Today I wanted to do a little Throwback Thursday post and I also wanted to share a great in-home cardio exercise – THE BURPEE!
Burpees are a super tough bodyweight cardio exercise. They are not for everyone so make sure to modify as needed.
HOWEVER, if burpees are right for you, they can be a great at-home cardio exercise because they require very little space and really get your heart rate up and the sweat flowing.
The inverted row is a great functional bodyweight exercise to strengthen your back and core. It is also a great move to help progress you to a full pull up or even increase your pull up strength.
The inverted row is an essential exercise for anyone with a desk job as it can help correct poor posture and alleviate and prevent common injuries, aches and pains caused by sitting hunched over a computer screen all day.
No matter your fitness level, you need to do the inverted row if you want a strong, sexy back and less neck and shoulder pain!
I love the suspension trainer, be it a TRX or Jungle Gym XT.
It is the perfect piece of equipment for a home gym or travel workout because it is easily portable and can be used in any doorway or looped around something outside.
The suspension trainer allows everyone from the beginner to the advanced lifter to get in a challenging full-body workout no matter where they are.
Below are 10 Amazing Suspension Trainer Exercises for a Full-Body Workout:
The Turkish Get Up is an underutilized full body exercise. And when it is utilized, it is often done incorrectly.
There is a point to every single step of the Turkish Get Up. You can’t simply turn it into a roll to stand up.
The Turkish Get Up teaches your body to work together to move efficiently. It teaches you to engage muscles in the correct sequence in more than one plane of motion. It also works on mobility and activation while under a load.
It is an exercise that EVERYONE, and I mean everyone, should be doing!
Carry heavy things – We do it often enough in real life yet we seem to avoid doing it in the gym.
We like to say we are doing functional exercises in the gym yet we avoid the most functional of all exercises – HEAVY CARRIES.
All carry variations work your entire body. They can work your grip. They can increase your back strength, your core strength, your glute strength.
They work large major muscle groups to help you get stronger and burn more calories.
Plus doing heavy carries can make your body strong in a way that helps you prevent and avoid injury.
So stop avoiding a great full body FUNCTIONAL exercise and start doing Carries.
Below are some great Carry Variations:
Many of the AMAZING glute activation exercises that we should all be doing are those funny looking moves that Jane Fonda used to do in her leotard with ankle weights.
They are the moves that most people, especially guys, avoid.
However, everyone from the professional athlete to the guy or gal sitting behind the desk for 9 hours a day (especially actually that guy or gal with a desk job) should do those funny looking glute activation moves!
Glute activation can help you reduce your risk of injury and even alleviate your lower back pain by relaxing overactive hip flexors AND by getting your glutes to fire efficiently and effectively so that your lower back and hamstrings don’t compensate and become overworked.
Because so many of us spend so much time seated, our hips can become tight and our glutes can become underactive.
So getting them firing efficiently is key!
When your glutes are strong you’ll also find your running speed and endurance improves AND you can lift more!
Plus, strong glutes look pretty darn nice too!
And you can accomplish all of this by using those SILLY LOOKING ISOLATION MOVES!
Glute activation exercises should be included in your warm up to establish that mind-body connection so you can effectively recruit the muscles during your compound lifts or runs.
This will help you use proper recruitment patterns so your lower back doesn’t become overworked!
You can also include these more isolated moves in your supplemental circuits OR even as a nice quick finisher to your workout routine!
