The first one involves control and balance (upper body straight), and the second involves power. Do 1 minute each leg for #1, and 1 min for #2. Rest and repeat 3 to 4 times.
We are incorporating some kickboxing today. So it's a squat, front kick, and round kick. For the round kick, you flex your foot and look in the direction you are kicking (not just throwing your leg back). Kick as high as you can, and squat as low as you can. Do 20 reps, and repeat that for 5 sets.
I found this workout routine on TribeSport's Instagram account, and I thought it would be fun to try. So give it a go today! It's only 15 minutes so I did two rounds.
You (and your booty) can finally take a breath; the March booty challenge is done! If you have been doing the challenge every day, you'd know that today we got in 310 squats. That's an awesome day for you, and a painful one for your badonkadonk.
I hope you actually got something out of the challenge this month. Learning to push our bodies in a safe, yet challenging, way is the key to achieving our fitness goals. It may be difficult, and sometimes takes a village, but you can achieve it if you put your mind to it.
Now, am I going to get some booty pictures from you gentlemen and ladies? I'd really like some :)
How have you been doing? I know it's getting tougher, but stay strong. Beautiful booties come with a lot of work, and so expect to work hard this month. My bum is feeling the pain too :)
Sometimes you learn things the hard way. But we don’t want you to! So this is why I thought it was really important to get you prepared to protect your body against injury as you work out. Lately, we have been talking about a lot of power and plyometric exercises, running, Insanity, that sort of thing. And I had said how some of these types of exercises can be hard on your joints, especially your knees and ankles.
We put a lot of pressure on our joints as we exercise. And ironically, our joints have no muscles of their own. Thus, in order to protect them, we have to work on strengthening the muscles around the joint so that the impact of our exercises would be captured by those muscles rather than the joints.
A classic example is our knees. The knee seems to be one of the most bruised and battered joints in the body. When we jump around, they feel the pressure. When we do squats and the kind, they feel the pressure. When we run, they feel the pressure. And yet, the knees are very sensitive. So what can you do to protect them? Work one of the largest muscle groups that help support the knees – the abductors and adductors.
Abductors The abductor muscles in your legs are the upper thigh muscles used to pull the legs away from the midline of the body and away from one another. So remember those machines at the gym where you sit and open your knees with weights? That’s what they are meant to work on. If you don’t have strong abductors, you transfer the pressure to your knees and ankles when you perform exercises that require you open and close your knees. One great example of an exercise that may require opening your knees? The jumping jack.
If you do the jumping jack and find yourself twisting your knees inward rather than outward, and if you are not landing softly on your knees (slightly bending when you land), you may need to work harder to strengthen your abductors.
How do you do that? Besides the machines, here are a couple of exercises to help:
Bridge: Lie flat on your back with your feet on the floor and your knees bent and open slightly. Keep your arms straight beside you with your palms down. Slowly lift your butt off the floor using your outer thigh strength. Be careful that your knees do not start to open up or fall slowly to the side. Stay up for about 3 seconds and lower down. That is one rep. Repeat as many times as you can.
Hip abduction:
Stand tall with your palms on your waist. Transfer your weight to your
left leg, bend the left knee slightly, and raise your right foot off the
floor. Slowly, extend your right leg to the right side of your body
using your outer hip. It is not as easy as it seems. Keep your weight in
your left thigh, while keeping your left knee loose and keeping your
right leg lifted. Bring your right knee back toward the left without
having it touch the floor. That is 1 rep. Repeat as many times as you
can, and then switch sides.
Alternatively, you could do this exercise lying on one side propped up on your elbow, or standing and holding a chair.
Adductors If the abductor muscles are used to pull the legs away from the midline of the body and apart, then who can guess what the adductors do? They are used to pull the legs towards the midline of the body. So remember the inner thigh machines you see? These are the muscles that are being worked on. Runners are usually very affected when they have poor adductors because the knees are beginning to poke to the sides when they run. This can cause major damage.
If you find yourself struggling to keep your knees together in certain poses, meaning they kind of slump if you’re not actively managing the pose, then you may need to work on your adductors.
Here are a couple of exercises you can try:
Squat: You all know how to do a perfect squat by now, right? Stand with legs shoulder-width or wider apart. Lower your butt into a squatting position while keeping your upper body upright. Your but should be as low as possible, while you still try to keep your knees behind your ankles. Pushing your knees in front of your ankles might help you get lower, but it might also hurt your knees. As you go low, tighten your butt and try to imagine your hips squeezing tight towards each other. Stand and repeat.
To work these muscles better, try single-leg squats or wall sits. This
works the adductors harder because it adds the balance factor.
Deadlift:
Stand with feet slightly apart. Lower your upper body slowly down as if
you’re reaching for your toes. Keep the knees slightly bent (just
slightly). As you get closer to your toes, you’d notice you start
feeling it in your lower back. Slowly come back up and repeat. Try to
also squeeze the thigh muscles as you lower down and come up. You can
do this exercise with or without weights, but weights definitely work
the adductor muscles much harder.
To make this work harder for you, lift one leg backwards as you go down.
Let's continue our exercise videos with more lower body stuff. This week, we have the roundhouse kick (aka the side kick). I like kicks because they involve both power and repetitive motion, allowing your body to burn calories and build muscles at the same time. And we all know I love my lower body exercises.
Instructions:
Bend into a high squat with both feet parallel to each other and hip wide.
Rotate your left foot to lift off the floor and come forward while you maintain a bend in your knee.
Extend your lower left leg with some power like you are kicking something on your right side (not your front).
If there was someone standing in front of you, you would be kicking their left arm with your left shin.
I got a chance to make a video for my favorite exercise! Today, we're looking at the proper form for a squat. As you know, this exercise works out your bum, thighs, and even your core if done right. Here are a few points to note with the squat:
Keep your knees behind your toes. If your knees are going beyond your toes, you're not working your bum as hard and you could hurt your joints.
Keep your upper body as upright as possible with your shoulders down and core tight. You get a core workout if you do that as well.
For balance, you can straighten your hands out as you lower in to the squat. Otherwise, keep your arms beside you.
Squeeze your bum as you lower down and as you come up. You get an even better workout that way.
So I've told you how to do it, and now I'll show you how to do it. I put together the video below. Watch and enjoy.
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.
It is summer, and we do like to work hard and fast to get our bodies in shape. So I thought I should challenge you to try another difficult exercise this week: The Squat Jump Tuck.
If you have knee troubles, you should respect your injury and probably not try these. If you don't, give it a shot and see how many you can do. This exercise is both cardio and strength working your butt, abs, thighs, and your legs. It works your abs because you are using your abs to lift your legs, not your upper body.
Alright, here it is. Images speak louder than words.
1. Start in a squat
2. Jump with the power coming from your abs. As you jump, lift your legs up in the air keeping your upper body up, and tap your knees to your open palms. So it is like you're raising your lower body to meet your upper body.
3. Jump back down into a squat and repeat.
I can't get over the second image. I look like I'm literally on the wall behind me :) Let me know how it goes.
So maybe it's the Insanity workout I've been doing, but I suddenly realized ski jumps are hard! In natural fashion, when I find a difficult exercise, I like to share with you guys :)
We have talked about some plyometric exercises in the past, and the basis behind this type of workout. Basically, the concept is to do cardio, but do it with power so you're both burning fat and building muscle. The ski jump is one of these types of exercises. It is really good for your butt, your legs, and even your abs because you use them to keep yourself up.
So how does it work? If you've ever seen someone ski, it is that simple. You keep your upper body straight and your knees together as you squat and then jump from side to side. So stand, jump to the left into a squat, stand, and then jump to the right into a squat. As you squat, your arms should be swinging back like you're holding ski rods. Keep your abs tight and spring from your heels, not your upper body.
To make sure you are getting enough power as you jump from side to side, you may put an item in-between like in the picture above. It makes you work harder when you have something to focus on. That isn't a real ski jump, but I wanted to demonstrate the towel that she jumps over.
Was that confusing? I figured so I got you a video :) Watch and enjoy, incorporate into your workouts to build that beautiful bum, and then let me know how it goes.
So I'm always talking about squats (which by now I'm certain you must hate) because they work out your booty and inner thighs. And who doesn't want thighs firm enough to crush a watermelon? Well, there are other great exercises that can give you great thighs and shapely legs as well. One of those exercises is the roundhouse kick.
Okay, so I stole this from kickboxing. But I love boxing and kickboxing moves because they work out so many more muscles than we initially imagine. Though it is a kick, because you have to take a certain stance and control the position of your upper body, you are also working your abs. This move is actually originally from martial arts. You see this in every combat video game, and we've associated Chinese action stars with how high they can kick.
So enough chat. How do you do the roundhouse kick? Keep your feet about hip width apart and your arms in a boxing stance. Stay strong on your left foot, and lift your right foot as high as your hips facing the right side. Kick with that foot while still keeping your upper body in a boxing stance. One full rep is a kick and then pull your knee back in.
A picture is worth a thousand words :)
This is a fun piece to incorporate into your workout routine. Do as many reps as you possibly can without breaking your posture or getting shaky. Switch legs. You should be feeling this big time in your butt and legs.
Yes, it's me again with my squats. If you are a new reader, you may not yet know that I love the squat. It really is a great exercise for the buns and thighs. Well, if it's done right. So this is just a reminder to get those squats in as the summer approaches! We do all want to see you in those shorts... ahem.
Remember 4 big things while you get your squats in:
As you go lower, squat with your butt, not your chest. So try to keep your chest up and your upper body upright as much as possible.
You are exercising your legs, not your knees. So try to make sure your knees are not moving in front of your toes as you go down. Keep them behind your toes.
Keep your feet at least hip width apart. It definitely could be as wide as you want depending on the type of squat you choose to do.
Go as low as you can, but never sacrifice your posture for the depth of your squat. It is more important to get it right than to look like you are flexible.
Here is a photo showing how to do a perfect squat:
We’ve been taking it easy for a few weeks, but it’s time to get on the ball again. One of my favorite exercises for the booty and thighs is the squat. I always say you can’t go wrong with the basics; that’s why they are the basics. The squat is one of the most popular exercises for good reason. So here’s what we are going to do this week: spend some time shaping up our bums! Pick whatever variation of the squat you like, and do as many of them as you can. Again, this is a basic exercise, and so everyone should be able to handle it. (Quit moaning. I thought about doing the burpee as a challenge. In fact, I challenged myself to more than a few burpees last week, so you should be grateful.) Just to give you an idea of how the basic squat should look like, see the picture below. I love this picture because I believe that is truly the perfect squat right there.
Three tips I like to follow when doing a squat:
Your knees should be over your ankles, and should not go beyond your toes. So basically, you should be squatting down, not forward.
Your upper body should be up. Keep your chest out, and tighten your abs. Look forward, not down.
Squeeze your butt as you do the exercise. You’d be putting in extra work that way.
So that is the basic squat. If you would like to make this challenge a little harder, try other variations of the squat. See below:
Well, it’s the holiday season, and most of us will probably end the season with butts two times the size of a basketball without the shape. I’m just being honest since I anticipate all the food my eyes shall see this season. So rather than lie on your back and let your booty turn to mesh, what exercises can you consistently do or consistently avoid over the holidays to keep your bum in tip-top shape?
Stop watching infomercials. That guy didn’t really get his butt that tight by using a butt-blaster (or whatever it is called) machine. Focus on tried-and-true exercises.
One such exercise is the squat. You simply cannot go wrong with the squat, as long as you do it right. As you go low, make sure your knees are not going past your toes. So if you look down in the squatting position, you should be able to see your toes. Why is this important? Many people bend forward when they squat putting pressure on their knees, when they should be lowering their butts. Here is a picture of what a squat really should look like.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a video of how to do a lunge. The lunge is one of the best lower body exercises. Also make sure you knees are not going beyond your toes, and make sure you are keeping your upper body straight when you do the lunge. Here is the video as a reminder of what the lunge should look like.
The dumbbell dead-lift is another great exercise for your butt. Start in a standing position holding the dumbbells in front of your hips. Lower down (from your hips!!) with your back flat and your legs straight. Lift back again the same way your came down. You should feel it in your butt as you go down and come up. You want to work your butt, not your back, so it is important to keep your back flat. Here is a great picture of what it should look like.
One you may see all the time, but may not actually do, is the hip extension. This really really works on your butt so there’s no way you wouldn’t feel it after your workout if you’re doing it right. Come on to your elbows are knees. Lift one knee up and behind you, and then bring it back to the starting position without letting it touch the floor. Two very important things to remember when doing the hip extension – Your back should remain flat or you won’t be working the right muscles; and you should be lifting from your knee, not your foot. Here is what a hip extension should look like.
I hope these help to burn those derrieres into shape this Christmas! But remember, as I always say, strength training does not work on its own. You have to pair it with cardio exercises to lose the layer of fat while you sculpt your body. And of course, food holds equal importance. Try to balance what you eat this time of the year so you don’t negate your exercise program.
Cheers Eights & Weights!
Photo credit: Women'sHealthMag.com and FitnessGuruSam.com, AllWomenstalk.com
There are so many machines and workouts out there that it’s easy to overlook the basics or get thoroughly confused. But no matter what muscles you are toning this week, I believe there are four basic muscle-toning exercises everyone should know. And you can do them wherever whenever with no equipment needed.
Pushups: For a lot of guys, when they start exercising, they measure how fit they are by the number of pushups they can do. For ladies, they tend to gravitate towards the cardio equipment and stay away from the “masculine-looking” exercises. But male or female, the pushup should be more than some random exercise we do. It is a compound exercise that works out so many upper body muscles at once.
Muscles worked: Shoulders, Back, Abs, Chest, and Arms. Proper form: Lie flat to the floor on your stomach. Lift yourself up, and balance on just your palms (palms to fingers) and your toes. Make sure your body is in a straight line from head to butt, and then from butt to toe. Some people say your whole body should be in a straight line, but we all know our lower backs and knees curve slightly. Make sure your bum isn’t sticking out, your palms are right under your shoulders, your stomach isn’t sagging toward the floor, and your elbows are close to your body. This is the upper pushup position.
To lower down, keep your elbows close to your body, and press downward keeping your body’s form. When you get low, make sure your knees are not touching the floor. It should still just be your palms and toes.
This up and down motion continuously is the proper pushup form. If you cannot do the full pushup, you can still do the pushup on your knees. Just make sure you’re not lifting and dropping your legs as you lift and drop your upper body. So if your knees are on the ground, whether your legs are raised or on the ground, just keep them fixed in one position.
Planks: If you receive Eights & Weights daily email fitness tips, you have probably heard me rave about the plank. It is another great compound exercise that does not require movement, but requires strength and endurance.
Muscles worked: Back, Abs, Arms, and Legs. Proper form: This is basically like the upper pushup position. There are two major ways to do the plank. You can do it in the upper pushup position on your palms (see above), or do it on your elbows. If you stay on your elbows, keep your hands (the part from your elbows to your palms) on the floor facing forward. Remain in this position for 30 to 60 seconds.
Lunges: From yoga to contemporary dance, many forms of workouts incorporate the lunge into their routines. And if you’ve ever done the lunge, you’d know why. It’s pretty painful (most lower body exercises are) and so you know you’re working hard while you’re doing it.
Muscles worked: Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves, Inner and Outer Thighs, and Quads. Proper form: Stand with one leg forward and the other leg back. Bend both knees to a 90 degree angle. The forward knee should not bend forward past your toes, and the back knee should not touch the floor. Your legs should be angled properly, so make sure your feet and knees are not flopping to the sides. Raise your knees using strength from the toes of the back leg. Switch legs and repeat. Some people jump from one foot to another to add intensity, some do the lunges forward, and some do the lunges back. Whichever way you choose, make sure your upper body is straight, your legs aren’t wobbly, and you lift carefully to not cause knee injuries.
Squats: Oh, the squat. We’ve also created various forms of this exercise, from the frog jump to the chair squat, but the fundamentals remain the same: Your butt does not thank you while you are doing it, but thanks you after. This is another compound exercise that works more than just the butt actually. So what does it work?
Muscles worked: Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves, and Quads. Proper form: There are so many ways to do the squat. The basic squat involves keeping your feet hip-width apart, your upper body straight, and lowering your butt so that your knees are in a 90 degree angle. Again, just like the lunge, your knees should not bend forward past your toes or flop to the sides. Lower, raise, lower, and raise continuously. You can stretch your palms in front of you, keep them on your waist, or just leave them hanging. As you do the squat your feet should face forward or slightly to the outer sides, but do not completely turn them out to the sides.
Other ways to do the squat involve opening up your feet wider than hip-width apart, and touching the ground when you lower your butt. Whichever way you choose, you should feel it in your butt and your thighs.
The way to get the most out of these exercises is to keep your stomach muscles tight throughout. Don’t ever forget, you are working your abs as you are working all other parts of your body!
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