TribeSports Challenge: Abs and Legs Mini Circuit

It's another TribeSports challenge! Let's do this one together once every day until next Thursday. I'm definitely going to be trying it out and even trying to push myself to go a little beyond the limit. Who's with me?

See the details of the challenge below and let me know how you do!

•  25 sit-ups
• 25 mountain climbers (each leg) 
• 25 leg raises (lying on side) (each leg) 
• 1 minute plank

Repeat 3 times with a short, 20-30 second rest between.

Log on to TribeSports and sign up to experience the community and see how others are doing with this challenge. Visit the challenge page here: TribeSports Abs and Legs Mini Circuit.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Freestyle 20 Minute Cardio

We regularly think of cardio exercises as running, spinning, walking, and basically anything that can be simulated on one of the machines at the gym. Well, if you have to time to head to the gym, you're on the road, or the machines at the gym are full for some reason, there is another approach.

I have this theory that the best way to get yourself moving is to create a circuit of exercises you want to do, and do each exercise for one minute. Say you had four cardio exercises. If you created a circuit of these four exercises, did each for a minute with a 15 second rest between each, you would have five minutes. Rotate these five minutes four times and you have a 20 minute cardio session.

So your next question probably is "What cardio exercises can I include in my freestyle cardio session?". Here are a few suggestions of high power cardio:

Jumping Jacks: This is a very popular exercise, and is also referred to as star jumps sometimes. If you haven't heard of jumping jacks, here is a basic description. Stand with your arms at your sides and your legs closed. Jump up. As you jump, move your arms over your head and land with your legs open wide. Repeat the jump and land with your arms back at your side and your legs closed. Continue the jumps with the open and close movement.

Jump rope: Skipping is an amazing way to burn calories. The trick is just that you have to be consistent for the full minute. Just like swimming, people forget that it's not just the act of holding the rope that burns calories, but the consistency and effort you put into it. Don't have a rope? Buy one! They are really cheap! But seriously, if you don't have one, you can simulate the motion without actually using a rope.

Mountain climbers: You can either simulate the motion of climbing or jump back and forth (I like to call it donkey jumps) while on your hands in the upper pushup position. Luckily, I have a video! See how to do this exercise below.

Jump lunges: Lower into a lunge position with your right foot in front, and then jump back into the lunge with your left foot in front. So rather than step into it, you jump into it. Here is a great video showing how to do a perfect jump lunge.

There you have it! You can try these four in-home cardio exercises and make up your own 20 minute cardio circuit.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Womenshealthmag.com

Plyometrics: Split Squat Jumps

So yesterday, I was doing a plyometric circuit workout (you're probably like huh?), and the Eights & Weights readers were on my mind. I totally wanted to share my whole workout with you.

Plyometrics is a type of workout that introduces very quick and powerful movements like jumping. Athletes use these movements a lot to improve their power and their speed. And we all need power and speed in our workouts sometimes.

I will write a bit more about plyomterics later in the week, but for now, here is a video basically showing one of my favorite plyometric moves.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Tricks to Firm up Fast

You don’t have too much time to spend in the gym? I’ve heard that story countless times. We always make time for what’s important, but the truth is we do also have pretty busy lives. The good news is that there are some tricks to get the most out of your workout in the least time. As I said a few weeks ago, there is no use sitting in the gym for hours on end just to be there, when you can stay for a short time and max out your workout. Your time is tres important, so being smart about it is the key.

Don’t slow down: It seems easy enough, right? But you do firm up the most when you go at your max for a short time, rather than go at a medium energy level for an extended period. Going at your max means intense bursts of cardio, and circuit strength training. Have you ever seen the people that do interval training when it comes to cardiovascular exercise? Like a burst of energy and speed, and then medium speed, another burst, then medium speed, and so on? Or the people that do a circuit of like 5 strength exercises over and over without a break in-between? Yes, they know a secret that you don’t. What’s the secret? You build muscles by tearing up your muscles to the max and then giving them time to repair. So if you lift as much as you possibly can, run around on different machines and really tear up your muscles without a break, and then go home and rest, that rest would be so good on your body that you would actually see the difference. The only negative is that this type of intense workout session should not be done every day because then your muscles are not given the chance to repair themselves.

Five is better than Zero: Well, a 2 year old can tell you that. We get so caught up in “looking for time to exercise” that we don’t realize that we could do bursts of exercise anytime, especially strength training. You know what's better than 5 minutes of nothing? 5 minutes of exercise! We’ve been blessed with our own body weight, right? So if your favorite TV show is on a commercial break, why not do 5 minutes of pushups? If you’re waiting for someone to show up to drop something off, do some sit-ups or squats. It does add up. You could find that you go from 0 minutes of exercise in your day to 15 minutes.

Hang out plus exercise: You dance, right? No? Well, you do now! Multitask by hanging out with your friends and getting a workout at the same time. I know you move around in your seat when [insert most recent club-banger here] comes on when you’re out with your friends. Get up and dance to it then!

Change your abdominal exercises: Yea, we all know how to crunch, but you could benefit so much more (and faster) if you vary the exercises you do for your belly. In fact, you could even incorporate tools like a stability ball that help to target all the different abdominal muscles at once. Don’t just do crunches and sit-ups; that would take you forever, and could hurt your neck as well.

Slow down your strength training: Yes, yes, I noticed that this seems to contradict the first thing I said, but let me shed some more light. A lot of people rush through their reps when they strength-train, and don’t give their bodies time to get the most out of the workout. For example, when you’re doing a squat, do you pulse quickly just to get over with it as soon as possible? Try a different approach. Slow it down. When you go into a squat (or any other repetitive exercise), go as far as you can, pause in the position for one second, and then come up. Tell me how your muscles feel after. You could be doing exactly the same exercise as someone else and not letting yourself feel all the benefits of the exercise. So when next you strength-train, give yourself time to feel the burn in the contracted position before you extend. Tear up those muscles a little bit more. But don’t use the excuse of doing fewer repetitions because you feel more pain. Do the same as you would have if you were going fast.

So what did we learn today, class? Go faster, harder, and tear up your muscles in a shorter span of time than going at an average intensity, and exercise wherever and whenever you can no matter how little.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Becomegorgeous.com

Improvised Circuit Training: Diversifying Your Workout

So I decided it was time for us to switch up our workout programs again just to keep it fresh. I mean, the benefit of interviewing all those fine blokes and lasses is that they do give you some advice. One suggestion I definitely think we should take? Do circuit training.

What is circuit training? It is basically a mix of aerobic and strength training. Not in the regular way we usually do our cardio first and then do our strength training, but in a “mix-it-all-up” sort of way. Do a bit of cardio, a bit of weights, then some more cardio, then more weights, all in a circuit sort of way. For circuit training to be great, it must work on several parts of your body at once. Circuit training really works on muscle definition though rather than muscle bulk, so if you are also trying to get big, make sure you include some days of intense weight training where you lift really heavy weights. We’ll talk about that another day.

In the spirit of making you work extra hard, I created a little improvised lower body circuit training program, which kept me sore all of last week. But my body is all the better for it, so I have my devoted readers to thank. It’s not your usual circuit training program, but it does help you burn more calories and tones up your hind parts and legs. This training program consists of a total of one hour broken down into ten minute segments. But don’t forget to insert a couple of minutes of stretching here and there. Here goes!

Segment 1: This segment is cardio-focused. We’ll be warming up a little since it’s really the beginning of our workout for the day. As usual, I like to always start workouts on the treadmill so we can get some serious sweat in before we move on to anything else. And yes, I do believe running makes you sweat more than most cardio workouts. It may not always burn the most calories, but because it engages your entire body and makes you sweat, so it’s my favorite.

Warm up for 2 minutes on the treadmill walking at a very comfortable pace. I usually do this at about 3-4 miles per hour.

After you’re done warming up, run for about 8 minutes doing intervals for a minute each. That is, run at a comfortable speed for a minute (about 6 miles per hour) and then speed up for another minute (at about 8 miles per hour). Switch between the slow and fast run till you’re done with your 8-minute run.

Segment 2: This segment is weights-focused. We’ll be alternating between cardio and weights for consecutive segments.

You’ll need a 5 pound dumbbell. Alternatively, you can clench your fists, tense your arm muscles, and use your own body weight.

Do 1 minute of lunges with your arms by your side with dumbbells or clenched fists. Move from a lunge on your right foot to a lunge on your left foot continuously. To intensify the exercise, jump when switching from a lunge on your right foot to a lunge on your left foot. See the image below for how to do a proper lunge.

Photo credit: RealTruthHurts.com

Do 1 minute of squats with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and your arms in front of you. See the image below for how a perfect butt-blasting squat should look like. If it burns, don’t worry, just go to your happy place in your mind.

Photo credit: WomensHealthSA.co.za

Alternate between squats and lunges for one minute each until you’ve reached 10 minutes.

Segment 3: Time to get back to cardio, but this time, we’re going for the elliptical (or cross trainer) rather than the treadmill. And there’s no need to warm up this time. This segment, we’ll do a hill challenge. If your elliptical machine has a ‘Random’ program, just use that. If not, try to manually set it on your own using the following:

Minute 1 – Speed of 600mph. Intensity of 1.
Minute 2 – Speed of about 900mph. Intensity of 5.

Alternate between these intervals for 10 minutes.

Segment 4: Back to the weights. This segment focuses on strength training for the legs. Start in a downward facing dog pose. Lift one of your legs up in a straight line, envisioning that the lift is coming from your inner thigh. So the goal here is not to try to get your leg as high as possible, but to get your inner thigh as high as possible. Feel the pain in your thighs yet? That’s what we’re going for. Now bring the knee of the lifted leg forward to your chest and then lift the thigh high again. See the images below for proper form.

Photo credit: WomensHealthMag.com

Do 1 minute on your left leg and then one minute on your right leg.

Next, bend your knees slightly. Hold on to something in front of you (like the back of a chair). Lift your left leg to the left side until you feel it in your outer thigh. Make sure your torso remains straight, both knees remain slightly bent, and your right foot remains grounded. Move your left leg to meet your right, but don’t put the left foot on the floor. Repeat the lift for one minute and then switch sides. See the image below for a perfect leg lift.

Photo credit: Health24.com

Do 1 minute of the lunge that we did in segment 2.

Repeat the 2 minutes of the downward facing dog leg lift, and 2 minutes of the standing leg lift above, and then do 1 minute of the squats.

That’s a total of ten minutes in this segment. Your butt and thighs must be burning now so let’s go back to a cardio segment.

Segment 5: Almost done! Out comes the skipping rope! Skip for 10 minutes alternating between different skipping styles. If you skip without breaks, you could actually burn more calories than the other cardio exercises.

Segment 6: Final segment! Since we’ve worked on our butts and legs, we’ll do a little abs workout, and then stretch.

Do 2 minutes of the bicycle. See below for the image. Alternate between your left and right legs, but make sure you’re not compressing your neck. The mistake a lot of people make with abs workouts is to put their elbows forward and put strain on their necks. Keep your elbows back, and move your shoulders instead of your elbows.

Photo credit: GainMuscleandLoseWeight.com

Do the plank for 1 minute. Keep your elbows on the floor, look down and try to keep your body in a straight line.

Photo credit: FitWatch.com

Move to the side plank. Do this for 1 minute on either side. Contrary to what you might think, this works out your abs better than most exercises because you need core strength to stay in this position.

Photo credit: MadisPlace.com

Repeat the bicycle and the plank.

Stretch out your thighs, butt, and abs for 2 minutes.

And that’s the improvised circuit workout. I say “improvised” because most circuit workouts require machines and little bursts of intensity. Please try it out and let me know how you feel!

Also, spread the word. If you think we’re doing a good job, tell your friends about us. We’d love some more readers :)

Cheers Eights & Weights!