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 | Jan 27, 2016 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Workouts
Planks are always a popular exercise. And with good reason. They are a great core exercise!
The problem is…it has become a competition to hold a plank the longest. When how long you can hold a plank isn’t near as important as your ability to properly engage and contract the muscles of your core intensely.
It is a much better test of core strength to challenge yourself to engage the muscles of your core so intensely that you create “shakeage” within seconds of starting the plank rather than compensating just to hold longer. If you can engage your muscles so intensely that they are shaking, you will be able to use your core and recruit the muscles of your core more efficiently during other movements.
Developing proper core strength and learning how to properly engage the muscles of your core is why you should truly be including planks in your workout routine. You want to use them to strengthen your mind-body connection!
Below are some tips to help you get the most out of the Basic Plank as well as a few basic variations and a great core burn out workout.
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by Cori Lefkowith | Oct 15, 2015 | Blog, Diet, Mindset, Workouts
With the holiday season fast approaching, there is no time like the present to get your fitness routine in line.
You may be getting busier. There may be parties and temptations and excuses to slack on your healthy eating and workout routine.
You may even think to yourself, “I’ll just enjoy and get back to things in the New Year.”
But that only makes things harder. It only puts you behind once January hits.
It only provides you with excuses to not succeed in the future.
And it most definitely doesn’t help you create healthy habits that will last and get you through other rough, temptation-filled, busy times of year.
Instead of putting your health off to the New Year this year, why not start creating healthy habits and putting in place a program that will help you stay healthy and on-track through the holiday season?!
Below are 10 Tips To Help You Stay On-Track This Holiday Season and 2 Quick Bodyweight Workouts you can do anywhere when you are short on time or don’t feel like going to the gym.
by Cori Lefkowith | May 14, 2015 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Workouts
When people think “cardio,” they usually think of running. Or they think of hopping on a treadmill or some other cardio machine.
But you don’t have to run to get in a great cardio workout. Actually the 20 Bodyweight Cardio Exercises below may be even better cardio workouts than running, especially chronic, steady-state cardio like long distance running.
And none of them require any equipment (ok a TOWEL but hopefully you have some sort of towel or blanket at home!). They can all be done at home in your living room even.
So if you aren’t a runner and you are looking for a cardio workout you can do at home, check out the 20 Bodyweight Cardio Moves below and scroll to the end for some KILLER Interval Workouts!
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by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 7, 2015 | Battling Ropes, Blog, Exercises, Workouts
Battling Ropes are popping up at gyms everywhere now. However, many people have never used one or even seen one before.
And while Battling Ropes are an easy-to-learn piece of equipment great for exercisers of all levels, there is still some form required and key movements to learn to get the most out of your Battling Ropes workout.
Battling Ropes can be used to work your entire body and improve your cardiovascular conditioning. You can use the ropes to build an aerobic base, improve your lactic threshold or even increase your power.
And while you improve your cardiovascular conditioning, you can also develop functional full body strength doing the Battling Ropes Exercises.
There are two basic movements we do in our Battling Ropes Training – Waves and Pulls. In this post, we’ve focused on only Wave exercises.
Including the Battling Ropes Wave Exercises in your workouts is important because they not only help you develop greater power, but they also help you become stronger so that you can maintain that power and intensity for a longer period of time.
These Battling Ropes Exercises are a great way to get in a full body workout. And if you get your own Battling Rope, you can do these exercises anywhere you can find something to wrap your rope around!
Learn how to use the Battling Rope today with these 22 Exercises and 5 Battling Ropes Workouts.
Battling Ropes Exercises – The 22 Moves
Below are all the 22 Moves demonstrated in the video.
The first 8 moves are what we consider the Essential Movements. Master these moves before moving on. With just these first eight you can get in a great workout.
1. Alternating Single Arm Waves
2. Stage Coach
3. Rainbows
4. Sidewinders
5. Rope Slams
6. Outward Circles
7. Snakes
8.Tsunamis
Moves 9-12 are great unilateral moves. Each of these moves forces you to work one side at a time, which allows you to correct imbalances because your dominate arm can’t take over.
9.Unilateral Waves
10. Unilateral Outward Circles
11.Unilateral Cross Body Waves
12. Rope Hook
Moves 13-22 are great full-body movements that require more coordination and incorporate a few of the Essential Movements. These are more advanced moves that are sure to get your heart rate up!
13. Switch Stance Stage Coach
14. Alternating Arms with Side Shuffle
15. Stage Coach with Reverse Lunge
16. Alternating Arms with Side to Side Lunge
17. Alternating Waves with Get-Up Lunge
18. Sidewinders with Forwards and Backwards Walk
19. Rainbow With Lunge
20. Rope Russian Twists
21. One Arm Plank Waves
22. Jumping Jacks
The 5 Battling Ropes Workouts:
These 5 Workouts are a great way to use the 22 Battling Ropes Moves above to improve your conditioning and even strengthen your entire body.
Workout #1:
Battling Ropes Interval Workout
Perform 3-6 rounds of each exercise. Rest for 1-2:30 minutes between rounds (1 minute advanced, 2:30 beginner). Rest 2-3 minutes between circuits.
CIRCUIT #1:
1 minute Stage Coach
CIRCUIT #2:
1 minute Alternating Arm Waves
CIRCUIT #3:
1 minute Sidewinders
CIRCUIT #4:
1 minute Rainbows
Workout #2:
Battling Ropes Tabata Workout
Complete 8 rounds of each exercise, working for 20 seconds then resting for 10. After completing 8 rounds of the exercise, rest for up to 2 minutes then move on to the next exercise.
Exercise #1:
20 seconds Alternating Arms with Side Shuffle
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #2:
20 seconds Rainbows with Lunge
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #3:
20 seconds Alternating Waves with Get Up Lunge
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #4:
20 seconds Sidewinders with Forward, Backward Walk
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #5:
20 seconds Alternating Waves with Side to Side Lunge
10 seconds Rest
Workout #3:
Battling Ropes Upper Body Workout
Set a timer for 15 minutes for each circuit. Complete as many rounds of each circuit in that 15 minutes as you can. After 15 minutes is up, rest 2-3 minutes and move on to the next circuit. Record how many rounds you complete and try to beat it next time!
Circuit #1:
10 reps Push Ups
20 reps Snakes
10 reps per side Rope Russian Twists
Circuit #2:
10 reps Pull Ups/Inverted Rows
20 reps Outward Circles
15 reps per side Plank with Single Arm Waves
Workout #4:
Battling Ropes 30/15 Workout
Set a timer for 30 seconds of work, 15 seconds of rest. Go from one exercise to the next, resting 15 seconds between moves. Once a round of the circuit is complete, rest 1 minute. Beginners may need to rest longer between rounds. Complete 6-8 rounds.
Circuit #1:
30 seconds Jumping Jacks
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Switch Stance Stage Coach
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Rope Slams
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Stage Coach with Reverse Lunge
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Sidewinders
Rest 1 minute
Workout #5:
Battling Ropes Unilateral 20/20/20 Workout
Work for 20 seconds on each side then rest for 20 seconds before repeating. Complete 5 rounds of each exercise. Rest up to 2 minutes before moving on to the next exercise.
Exercise #1:
20 seconds Unilateral Waves Right Hand
20 seconds Unilateral Waves Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Exercise #2:
20 seconds Unilateral Outward Circles Right Hand
20 seconds Unilateral Outward Circles Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Exercise #3:
20 seconds Unilateral Cross Body Waves Right Hand
20 seconds Unilateral Cross Body Waves Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Exercise #4:
20 seconds Rope Hook Right Hand
20 seconds Rope Hook Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Using these 22 Battling Ropes Exercises and 5 Workouts, you can get in a great functional strength and cardio workout no matter your fitness level.
What’s your favorite Battling Ropes Wave Exercise?
by Cori Lefkowith | Aug 20, 2014 | Blog, Core, Workouts
Circuits can be done in a variety of ways. They can be done for a prescribed amount of sets or they can be done for an allotted time.
When you do circuits for time and try to get as much work done in that time as possible, you are using a training method known as Density Training.
“Density” is the amount of work you are able to do in a set amount of time.
With Density Training, you are trying to increase the amount of work you can do in a set amount of time to improve your strength and your endurance.
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