kettlebell – women use a 12kg or 16kg kettlebell, men use a 24kg.

Set a timer for 10 minutes and press “start”.

Swing your kettlebell, focusing on the hinge & root positions doing only 7 reps of the exercise.  Remember, focus on what your body is doing – on it’s alignment and position – NOT on what the kettlebell is doing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kettlebell Swing

After 7 reps park the kettlebell (put it down) and stay loose.

Wait until the clock reaches the “9:00” mark and swing again for 7 reps…be EXPLOSIVE and really try to float the kettlebell.

After 7 reps put the kettlebell down again and wait for the top of the next minute.

This type of training – called the “EMOTM” protocol (Every Minute On The Minute) – allows you to focus on your form and rewards you for being explosive.

The more explosive you are the faster you get the set done.  The faster you get the set done, the more rest you have.  The more rest you have, the more explosive you can be for the next set!

Give this a shot and do it 3 times per week – c’mon, it’s only 10 minutes – adding a rep every second workout.

Thanks for reading,

Chris

 If you want more coaching from the BEST, click here.

Chris has coached me with all things KB and he’ll coach you too with his follow along videos. You can get the most out of your KB training, even if you’re a beginner. You’ll feel confident as he teaches you the finer points of kettle bell training so that you’ll progress faster, but more importantly, you’ll be safe and avoid injury.

Check it out.

If you decide to grab Chris’ KB program, make sure you use the coupon code SHAWNA2015 to get almost 60% off.

 

It’s the BEST way to boost work out performance AND avoid injury.

It’s not particularly sexy, but it works.

I recently got a request to share how I warm up, what I advocate for my fitness boot campers and suggest for my online clients.

Below you’ll see a sample of a warm up:

Here’s the progression where you’ll do 5-10 reps of each and go through this series twice:

• arm circles (both directions)
• bodyweight squat (work into depth)
• squat with overhead arm hold
• prisoner position reverse lunge
• walk out to spider crawl
• screech
• modified push ups
• walk in to jumping jacks or step jacks
• squat jumps

Warming up is an essential part of your workout. It should only take 3-5 minutes, but it will help your workout performance tremendously.

If you liked this warm up, you’ll like all my programs. You can see them all on this page.

• Pull Up Challenge
  
• Challenge Fat Loss
• Challenge Jump Rope
• Challenge Burpee
• Challenge Complexes
• The 21 Day Challenge Diet
• Challenge Workouts: Boot Camp Edition
• Female Fat Loss Over 40

And make sure you incorporate the warm up in the video into ANY of my workouts (or your own workout) to ensure that you avoid injury and improve your overall fitness performance.

Got back fat? Ug.

At one time I thought that ‘trouble spot’ training was useless. However, recent studies show that there’s a thermogenic effect from training specific body parts so that you can, in fact, make an impact on a troublesome area.

The BEST plan of attack is to pair up body part specific exercises with metabolically challenging exercise to get the most ‘bang for your buck’.

You can’t expect to simply do a single exercise like biceps curls, sit ups, donkey kicks or what have you to tighten and tone up an area without raising your metabolism to burn away fat.

Long story short: you CAN exercise the muscles in your trouble spot areas and get the results you long for, as long as you work really hard. Sweat and raising your metabolism are imperative.

Here’s a fun back fat blasting workout for you.

Set your timer for 30 seconds of work with a 10 second transition. Repeat this circuit three times through for just over 10 minutes of sweaty work.

• wall sit stick up
• DB row (weak side)
• Db row (strong side)
• squat jumps (full body extensions or squat jumps with shoe touch)
• plank recovery

Now ladies in particular, if you find that your bum is YOUR trouble spot and needs some attention (because it’s NOT getting the type of attention you’d like 😉 ), then I have just the solution.

My friend, Andrea Albright has a program that focuses mostly on working the glutes.

Guess what? She’s found that if you have a great butt, the rest of your body more closely resembles your dream body.

Think about it. Have you ever met a woman with a nice bum who didn’t have an otherwise great physique?

I recommend that you take a look at Andrea’s program: My Bikini Butt.

You’ll find both demo and workout videos, along with a TON of content from nutrition to lifestyle changes that you need to make to easily help you make the most of YOUR body (and bum).

Now, Andrea has a particularly disturbing story as to how she became the fitness guru that she is. She has a video describing it all here.

If you don’t have time to listen to her story though (it’s actually quite compelling!), then just scroll down and you’ll learn all about her program and WHY it works.

Trouble spot training IS possible when you’re pairing the right exercises in the right combination.

Whether you have back fat or butt fat, doing specific exercises that target those muscles along with metabolically challenging ones will have you looking great from any angle.

Check Andrea’s program out here.