by Cori Lefkowith | Dec 28, 2016 | Blog, Bodyweight, Workouts
Every time I post some exercises for people to try, I get asked, “How many reps and sets?”
Designing a proper workout though isn’t as simple as me telling you a rep range and number of sets. It isn’t as simple as stringing together exercises.
It is about considering your goals. It is about considering what you want to accomplish that week and not only what muscles you want to work, but what movements, what energy systems, what other workouts you plan to do…even what time you have available!
So how do you decide how many reps and sets?
Start with your goals.
What do you want to accomplish? Are you focused more on strength? Or on more of a “cardio” workout? Endurance or sprint? Do you want to build max strength or get more lean muscle mass? Or maybe are you starting out and going a bit lighter with weight?
All of these things should change what type of rep and set range you do!
Some good things to consider….
If you want to build maximum strength, 1-5 reps should be your focus. I find most of the clients I work with, will be in this range the least. I may do a main lift where we go lower with reps, but in general, we tend to spend the most time in the 8-12 rep range. Because most of us aren’t as concerned with maximum strength alone.
However, if you are, you may do about 5 sets in this range as your reps are lower (4-6 sets is the general rule of thumb). You will need longer rest between sets if you are working in this rep range as your body will need longer to completely recover when lifting this heavy.
If you work in this range, you’ll want to really push weight. This will require you to be more experienced. If you don’t challenge yourself and really try to sort of “max out” at this lower reps, you won’t get much out of it. You can’t have the 5th rep feeling easy.
Also remember, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN TECHNICALLY LIFT A WEIGHT, DOESN’T MEAN YOUR BODY IS READY TO! Build slowly. Even if your muscles can lift it, it doesn’t mean all of your connective tissues are ready to.
You need to build a base before working down into this range!
If you want to move better, lose weight and focus on building lean muscle mass, you’ll probably want to work more in the 8-12 rep range (you may even work down toward 6 reps as you go up in weight). In this range, you’ll put on strength, but you aren’t really focused on working toward that one rep max. If your goal is feeling and looking good, you’ll probably spend the most time in this range.
You still need to challenge yourself with weights. If you want to stop at 8 reps, do 10-12. If you want to stop at 6, do 8. You need to challenge yourself with weights, but in this range, you won’t need to rest as long between sets.
This rep range can be used well in circuits (3 or more exercises together) and supersets (two exercises together). You will do about 3-5 sets.
If you are starting out, or trying to build strength and endurance, you can even work in a higher rep range of 10-15. This will probably be more like 2-4 sets as the number of reps is higher.
With activation moves and even muscles like your glutes, you may even find you want to work up toward 20 reps.
Higher rep ranges can even be used, but then you’ll want to do fewer sets. It is important that you pay attention to workout volume…aka the total amount of work you are doing.
If you workout volume is constantly high, you are going to burn out! So pay attention to this not only in each workout, but also over the entire week.
And it is important to consider the exercises you are doing and the muscles and movements you want to work. These will influence how you design the workout, whether supersets or circuits or pyramids…Or what workout design is best.
You also aren’t restricted to rep numbers. You can also do timed intervals of work. And with both, you can not only adjust the work that you do, but also the time that you rest! (Remember not everything is about shortening rest. Sometimes longer rest plays a part too, especially if you are doing super intense sprint intervals!)
For instance you could do 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off. Double the work to rest. Or you could do equal work to rest so that you recover more and your 100% max effort stays closer to a true 100%…like 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.
Or if you are really working on power and improving your speed, you may want to rest 3-5 times the length you work AND work for shorter so you can work at a true 100% max effort the entire time. For instance, 8-15 seconds of work and 24-75 seconds of rest.
You could even do endurance and work at a lower intensity for longer intervals of work with shorter rest in between.
There are so many variables you can play around with to get results!
And not only do sets, reps, volume, rest and weights matter, so do the muscles and movements you plan to work. A circuit that is full body will be different than one focused on just your legs. You can not only do body part splits, but also hemisphere splits (upper vs. lower), anterior vs. posterior splits (frontside vs. backside) or even movement splits (hinge, pull, push, squat)…
Depending on what your workouts work, you can play around with how many times you workout each week! And you can even play around with the length of your workouts.
While bodybuilders and fitness competitors tend to spend hours in the gym and do body part splits, and often workouts for maximal strength will take longer as you’ll need longer rest, you can get a lot out of a quick 10 minutes if you play around with rest intervals and intensity.
So you can easily design workouts to meet your specific needs!
Because most of my clients want to build lean, strong bodies so that they feel and look good in every day life, I often design workouts that give you the most bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time.
Below is one from my 6-Week Bodyweight Shred.
In this case, I go with a circuit style workout with higher reps, fewer sets and shortened rest. Because of the higher reps to really burn out the muscles, no weights are needed. See so many options!
WORKOUT
For this workout you will do 20 reps of everything. For one-sided or unilateral moves, you will do 10 reps per side. Complete 3 rounds of each circuit, resting only as needed. Time how long it takes you to complete and beat it the final week! If you are short on time, set a timer and see how much you can complete in the time you have and/or simply complete 1 round of each circuit!
CIRCUIT #1:
20 reps Squat Jumps
20 reps Alternating Front Lunges
20 reps Plank Jacks
CIRCUIT #2:
20 reps T Push Ups
20 reps Plank Hip Dips
20 reps Full Sit Ups
CIRCUIT #3:
20 reps Skater Hops
20 reps Dips Off Bench
20 reps Side Plank Oblique Twists
Ready for 6 weeks of workouts laid out so you don’t have to think about sets, reps, volume, splits…or anything else? Want to get the lean, strong body you’ve always wanted?
Get my Bodyweight Shred for this great pre-launch price!
–> 6-Week Bodyweight Shred!
by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 8, 2016 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Functional Fitness
Often we feel limited when we workout at home, especially if we don’t have any exercise equipment.
We think we can’t really challenge ourselves at home.
But not only are there TONS of challenging bodyweight exercises you can do, BUT there are even some great household items you can use to add variety and extra challenge to your home workouts.
And one of those household items is a TOWEL!
Using a towel you can reduce traction and make some basic bodyweight moves even more challenging. Below are 5 of my favorites to combine into a full-body workout. (And if you don’t have hardwood or tile floors, you can even do these on carpet with paper plates or furniture movers!)
5 Towel Exercises For A Full-Body Workout
Towel Burpees – Get your blood pumping and whole body working with this core-intensive Burpee variation!
To do Towel Burpee, start standing tall with your feet close together and the towel/towels under your feet. Then squat down and bend over to place your hands on the ground. As you place your hands down on the ground, slide your feet back on the towels until you are in a plank position with your hands under your shoulders.
Then quickly slide your feet back in toward your hands and stand back up, squeezing your glutes at the top. You can reach your hands up overhead as you stand up. Quickly repeat the move, placing your hands back down on the ground as you slide back into a plank position before sliding back in and coming back up to standing.
This is a great core-intensive burpee variation that is super challenging, but also low-impact.
To make the move harder, perform a push up after you slide back and before you slide back in to stand up!
Fly Push Ups – If you want to smoke your chest, shoulders, tricep and core, you need to try the Fly Push Ups! Beginners will want to start by sliding only one hand out to the side before performing the push up OR they may want to do the variation below from their knees instead of toes.
To do the full Fly Push Up, place a towel under each hand with your hands close together under your chest and your body in a nice straight line from your head to your heels.
Keeping your body in a nice straight line, slide both hands out wide to perform a fly and lower down to the bottom of a push up. Do not shrug your shoulders as you slide your hands out. While you want to slide out wide, do not go so wide that you really shrug or tuck your chin.
Then slide your hands back together, pulling your hands back in using your chest as you come back up to the top of the push up. Feel your chest and shoulders working to pull your hands back in and together as you come to the top of the push up. Make sure your body moves as one unit and your core is braced. Do not tuck your chin or let your butt go up in the air or your hips sag.
Repeat the move, sliding both hands out as you lower back down.
Alternating Side Lunges – This is a great move to not only get your blood pumping but also really target your glutes AND your inner thighs.
To do Alternating Side Lunges, place a small towel under each foot. Start standing tall with your feet together.
Then slide one foot out to the side, bending your standing leg as you sit your butt back. You can lean forward slightly to hinge at the hips and sit your butt back, but don’t round over. Slide out as far as you can. You can also reach your opposite hand down toward the foot of your standing leg to help yourself load your glute.
Drive back up to standing and slide your leg back in. Feel the glute of the standing leg work to drive up as you pull your foot in with the inner thigh.
If this is your first time, just make sure you don’t slide out too far or you may end up in the splits!
2-Way Plank Wipers – I love both Towel Plank Jacks AND Towel Plank Wipers so I figured…Why not combine them into one movement. Therefore we now have the 2-Way Plank Wipers! Beginners can break down the move and just do one or the other or even do this move without the towels.
To do the 2-Way Plank Wipers, set up in a plank from your forearms with a towel under each foot. Keeping your core braced, slide one leg up and out to the side. While your hips may rotate a bit, you don’t want them to sag or let your butt go way up in the air.
Slide the foot out and up then slide it back into the plank position. Then slide your other foot up and out to the side. Bring that foot back in.
Then after performing a wiper to each side, perform a plank jack sliding both feet out at the same time. Once you slide both feet back together, repeat the movement, first sliding out to one side then the other!
Glute Bridge and Curl – Whether you sit all day, want to lift more, run faster or simply want a nice, strong and sexy backside, the Glute Bridge and Curl is a must-do move!
To do the Glute Bridge and Curl, you can use one larger towel or two small towels. Beginners will need two small towels so they can do a single leg variation, sliding one foot out at a time.
To do the Two-Leg Advanced variation, place a towel under each foot and start in the glute bridge position with your knees bent and upper back and arms driving down into the ground. Make sure to engage your glutes and your abs to protect your low back as you do this move.
Keeping your glutes engaged, slide your feet out away from your butt. Straighten your legs out in front of you as far as you can, letting your butt lower down toward the ground. Your glutes may touch the ground, but you shouldn’t let your hips sag or release tension. They should lower because your legs are extending.
Once you straighten your legs out fully, curl your heels back in, bringing your hips back up again into a glute bridge. Really pull your heels back in with your hamstrings by driving your heels into the towels and dragging them back in.
When you pull your heels back in, make sure you bridge up. You should perform the curl and bridge back up as one movement. It should’t be curl in then bridge up, but actually bridge up as you curl back in. Then repeat the movement. Make sure your abs are engaged. You do not want to feel your low back taking over. In the bridge, make sure you don’t arch your low back as well.
Using these 5 Towel Exercises, you can get in a great full body workout!
by Cori Lefkowith | Aug 20, 2016 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Pull Ups, Uncategorized, Workouts
I designed this workout when experimenting with my 30-Day Pull Up Challenge workouts and scheduling.
And while I intended it to simply help people achieve that first, or 15th!, Pull Up, I never expected it to be such a core killer…like…KILLER!
More clients tell me their entire core hurts, and is more sore after this one workout from my 30-Day Pull Up Challenge than from almost any other workout we do.
That is also why this workout is so effective at improving your Pull Ups – it builds your core strength while also activating and strengthening your back.
That’s right…core strength is ESSENTIAL to improving your Pull Ups.
And this workout…well…it hammers your core as it works to improve your scapular retraction and get your back activated and working correctly!
It also combines two other keys to improve your Pull Ups besides building core strength – it also uses Eccentric Pull Ups and Pull Up Holds.
Including both Eccentric Pull Ups and Pull Up Holds in your workout program is also essential if you want results fast. Combining these 3 elements – Core Strength, Eccentric Pull Ups and Pull Up Holds is what makes this workout one of the foundational workouts of my 30-day program (Ready to improve your Pull Ups and want the full program? Click HERE) .
Ready for a killer core workout that will improve your Pull Ups? Then try the one below!
The 30-Day Pull Up Workout
Warm up then complete 4-6 rounds of the first exercise, resting about 1 minute between rounds. Then rest 1-2 minutes before moving on to the supplemental circuits. Rest no more than 30 seconds between rounds of the supplemental circuits and 1-2 minutes between circuits. Complete 6-8 rounds of each of the supplemental circuits. Then cool down by rolling and stretching.
EXERCISE:
5-8 reps Eccentric Pull Ups
CIRCUIT #1:
20 seconds Pull Ups
20 seconds Handstand Hold
15-30 seconds Rest
CIRCUIT #2:
20 seconds Push Ups
20 seconds Pull Up Holds
15-30 seconds Rest
NOTES: Pick variations of each move that allow you to work the entire 20 seconds. While that seems short, it adds up. And if you don’t work the entire time, you won’t get in the volume that will help create changes. Regress as you go if needed. For the Eccentric Pull Ups, lower down as slowly as possible.
For Pull Ups, do the hardest version you can. Full pull ups, foot assisted pull ups, jumping pull ups….Something that will challenge your back for the time but allow you to keep moving even if you regress as you go!
For the Push Ups and Pull Up Holds, select moves that work on weak points. For instance, close grip will work your triceps more on push ups. Wide grip will work your chest more. On Pull Up Holds, hold at the top to work on lock out. Hold at the bottom to work on Scapular Retraction (aka getting your lats actually engaged so you can begin the Pull Up). Hold at the mid-point to work on getting over your stick point.
Want to improve your Pull Ups? These 3 Keys To Improving Your Pull Ups will help!
Learn my 3 Keys To Improving Your Pull Ups –> https://goo.gl/GbJSK7
by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 7, 2016 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Push Ups
The Push Up is a must-do move even though most of us need to make sure we do extra pulling exercises because we sit hunched over a computer for 9 hours a day.
So while you definitely need to include rows and pull ups and all sorts of pulling exercises in your workouts, you can still include Push Ups.
Push Ups are an important bodyweight exercise to include because they work not only your chest, shoulders and triceps but also your entire core. As I’ve mentioned before, Push Ups are basically just a moving Plank.
They can help train the muscles of your core to work together correctly. They can help you develop and improve your mind-body connection so that your core engages and works properly during compound exercises.
However, doing the same basic Push Up over and over again gets boring. Plus there are so many different variations out there that can work not only your upper body, but also your core, in different ways to focus on different muscle groups.
That is why it is important to include different Push Up variations in your workout routine. Check out these 31 Push Up Variations below for some great upper body and core exercises!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 22, 2016 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Travel Workouts, Workouts
When you travel it can be hard to keep up with your workout routine.
You may simply be busy, or relaxing or without access to your usual workout equipment. But that doesn’t have to mean you fall off your workout routine.
While you can take time off on vacation, it can be useful to have some Bodyweight Travel Exercises and quick Travel Workouts on hand, especially if you travel often. These moves and exercises can be something quick you do in your off time, even if all you have access to is the space in your hotel room.
Try these 10 Bodyweight Travel Exercises and Quick Travel Workout.
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by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 11, 2016 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Pull Ups
Many of the clients that I work with come into the gym unable to do a Pull Up. And most have it as a main goal they would like to accomplish.
Some clients may have never even really tried to achieve that first Pull Up, believing that there was no way they would be able to do one while others may have been working toward it for awhile with no real progress forward.
Because the Pull Up is a unique exercise that not only requires strength, but also a mind-body connection that many people with a desk job simply don’t have. So it isn’t as simple as doing some back exercise and BAM! first Pull Up!
It isn’t even as simple as slowly progressing variations from easiest to hardest and BAM! first Pull Up.
Helping clients, or even yourself, achieve that first Pull Up is about building the mind-body connection, reversing the effects of sitting, strengthening your back and forcing your body to take on more and more challenging Pull Up variations. It is about a complete program of foam rolling, stretching, activation and strengthening exercises.
It is about a program that boils down to 3 key things – Activation, not using Assistance and lower reps. End of story.
You can do all the Inverted Rows and Machine-Assisted Pull Ups assisted Pull Ups you want and never achieve that first Pull Up if you don’t think about these 3 things.
