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The 15-Minute Travel Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 1, 2014

WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes
Chest/Shoulders/Traps
Back/Lats

WORKOUT

Set a timer for 15 minutes and complete as many rounds of the circuit below as possible. Rest only as needed.

CIRCUIT:
8-15 reps per side Valslide Reverse Lunge
5-15 reps Lateral Push Up Walk
10-20 reps Band Pull Through
8-15 reps per side Plank Wipers

COOL DOWN
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes
Chest/Shoulders/Traps
Back/Lats

NOTES:

Complete as many reps as possible in the 15 minutes. Do not go to failure on any exercise so that you can keep moving. Make sure to challenge yourself though and do the hardest variation of each move as possible.

This workout is based on having the Total ValGym. Click here to get your Total ValGym.

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:

For all the exercises in this workout, check out these 30 Travel Exercises.

The Squat/Push Pyramid

by Cori Lefkowith | Oct 26, 2014

WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes
Chest/Shoulders/Traps
Back/Lats

WORKOUT

Start with one rep of each exercise in the circuit. After you do one rep of each exercise, you will do two reps of each exercise. Then three reps. You will go all the way up to 10 reps of each exercise then back down to one rep of each exercise. Rest as needed, but try to complete the pyramid as quickly as possible, using weights that challenge you the entire time. Move from one exercise to the next trying to only rest when needed between rounds. Remember, you are adding a rep each round until you hit 10 reps of each exercise and then you are going back down to 1 rep of each move.

CIRCUIT:
KB Front Squat
Dips
Balance Lunges
TFW Sit Up

COOL DOWN

Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes
Chest/Shoulders/Traps
Back/Lats

NOTES:

You may find that you need to adjust weight as you go up in repetitions or even down in reps. Beginners will want to start lighter since this is a high volume workout.

Make sure you challenge yourself with weight instead of just cruising through and completing the workout as quickly as possible.

Rest only as needed.

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:

KB Front Squat – To do the Goblet KB Front Squat, take one kettlebell and turn it upside down, holding it on the bell. Set your feet between hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Keep the kettlebell in at your chest. Draw your belly button in toward your spine. Sit your butt back and keep your weight in your heels as you squat down. Keep your chest up and don’t let your back round forward. Sink your butt down as low as you can, keeping your heels on the ground. Then, driving through your heels, come back to standing. Do not lean or rock forward as you stand up. Come all the way up and squeeze your glutes at the top then sink back down. You may also do a double racked kettlebell front squat to make the weight heavier if you don’t have a single bell heavy enough. You can do front squat with a barbell or sandbag instead if no kettlebell is available.

Dips – Check out these Dip Variations. Everyone from the beginner to the advanced lifter will be able to do at least one variation. Make sure to pick a variation that challenges you, but allows you to maintain proper form.

Balance Lunges – Place your back foot up on a box. Hop your front foot out so you are in a nice wide stance with your back foot up on the box. Then sink down into a lunge, dropping your back knee toward the ground as you bend your front knee to 90 degrees. Really sit back into the lunge. Make sure you aren’t going forward onto your front toe and that your front knee is not going past your toe. You want to sit back to make your glute work. You should also feel a nice stretch in the front of the leg that is back when doing this move. Beginners may want to use a super low box or do the move from the ground as a split squat. More advanced exercisers, or if you don’t have weights, you may want to do it with your back foot in a suspension trainer. You can also add weight to make the move more challenging.

TFW Sit Up – To do the TFW Sit Up, lie on your back on the ground with your legs out straight in front of you. Bring your hands up under your chin. Then from lying on the ground, come up to a seated position, bringing your knees in as you sit up. As you come to a tucked seated position, grab your shins with your hands. Then lie back down, straightening your legs out in front of you. Sit back up and bring your knees back in, grabbing your shins. Lie back down and repeat.

The Improve Your Pull Ups Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Oct 16, 2014

WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Wrists/Forearms
Chest
Shoulders
Traps
Upper Back

ACTIVATION

Complete 2 rounds of the circuit below.

CIRCUIT:
30 second Scapular Wall Hold
30 second Dead Hang
30 second Pull Up and Hold

WORKOUT

Complete 4-5 rounds of the first exercise. Rest up to 1 minute between rounds of the first exercise. Then rest 1-2 minutes before moving on to the supplemental circuit. Complete 4 rounds of the circuit resting up to 1 minute between rounds.

EXERCISE:
Max Pull Ups (See below for variations and tips to get the most out of these rounds)

CIRCUIT:
8-15 reps Pull Overs
8-15 reps Inverted Rows
8-15 reps Hanging Abs

NOTES:

With the Max Pull Ups you want to try to go to failure or even past failure each and every round. If you can only do a few pull ups with a variation, you may want to regress right away and complete a few more to try to increase your work capacity. For instance, if you can do 2 regular pull ups, you may want to try to do 5 more reps, but with a little foot assistance or even a jump to the top and then a slow eccentric down.

Or if you can already easily do a ton of pull ups, you may want to use the Max Pull Up rounds to try more challenging variations such as a really slow eccentric variation instead of just do 40 or 50 pull ups.

The circuit will then be used to target a few common areas to help you build your pull ups further. Use a challenging weight or variation for the circuit exercises. Rest as needed so you can increase weight or at least stay the same each round.

Beginners may want to do slightly higher reps and lower weights than advanced exercisers.

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:

Scapular Wall Hold – For a description of the Scapular Wall Hold and variations, click here!

Dead Hang – G

Pull Up and Hold –

Pull Ups – For these pick the hardest variation you can do. Whether you can do full pull ups or need to try a modification like the foot assisted pull ups or jumping pull ups, you want to concentrate on working your back. For Pull Up Variations, click here and see the picture below for a few different options.

Pull Overs – Place your upper back on a bench or box. Grab a dumbbell in both hands and bridge your hips up. Keeping your arms fairly straight with only a slight bend to the elbow, reach back over your head toward the ground behind you. Reach back as far as you can without bending more at the elbows and then bring the dumbbell back forward over your chest. Keep your hips up the entire time. Really feel your lats and abs stretch and work to control the reach overhead. Then feel your lats and abs work to pull the dumbbell back over your chest. Do not turn this into a tricep exercise. Keep the arms straight and do not start to bend at your elbows. If you can’t reach very far back overhead, you may want to use a lighter weight. Concentrate on feeling your lats work to pull the weight back over. You can also lie fully on the bench; however, that move doesn’t force you to engage your glutes as much. Having to engage your glutes can help protect your low back from hyperextending as you reach back and over.

Inverted Rows – For the Inverted Row and even variations you may want to include, check out this post. You can easily vary this workout by simply doing a different inverted row variations. To do the workout as written, stick with the basic inverted row shown below.

Hanging Abs – For 10 different Hanging Ab variations for every level, check out these 10 options! Beginners may want to start with a pelvic tilt while more advanced exercisers may want to do a knees to elbows or even a straight leg variation to work their lats more.

The Suspension Trainer Glute Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Oct 11, 2014

WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes

WORKOUT

Complete 3-5 rounds of each of the following supersets. Rest 30 seconds to 1 minute between rounds of the circuit and 1-2 minutes between supersets.

SUPERSET #1:
8-15 reps per side Balance Lunges
10-20 reps Straight-Legged Glute Bridge

SUPERSET #2:
8-15 reps per side Side Balance Lunges
10-20 reps Glute Cherry Bombs

SUPERSET #3:
8-15 reps per side Runner’s Start Lunges
10-20 reps L-Sit To Posterior Plank

COOL DOWN
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes

NOTES:
Use the variation of each exercise and rep/set range that is right for you. Beginners may want to choose an easier variation and do higher reps while more advanced exercisers may want to choose a harder variation that they can do for fewer reps. No matter what rep/set range and exercise variation you choose, make sure to challenge yourself to get the most out of the workout.

For more Suspension Trainer Exercises, check out these 10 Suspension Trainer Exercises.

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:
Balance Lunges – Place the toes of one foot into a suspension trainer strap. The shorter the strap and the higher your foot is from the ground, the harder the move will be. Make sure that you have the strap at a height that allows you to perform a full range of motion. It doesn’t have to be super high for this move to really make you work! If you need to, hop out on the other foot so you are in a nice wide stance with your back foot up in the strap. Then sink down into a lunge, dropping your back knee toward the ground. Really sit back into the lunge. Make sure you aren’t going forward and that your front heel is down. Also make sure your chest stays up and your back is flat. Do not round forward as you sink into the lunge. You should feel a nice stretch in the front of the leg that is back when doing this move. If you are really struggling to balance, hold the other suspension trainer strap in your hands. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Slow down the tempo of the move to make it harder or even hold a weight up at your chest or down by your sides.

Straight-Legged Glute Bridge – Place your heels in the CoreX foot straps. Lie back on the ground with your legs out straight in front of you. You can either bend your elbows to 90 degrees or leave your arms on the ground down by your sides. Squeezing your glutes and driving down through your heels, lift your hips up as high as you can while keeping your legs straight. Keep your abs engaged so that you don’t hyperextend your low back as you lift. Hold at the top for a second and lower back down.

Side Balance Lunges – Place one foot on its side in a suspension trainer strap and face to the side. Your leg should be out straight to the side in the strap. Then bend the standing leg and push your butt back as you sink down into a lunge. Let the leg with the foot in the strap slide out to the side as you sit back and down. Keep your chest up. You may hinge forward a bit as you sink but do not let your back round. Then, driving through the standing heel, come back to standing, pulling the leg in the suspension trainer back in toward your standing leg. You will feel your adductors work to pull the leg back in. Do not bend the leg in the suspension trainer. Also make sure to squeeze your glutes as you come back up to standing. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Beginners may want to hold the other strap in their hands to help them balance. Make sure that you don’t put the strap for your foot up too high. The height of the strap will be very dependent on your hip mobility. You can also hold a weight to make this move harder or slow down the tempo.

Glute Cherry Bombs – Place your heels in the suspension trainer straps and lie on your back on the ground. With your legs out straight and your feet close together, bridge up, squeezing your glutes and driving through your heels. Keep your core engaged so you don’t hyperextend your low back. Then curl your heels in toward your butt while maintaining the nice high bridge. Keep your glute engaged. Straighten your legs back out then and, keeping the nice straight bridge, move both feet out laterally, opening your legs up. Keep your hips up high as you spread your legs. Feel the outside of your butt work to open your legs up. Then bring your feet back together and repeat, curling your heels in toward your butt. This is an advanced movement. Beginners may not want to include the curl or may only want to do a single leg curl instead of the double leg curl. (First image is the advanced variation. The second is the beginners without the curl in.)

Runner’s Start Lunges – Hold a CoreX strap in each hand with your arms bent. Start back behind the anchor point with one leg lunged back and the front knee bent. Then driving through the foot of the front leg, bring the back leg forward and up. Drive the back knee up as you straighten the standing leg and push all the way up onto your toe. Then quickly bring the knee back down and sink back into the lunge, dropping the front heel back down to the ground. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Make sure to maintain a nice tall posture and not round your shoulders forward as you lunge. You also really want to focus on driving off that standing leg and extending the hip as you squeeze your glute to bring the back knee forward. This is an explosive move. You can make it more challenging by completely jumping off the front leg as you drive the back knee forward and up instead of just coming up onto the toe.

L-Sit To Posterior Plank – Place your heels in the foot straps. With your legs straight in front of you, sit on the ground and place your hands on the ground behind your butt. Then drive your hips up, pressing down through your hands and heels. Try to get your body in a nice straight line, leaning your head back as you lift. Then lower your hips about an inch from the ground and pull your butt back in between your hands. Keep your legs straight the entire time. Then press your hips back up into the posterior plank before repeating the L-Sit. Keep your arms straight throughout the entire movement.

The Bodyweight Power Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Oct 4, 2014

WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes
Chest/Shoulders/Traps
Back/Lats

WORKOUT

The focus of this workout is Power. That means everything is done for short intervals and low reps, but done with high intensity. The movements are meant to be explosive and quick. You should give an all out effort for the quick interval and then rest until complete recovered, about 3-5 times the amount of time you worked.

Complete 5-8 rounds of each exercise before moving on to the next exercise. Rest up to 1 minute between exercises. Make sure to really challenge and push when you work and then recover fully.

EXERCISE #1:
5-8 reps Forward Jumps
Rest 3 to 5 times the time you worked

EXERCISE #2:
5-8 reps Plyo Push Ups
Rest 3 to 5 times the time you worked

EXERCISE #3:
10-12 second Sprint
Rest 30-60 seconds.

EXERCISE #4:
5-8 reps Pull Ups
Rest 3 to 5 times the time you worked

COOL DOWN
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Groin
Hips/Glutes
Chest/Shoulders/Traps
Back/Lats

NOTES:

For each exercise, you want to move quickly and do the hardest variation you can. We are training power, which means if you can’t move explosively or quick with any movement you need to rest longer or end your sets there. You do not want to train slowness.

If you are struggling to bust out reps of the pull ups or push ups, you need to regress the movement or lower the reps so you can do a few quick, challenging repetitions.

Do not allow yourself to move slowly with these movements!

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:

Forward Jumps – To do Frog Jumps, set up in the hip hinge position with your arms reach down and back by your hips just like you would for the Jumps for Height. Sit your butt back with your knees slightly bent. Your chest will be leaning forward a bit as you sit your butt back. Make sure though that you don’t round forward. Then driving off your heels jump forward and up, extending your hips and swinging your arms forward and overhead to propel yourself forward. As you land, sink back into the hinge, bringing your hands back down. Focus on landing softly and sinking right back into the starting position. The quicker you land and then jump again, the harder the move will be because more core strength is required to keep you balanced with your momentum wanting to propel you forward. For all jump movements, beginners can start with a hip hinge movement in place instead of ever leaving the ground. A quick hip extension in place will train the movement pattern without any impact. Once you’ve mastered the motion, make the movement more explosive by coming up onto your toes. Then progress it further by small jumps off the ground. Make sure you’ve mastered the mechanics before really progressing the jump.

Plyo Push Ups – Beginners may start with Incline Plyo Push Ups or quick Push Ups off the ground if they can’t do a full plyometric push up from the ground.To do a Plyo Push Up, you will set up in a nice push up position with your hands outside your chest and your body in a nice straight line down to your heels with your feet together. Set up at the top of the push up with your arms locked out. Lower your chest down to the ground, keeping your body in a nice straight line from your head to your heels. Then push up quickly from the bottom of the push up, exploding up off the ground at the top. You can choose to clap your hands or just jump up off the ground with your arms straight. Keep a nice straight line with your body as you explode up. Try not to push your butt up in the air just to try to get higher off the ground. Force your core to really work and keep your body in a nice straight line. Come back down and quickly lower back down into the push up and repeat.

Beginners can do this explosive move with their hands up on a bench or bar or from their knees. They can even simply do a quick regular push up if they can’t keep their core tight when trying to leave the ground. Advanced exercisers may want to do plyometric variations to have some fun like decline plyo push ups or staggered stance or even a plyo push up shuffle.

Sprint – For the sprint, you can do this on a hill, in place, with a partner holding a resistance band or even on a piece of cardio equipment if you can’t, or don’t want to, run. If you do use a piece of cardio equipment instead of running, your best options are a Rower, Airdyne Bike or a VersaClimber. The Sprint should be an all out effort right from the beginning. If you are running, make sure your first step is forward.

Proper Sprinting mechanics if you are running:

Your arms should be bent to about 90 degrees (angle may change as they swing a bit) and the opposite arm and leg will work together. Your left arm will swing forward as your right leg is forward and as you drive through the right leg and your left knee comes forward, your right arm will swing forward. Make sure that you drive your elbows back and allow your core to rotate as your arms swing. Do not “chop vegetables” and just move your arms at the elbow. You actually want to drive the elbows back and swing your hands from cheek to cheek (from about your chin to your hip). Although your core will rotate as you sprint, do not over rotate your core and exaggerate the movement. You should also maintain a nice tall posture. You should never be rounded over even though at the beginning of your sprint (your “acceleration phase”) you may be leaning forward. Make sure to keep a nice even gait as you run. You don’t want too long or short a gait. Over-striding will cause improper mechanics and injury. Make sure with each stride that you are pushing forward and not just bouncing up and down. Also make sure that your knees aren’t caving in as you run and that your feet aren’t pronating. Your hip, knee and ankle should all be in line. If you are sprinting from a dead stop, you may also want to work on your start. Your first movement at the start should be forward. Many of us often step back before we go forward, but this is inefficient and won’t improve your first step speed (and when sprinting, first step speed is very important). Work on almost “falling” forward and make sure your first movement is forward.

Pull Ups – Hang from the bar with your palms facing away (you may also sub in chin ups or a neutral grip pull up). Press your chest out and draw your shoulder blades down and back. Then pull your chin up above the bar. Once your chin reaches above the bar, lower back down. Stay in control. Do not kip or swing. Make sure to move quickly without bouncing off the bottom. If you struggle to get your chin above the bar, you are done. Do not try to bust out those last few reps to failure. It is all about moving quickly and powerfully. You can also do plyometric pull ups or other challenging variations. Beginners may want to start with an Inverted Row or jumping pull ups if they can’t do full pull ups. Just choose a move that challenges you but allows you to move quickly. This is not the time for slow tempo reps or failure. For more details about pull up form and variations, check out our post about How To Do A Pull Up.