Final Installment of the August Arm Loving Challenge

Awww... the month is over :( I enjoyed this challenge and hope you did too. I hope you feel stronger, and at least can incorporate various arm workouts into your routine besides the standard ones.

August Arm Loving Challenge Week 5 Monday

Errrrmmmmiiiigggoood! It's the last week of the challenge. I promised it would be a little harder this week and here you go. We're doing 1 more set, and putting together some of the tougher exercises. Remember to rest between sets to bring your heart rate down just a little bit.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

August Arm Loving Challenge Week 4 Thursday

Only one more week till the challenge is over! Next week, the challenge will be a little tougher as we have to push more towards the end. 

Please look out for the September challenge coming soon. And it comes with prizes ;)

Cheers Eights & Weights!

August Arm Loving Challenge Week 4 Monday

August Arm Loving Challenge Week 3 Thursday!

Wow, we are about halfway through already. Just about 4 more challenges to go! This is the challenge for this week, and although most of the exercises should be familiar by now, I have added links to how to do each right. Remember that form is key, and you should be pushing yourself more each week.

August Arm Loving Challenge Week 3 Monday

A few points to note:

• For a demonstration of "Walking into a pushup", please visit the @eightsnweights Instagram page or check this link here.
• Chair dips are tricep dips done with the palms on a chair. 
• High planks are just planks in the upper pushup position, with palms on the floor instead of elbows.
• Forward arm circles involve straightening out and rotating your arms forward in a circular motion. See a description here.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Knee to Elbow Plank

It's still August, which means we are still focused on our arms. The knee to elbow plank is a great exercise to work your arms and obliques. But as with any exercise, you have to do it right to yield the right results. Watch the video below for more instructions.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Triceps, Back, and Abs Exercises: Triple Toner

Since we are all about the arms this month, I wanted to share this video from Fitness magazine with you. It's a great routine for the triceps, back, and abs. Enjoy!

Cheers Eights & Weights!

August Arm Loving Challenge Week 2 Thursday!

It's that time of the week again! Today is all about the arms. Get to it!

For instructions on these exercises, please visit out Instagram page (@eightsnweights) for videos. A detailed video on the "Pushup - Side plank - Pushup" can also be found here. You can choose to either stack your legs on each other in the side plank or have them how I did in the video.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Climbing the Cerro de las Tres Cruces and Santiago de Cali

Okay, so I've talked a lot about my climbs lately; I've done a few. I headed over to Santiago de Cali, Colombia (usually just referred to as 'Cali') this past weekend, and since they also have a lot of mountains in the area, I decided to pick one with a very scenic view to climb. I chose the "Cerro de las Tres Cruces" (which means the Hill of the Three Crosses). Oh boy, where do I start?

August Arm Loving Challenge Week 2 Monday

Another Monday, another challenge! Let's get back to working on those arms today. The exercises should be fairly common, and if they are not, please perform a search on this site to find demonstration videos and images.

August Arm Loving: Week 1 Thursday Routine

Well, it is Thursday, and as promised, we have a strength training routine for our arms. This August is all about the arms. Do this and let me know how it works out! New one next Monday.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

What's Our August Challenge Called? August Arm-Loving!

Yep. You know you've always wanted super toned arms. Well, August 2013 is dedicated to making sure we are giving our arms enough love. 

How will this work? Twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, I will post a series of arm exercises we can do. Because these exercises are twice a week, remember, it is not a substitute for all your other exercises. You would need to supplement them with cardio routines, and you would also need to make sure you do not abandon the other parts of your body as well.

Obviously, today is Wednesday, so you know this starts tomorrow! Get yourselves ready.

For more real-time updates on challenges, follow us on Instagram (@eightsnweights), Twitter (@eightsnweights), and Facebook (Eights and Weights).

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Ready for Some Upper Body and Core Work?

Your bum is still hurting from the booty challenge, right? Unfortunately, that does not mean you stop working out. You still have to make sure your overall body gets some attention with cardio, and that individual areas stay toned. 

Today, we'll be focusing on the upper body and the core. Try the workout above and let me know how you feel. It seems simple enough - 10 reps of each, then 15, then 20, then back to 15, and back to 10. And make sure you use dumbbells that challenge you! Nothing should be under 5lbs please.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Body Rock's Hiit Workout

So prepare yourself for the madness that is about to hit you. I found this core and arm workout on BodyRock.tv called Girl On Fire. It is part of their Hiit Workout Series. I tried it, and thought I'd share it with you. Please note that this involves standing upside down so if you get queasy or you feel you are not strong enough, do not attempt this workout. Otherwise, give it a go! You'll feel amazing after! I didn't do it for all four minutes, so just do as many as you can.

Check out the video below.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Coupling Up: Work out with your Partner

Do you work out with your partner? Or do you want to work out with your partner and are not sure how? The benefit of working out with another person is that you tend to push yourself harder than you usually would, and you can get your body in positions that you may not normally be able to because you have someone to hold or push you.

Or maybe you’ve been looking for a way to get that man or girl of yours to the gym. Well, Eights & Weights is here with some ideas for partner workouts that you could always suggest. Bat those eyelashes, say you need this and cannot possibly do them without him/her, and pat yourself on the back as you help them also melt some of their fat away. It’s pretty much genius, isn’t it? Well, unless he/she doesn’t step back in after the first workout. Then, I’m not sure I can help you…

Wall squat (For your butt, thighs, and core) 

Do a wall squat with the other person as the wall with your backs to each other. Hold for 1 minute. Make it more competitive by squatting lower and lower and seeing who can go the lowest with your knees still behind your toes and your backs still touching each other. Consolation prize for the loser? A butt to butt workout. Need I say more?

Partner push-up (For your chest, arms, and core)

Face each other in an upper push-up position with about an arm length of space between you. Both lower into a push-up, and then come up. When you come up, both use your right hands to give each other a fist bump, and then lower back down. Obviously, you have to both move at the same pace or someone would be left hanging with his/her fist bumps. And we wouldn’t want that.

Floor chest press (For your chest and arms)

You’ll need dumbbells for this one. Lie with your back on the mat and your feet facing your partner’s feet. Both lift your feet off the mat and bend your legs until your knees are at a 90 degree angle. Now, rest your feet on your partner’s feet like it is a wall, so you both form like a rectangular shape with the floor. Lift your 2 dumbbells (at least 5 pounds) straight up over the chest with one in each hand, palms facing out. Bend the elbows and lower the arms down all the way to the floor and then raise again. The image above does not exactly describe the move, but it is close enough.

Medicine ball sit-ups (For your core and arms)

You’ll need a medicine ball. You should both lie with your backs on the mat and your feet on the floor. Your toes should be touching your partner’s toes. Hold the ball to your chest with both hands and come up into a sit-up position. Your partner does not have a ball at this time, but he/she comes up into a sit-up as well. As you are both up, throw the ball to your partner. He/she catches does a full sit-up, and then throws the ball back to you. Do as many as you can, with at least 20 reps.

Moving lunges (For your core, thighs, and butt)

Stand facing your partner with about a leg-long space separating you. Both move into a lunge with opposite legs (if you do right, the other person does left). Step back and do it with the opposite leg. Then take one step left (your partner takes one step right), and repeat. Keep going until you’ve taken 10 steps in one direction, and then switch and take 10 steps in the other direction. Again, the image above does not exactly describe the move, but it is close enough.

Don't forget to use the opportunity to *ahem* do some "feel up on me" stretching :)

Of course, if all else fails, you could bring your boxing gloves home and make your partner hold the pad so you can punch away. Just say you need to get your aggression out one way or another.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: crossfitfw.com, sandiegokaiafit.com, sparkpeople.com, lvrj.com

Eights & Weights Video: Extended Donkey Kick

If you're on the east coast of the US, you've probably heard of the storm (Hurricane Sandy) that is heading our way. If you've been mandated to evacuate, please find a safe place to stay. If you're staying home, make sure you have food, water, and alternate lighting. Maybe you can also fill some of your time with some physical activity indoors? Here is one you can do :)

We talked about the Donkey Kick a while ago, but you can work even more muscles by extending your donkey kick. Naturally, this exercise works on the bum, the thighs, and legs, but you can use it to work your core, your arms, and your shoulders as well by starting in a downward-facing dog position, rather than remaining on your knees.

Instructions:

• Start in the downward-facing dog position
• Lift your right leg and extend as high as you can so there is a straight line from your right heel to your right fingers. 
• Lower the leg and then bend it and bring it towards your waist using your core to push your knee forward
• Straighten the leg and extend all the way back up
• Do as many as you can on one side and then repeat on the other side

You should feel this in your arms, your core, your legs, and especially your bum.

Here is a video I made to help you visualize:

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Mademan.com

Train Like an Olympian: Beach Volleyball

No one needs to convince you that those beach volleyball players are fit. When your sport requires that little clothes... well, need I say more? 

Kerri Walsh plays beach volleyball for the US in the Olympics. She is about 33 years old, unlike some of the other teenage and under 25 Olympians we have seen, but she is obviously terribly fit. What does she do to stay in shape to perform?

According to Kerri, she spends a lot of time doing interval, plyometric and isokinetic training. Interval training involves going hard for a few minutes, and then resting for a seconds over and over. Plyometric training really just involves powerful movements at high speeds to improve performance and build muscle strength. Isokinetc training involves doing movements at the same speed with variable resistance, so for example, spinning where you try to go at the same speed but move the resistance up and down. As you can tell, these are pretty intense types of workouts.

Beach volleyball players need strong core, leg, and shoulder muscles. The leg muscles help them run around a lot on the beach, the strong core muscles help them stay upright and move vertically, and the strong shoulders? Well, then have to hit that ball. 

Legs: To keep the legs strong, my go to exercise is the squat (If you've been reading this blog, you'd know I love the squat). But including variations of the squat is really important too for interval or plyometric training. Check out one intense variation here: The Squat Jump Tuck. Other leg exercises include: Lunges, Wall sits, Kicks, etc.

Core: Yoga is a great core workout, even though it doesn't always seem so. And anything that requires balance helps build your core strength as well. To build the muscles though, I always say you can get a core workout from almost any kind of workout; just keep your abs tight as you do them. But of course, if you want to focus on the core, you can do the pushup, the plank, bicycles, and other floor crunches.

Shoulders: Again, the pushup is great for your shoulders. But other exercises like arm circles, lateral raises, and tricep rows work on your shoulders as well as your arms.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Glamour.com

Getting Rid of the Dreaded Arm Jiggle

Women know about this all too well. We put on weight, and we get the jiggle. We lose a lot of weight and we get the jiggle. It's like we can't win. Well, all hope is not lost. There are exercises you can do to get rid of that arm jiggle.

Dumbbells and machines are great, but I am a much bigger fan of exercises you can do without equipment. Why? Because you can do them wherever whenever. So I will list both exercises you can do with dumbbells and those you can do without so you have options. Here are a few "arm jiggle" exercises you can incorporate into your routine:

Triceps overhead extensions:

All you need is a dumbbell (something you can feel when you lift). Stand up straight and hold the bar of the dumbbell over your head with both hands like in the picture below. Keeping you upper arms (underarms to elbows) straight and squeezed in towards your ears, bend your lower arms (elbows to wrists) down behind you towards your shoulder blades. Lift back up. Continue this up and down motion and you should feel it in your triceps.

Tricep dips:

All you need here is a chair or some sort of elevated surface you can balance on. Sit on the chair with your palms on the seat on either side of your thighs. Your fingers should be facing forward. Extend your feet far in front of you still on the floor. Shift your bum out of the chair and lower in front of the seat like in the picture below. So now, your arms are holding you up. Lower down using the strength in your arms and raise back up, almost like you are doing a pushup but on the other side of your body. To make it harder straighten your legs out or lift one leg at a time as you do this.

Tricep row: 

Bend forward, but keep your back straight with your arms extended beside you holding dumbbells. Lift your arms behind you while managing to keep them straight from shoulder to elbow. You should also be using your upper back to push your two upper arms towards each other, but try to keep your shoulders down and your abs tight. Take a look at the image below as a reference.

Pushup:

Oh, the pushup. It just seems like it comes up all the time, right? Well, it is good for your arms as well. In fact, it does work on a ton of muscles in your upper arms, back and shoulders, so you should definitely try it. Check out my post on how to do a proper pushup here: Proper Pushup Form.

There are so many more exercises, but start with these for now to build those beautifully cut arms.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Fantasiefitness.com, 110pounds.com, martamontenegro.com

Proper Pushup Form - Eights & Weights Video

Another day, another video :) I promised I would make a few more videos showing the proper form for popular exercises because the last few ones I did got a lot of positive feedback.

Today, it's the dreaded pushup. Most people that start a fitness regimen don't start being able to do multiple pushups, and definitely don't start being able to do it absolutely right. But the pushup is one of the best exercises out there because it works so many muscle groups (they call these types of exercises "Compound exercises") - the arms, shoulders, upper back, and core. Not only does it work many muscle groups, it also helps you to gauge how far you've come from when you started working out.

So here are some key tips:

• Lower yourself as close to the ground as possible without compromising your form. Even if you don't get too far down, you are still working out.

• Use your abs to hold your body up for a core workout.

• Do not sag your butt down or raise your butt up. Try to keep your body straight.

There you have it! And a video to help you out! I would love your feedback on the videos so I can give you more tips that help you. I know the quality of the one below is not that great, but we'll continue to work on that. While you are checking the video out, check out our other exercise videos on our Eights and Weights Youtube channel.

Cheers Eights & Weights!