Full Body Archives Page 7 of 13 | Redefining Strength

The Desk Job Rehab Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 29, 2014

WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Feet
Shins
Calves
IT Bands
Hips/Glutes
Groin
Upper Back and Traps

WORKOUT

Set a timer for 30 seconds-1 minute. Perform each exercise for 30 seconds to 1 minute then switch quickly to the next move. Rest 1 minute between rounds of the circuit. Perform 4-6 rounds.

CIRCUIT:
30 sec-1min each side Warrior III
30 sec-1min each side Side Plank with Rotational Reach
30 sec-1min each side Crescent Pose
30 sec-1min Sit Thru to Thoracic Bridge
30 sec-1min Scapular Wall Hold
30 sec-1min each side Plank With Reach Out and Back
1 minute Rest

COOL DOWN
Stretch and Roll Out:
Feet
Shins
Calves
IT Bands
Hips/Glutes
Groin
Upper Back and Traps

NOTES:
Start with shorter work intervals and lengthen the amount of time you work to challenge yourself more as you master the moves. Make sure to maintain proper form and do the hardest variation you can of each movement. With unilateral moves (one-sided moves), do one side then the other before moving on to the next exercise. All Plank movements can be regressed to isometric holds as needed. For more Plank Variations, check out this post.

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:
Warrior III – Balance on one foot with the knee slightly bent. Hinge over lifting your back leg toward the wall behind you. Pretend you are driving the foot straight back into the wall behind you. Lean your torso over, keeping your back flat and your core tight. Reach your hands overhead in front of you. Hold in this position. Do not let your back round or your other foot touch down. Keep your arms in line with your body. You want a nice straight line from the bottom of your lifted heel to the end of your finger tips. Make sure you do not lock the standing leg out as you hold. Also make sure your hips don’t open up as you hold. Squeeze your glutes to keep your hips level. Beginners may need to reach back toward their foot instead of out in front of them. Using a wall can also help beginners. Stand with a wall behind you and when you hinge over have the lifted foot lightly touch the wall behind you to help you balance.

Side Plank with Rotational Reach – Set up in a Side Plank from your forearms and toes (advanced) or forearms and knees (beginner). Reach your top hand under your armpit as if reaching for the wall behind you. Rotate your chest toward the ground as you keep your hips up. Then rotate back open, reaching your hand up toward the ceiling. Do not let your butt go way up in the air as you rotate or your hips drop toward the ground. Repeat, reaching back under and through then up toward the ceiling.

Crescent Pose – Step one foot forward into a wide stance and bend the front knee while keeping the back leg out straight. Your front heel should stay down while your back heel will be up. Make sure you are really sitting back into your front heel. Lift your hands up and reach them back and overhead as you stay low in the lunge. Keep your front heel down as you sit back into the lunge. If your front heel is coming up, you may want to step your front foot forward a bit more. As you hold the lunge, your back heel will stay up and the back leg will stay straight. Make sure though to drive back through your back heel instead of coming up onto your toe. Feel a nice stretch down the front of the hip and quad of the back leg. Hold then switch to the other side.

Sit Thru to Thoracic Bridge – Set up on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet and lift up onto your hands and toes. Then lift your right hand and bring your left leg through and place your left foot flat on the ground. Rotate your hips up toward the ceiling, squeezing your glutes to lift them up as high as you can. While your lift your hips, reach your right hand down toward the ground, rotating your chest toward the floor. Feel your glutes working to keep BOTH hips up, while you reach your hand down. We have a tendency when we rotate to drop that hip down. Make sure both stay up. You should feel a nice rotation and stretch through your spine. You are twisting almost like someone wringing out a towel. Then drop your hips and step your foot back through while placing your hand back down on the ground. Rotate to the other side, bridging your hips up as high as you can. For a video of this move, click here.

Scapular Wall Hold – Stand about six inches from a wall. With your back to the wall and your elbows bent in by your side, drive your chest out and lean back against the wall. Only your elbows should touch as you lean back. Do not shrug your shoulders and keep your body in a nice straight line as if holding a plank. Keep your head in line with your spine and do not tuck your chin. Walk your feet back toward the wall to make the move easier or walk them away to make the move harder. Make sure to drive the chest out and draw your shoulder blades down and together as you hold.

Plank With Reach Out and Back – Set up in a Front Plank from your hands and toes with your hands under your shoulders and your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. For this move, you will want your feet wider to create a more stable base. Beginners can do this move from their knees. Then from the Plank position, reach one hand back and across toward the opposite ankle, pushing your butt back and up toward the ceiling as you reach. Then reach back forward and out toward the wall in front of you, dropping your hips back into a nice plank position. Do not drop your hips too low and feel your low back engage. Keep your core tight to protect your low back as you come back into that nice plank position. Reach back and across with the same hand until all reps are complete on that side.

The 30-Minute Landmine Cardio Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 21, 2014

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

WORKOUT

Set a timer for 20 second intervals. Work on one exercise for 20 seconds then switch to the second exercise (or side if the move is unilateral) then rest 20 seconds before repeating the circuit. Complete 5 rounds of each circuit then rest for 1-2 minutes before moving on to the next circuit. This workout with a quick warm up and cool down shouldn’t take you longer than 30 minutes!

CIRCUIT #1:
20 seconds (Right) Lunge to Press
20 seconds (Left) Lunge to Press
20 seconds Rest

CIRCUIT #2:
20 seconds Landmine Burpee
20 seconds Ab Twists
20 seconds Rest

CIRCUIT #3:
20 seconds (Right) Rotational Deadlift Press
20 seconds (Left) Rotational Deadlift Press
20 seconds Rest

CIRCUIT #4:
20 seconds (Right) Standing Knees
20 seconds (Left) Standing Knees
20 seconds Rest

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

NOTES:

Adjust weight as needed. You want to start light and make sure that even as you add weight you can move quickly and really work the entire 20 seconds. Remember to rest only 20 seconds after the two exercises and then 1-2 minutes after all five rounds are completed.

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:

Lunge to Press – Grab the barbell in one hand and face the Landmine. Bring your hand up to your shoulder. Then lunge back on the side holding the barbell. Keep your chest up as you lunge back and make sure to sit back into that front heel. Do not go up onto your front toe. As you come back up to standing, drive through that front heel and press the barbell up overhead. Fully extend your arm. Then bring the barbell back down to your shoulder and repeat, lunging back again on the same side. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Keep your chest up tall and your abs braced through the entire movement. Do not lean toward the side holding the barbell. Because your legs will also be helping you press if move straight from the lunge to the press, you may find you can also use a bit more weight.

Landmine Burpee – Hold the barbell in both hands at chest height. Stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Press the barbell quickly overhead. Then squat down and lower the barbell down to the ground. Place the barbell on the ground and then place your hands on the ground besides the barbell. Jump your feet back so that you are in the high plank position. Then jump your feet back in about shoulder-width apart so that you are in a squat. Pick up the barbell while in the squat and bring it up to your chest. Stand back up and press the barbell overhead to repeat the burpee. Make sure to use your legs as you pick up and lower the barbell to the ground. You don’t want to use only your back to lift especially as you add weight!

Ab Twists – Hold the barbell in both hands at shoulder height with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Press the bar overhead. Keeping your arms straight and your shoulders down (do not shrug), lower the bar down toward one hip, pivoting your back foot as you lower the bar. Then, pivot back forward, bringing the bar back up center. Then drop the bar down toward the other hip, pivoting the back foot as you rotate. When the bar is lighter you can move very slowly and work on stability. Make sure that you still pivot your back foot to keep your hip, knee and ankle in proper alignment. As the bar gets heavier (and if you want to make this move more explosive), you will want to get your legs and hips more involved and really “pop” the bar up off your hip to drive it to the other hip. You will pivot hard to use the legs to twist the bar from hip to hip. With both moves, make sure to brace your abs as if preparing to be punched to protect your low back during the movement.

Rotational Deadlift Press – Stand at the end of the barbell facing the barbell, sideways to the Landmine anchor. Grab toward the very end of the barbell with an overhead grip and almost at the end of the barbell with an underhand grip. Your hands on the barbell should be about shoulder-width apart. Stand facing the barbell with your feet about shoulder-width apart. They may even be a bit wider. Hinge over like with a deadlift, bending your knees and sinking your butt while keeping your chest up and arms straight. Make sure your heels stay on the ground as you sink your butt. With your arms straight down holding the bar, pull up just slightly so there is tension on the bar before you lift. Your arms will be inside your legs and your shins should be right up against the bar. Then quickly stand up out of the deadlift and as you do, rotate toward the Landmine attachment and press the bar across and overhead. Your back foot, the foot closest to the end of the barbell, should pivot as you rotate and press across. Then bring the bar back down and sink back into a deadlift. Do not just lean over to bring the barbell back down to the ground. Sink your butt back down to drop the bar back down. Move slowly back down then explosively to bring the weight back up and across. Use your legs to power your press up and across. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Make sure you are using your legs to lift the barbell and not your back. Keep your abs braced and a nice tall posture through the movement. You want to power the deadlift and even the rotational press with your glutes not your low back.

Standing Knees – Stand facing the Landmine with the barbell in both hands. Press the barbell up overhead and move back behind the barbell. Set up in a staggered stance with one leg straight back. Then pull the weight down and toward the side of the foot that is staggered back. As you pull the weight down, bring that knee up and in toward your chest. Pull the weight and drive the knee toward each other. Crunch slightly as you bring the two together. Then quickly press back overhead and put the knee back down, driving the foot back into the staggered stance. Again, quickly pull the weight down and drive the knee up. Move quickly and explosively. Complete all reps on one side before switching. If you find you can’t bring the knee close to the bar, you may be in too close to the barbell and need to set up a little more behind it. Start light as this move will challenge your balance more than you realize. Keep your abs braced the entire time so that you don’t feel this move in your low back.

The Valslide 30/15 Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Nov 8, 2014

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

LOCOMOTION

Set a timer for 5 minutes. Working at about 75% of your maximum effort, jog, backpedal, side shuffle, carioca or do high knees or butt kickers…You can even crawl but move around to really get your blood pumping.

WORKOUT

Perform 3-6 rounds of the circuit below. Work for 30 seconds and then rest for 15 seconds between each exercise. Rest 1 minute between each round. Beginners may find they need more rest between rounds or perform fewer rounds.

CIRCUIT:
30 seconds Oblique Knee Tuck Burpees
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Jumps For Height
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Fly To Push Up
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Plank Wipers
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Glute Bridge and Curl
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Crawling
1 minute Rest

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

NOTES:

Do as much work as possible in 30 seconds. Do whatever level of the exercise allows you to keep moving the entire time. You should be challenged but you don’t want to have to rest during the 30 seconds of work. You want to go all out without going to failure before the 30 seconds is up.

To get Valslides, click here.

EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS:

Oblique Knee Tuck Burpees – Check out these 10 Burpee Variations for a video demonstration of the Oblique Knee Tuck Burpee. If you have other equipment or would like to vary it up a bit, try one of the other variations as well!

Jumps For Height – To do Jumps for Height, stand with your feet between hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Sit your butt back and hinge over slightly, reaching your arms back and down by your hips. Then explode up off the ground, reaching your arms overhead and fully extending your hips. Then as you land, swing your arms back and bend your knees to sit your butt back into your starting position. Do not squat too low. If you drop too low in a squat, you will actually reduce your power. You want to hinge at the hips and slightly bend your knees. This is a hip extension movement so you want to load your glutes so they can powerfully propel you up as high as possible. You will also want to use your arms to help propel you up. Make sure that when you land, you land with soft knees. You should never land with your legs completely locked. Bend your knees to help you absorb the impact of landing. Remember, to make the move harder, jump up and sink right back into the hinge to repeat as quickly as possible. Really focus on a soft landing and then exploding quickly into as high a jump as you can.

For Fly to Push Up, Plank Wipers, Glute Bridge and Curl and Crawling – For demonstrations and descriptions of these moves, see this Valslide video.

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.