While getting the latest and greatest fitness tools can be fun and keep things interesting, you don’t need any fancy equipment to get in a great workout.
Actually sometimes the best tools are the most basic ones – the ones that aren’t even truly exercise equipment.
For instance, a $16 moving blanket may be one of the best pieces of “equipment” to help you get in a full body cardio workout in just minutes.
You can use the moving blanket to do one of our favorite cardio-core training exercises – the Towel Taz.
While this move may seem silly, it is far from easy. It will work your entire core (from your shoulders to your knees) while getting your blood pumping.
Here’s how to do the basic Towel Taz and other fun variations:
There are a lot of glute exercises out there, but some give you more bang for your buck than others. Many people turn to squats when they want to work their butt, but squats (and even deadlifts) aren’t necessarily the best options. And what exercise is best also depends on exactly what you are using it for.
There are three different gluteal muscles, each with a different function. And different exercises pinpoint different aspect of your glutes. A glute exercise that strengthens your glute maximus, may not strengthen your glute medius. And if you have IT Band Syndrome, it is very important that you get your glute medius activated and stronger.
Therefore an exercise that is great for you glute maximus isn’t really beneficial for you because you need to targe the glute medius. So before you just randomly string together exercises, think about what you are using them for.
Below I’ve broken down glute exercises by the gluteal muscle they work. Here are some of the best glute exercises to work your three gluteal muscles – the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus. (more…)
Circuit training is all the rage, and while it shouldn’t be the only style of workout design you use, it can be a good one to include in your program.
Circuit training workouts are workouts where you complete different exercises back to back. Some can be super intense where you take little to no rest before moving on to the next exercise while others can be a bit less aerobic and allow you to rest 30 seconds or so before moving on to the next exercise.
You can do the exercises in circuit routines for time or for a set amount of reps. The exercises can be cardio in nature or more strength oriented.
You can alternate hemispheres (upper body then lower body) or you can blast one hemisphere with the circuit.
Below are two different Circuit Training Workouts that we love.
All too often our posterior chain is neglected in our workouts – especially our core workouts.
We tend to focus on the abs and do a whole bunch of crunches.
But if we want to strengthen our core, we have to work more than our abs. We have to work everything from our shoulders to our knees on both our front and backside.
And one great exercise to strengthen the backside of your core is the Superman Exercise.
The Superman Exercise is a great bodyweight core move that works the stabilizing muscles of your back as well as your glutes, hamstrings and shoulders.
When training for a race, you have to log the miles.
However, if there are days when you can’t get outside to do your runs or rides, you can still train and improve your endurance inside the gym
And that doesn’t mean you have to spend 30 minutes to an hour doing steady-state cardio on some boring piece of cardio equipment.
Below is one of the endurance workouts we love to do. It is a challenging workout that will improve your endurance while changing up the exercise you do every minute.
If you aren’t training for a race or endurance sport, it is still a great way to build up up your endurance.
