Workout Wednesday: New Year's Fat Blaster

Happy New Year all! SOOO I've been looking forward to the New Year with great anticipation! This marks a new chapter in married life for Micah and I as he has completed his biotechnology degree and I plan to start working on a degree in nutrition. :-) Call me a nut, but I actually enjoyed college for the most part. I've always secretly wanted to be a fitness model...lol, and today I'm the model for all of the pics in this workout. (Just a little 411 for those of you who've never met me in person.) A little tangent before I go into the tutorial for the workout: I'm so thankful that I've had people to spend Christmas and New Year's with. There are many people who spent both these holidays alone, and I realize how blessed I am to have wonderful friends and family to spend both of these days with!
Today's workout consists of the tabata method, and will knock out those problems areas, and count as a little cardio. So set your timers, and push through this one. It's tough, but it's over with in only 12 minutes if you push through it.

 Knee-ups:

Jump Rope: hop as quickly as possible. Focus on small skips. If you don't have a rope, pretend you do.

Reverse Crunches: Use your muscles, not momentum. Your lift at the top won't be a large movement at first.

 Side Traveling Squats: Beginners, don't squat as low, and use a chair. Squat halfway, then reach right leg to the side. Stay low and bring left foot in same direction. Squat down lower, then stand halfway. Continue in the same direction, but during the next round, travel the opposite way. Use your best judgement on squat depth.

Glute Bridges: Heels must be pressed into the floor with feet about hip-width apart. Squeeze your glutes and pause at the top.

Dolphin - Shoulder Plank: Squeeze your shoulder blades through the movement. If you have weak shoulders, swap this for another shoulder exercise.

 Oh and last but not least, here's the cute little graphic. If you like this workout, feel free to pin it!

 Some advice: During squats, you know your limits and what is safe for your knees, so you know how low you can go. Use your glutes, it takes stress off your knees. You should be squeezing your glutes during bridges also. During jump rope, keep your knees slightly bent, and really pull your lower abs in during reverse crunches, and dolphin planks.

Enjoy this one, it's tough!

Disclaimer: Although I'm a fitness professional, not all workouts are suitable for everyone. Please consult your doctor before beginning any exercise/fitness regimen.

Tabata: Abs and Cardio

Yay! The week is halfway over, and I'm so relieved...This week has been crazy, and I'm typing this super quickly right now....I've been working out in the gym again, but am still doing tabata 3 or 4 times a week, because my schedule's so hectic, but it's getting the job done beautifully!
And because my schedule's so crazy, this is the end of the post. TTFN!

Here's my tutorial:
Squat + Knee Lift: Squat down, knees and toes in same direction, and as you stand up, lift one knee towards your chest, repeat, alternating sides.
Reverse Crunch: Lie on your back, feet on the floor. Zip up your abs, and use them, not momentum to bring your knees to your chest, with a lift at the top.
Plank: keep your abs zipped up, and not sagging towards the ground.
Bird Dog: On hands and knees, with abs zipped, lift the opposite arm and leg to parallel then lower.
Split Squat + Twist: With one foot in front and on foot behind, Lower down towards the floor, keeping the weight in the front foot. Twist towards the outside of the front leg. Stand, pressing your weight into the front heel.
Side Plank + Tunnels: Get into a side plank on your elbow, keeping everything from your head to your heels in line. Keeping your side lifted, reach under your side with your top arm  and repeat.

Workout Wednesday:Tempo Training and how it works.

There are times when we work for every rep in strength training, and then there are times, when we mindlessly go through the motions. It's easy to do this with body weight, and resistance bands, and I'll admit...sometimes, I need a little help being mindful of my muscles working. That's were tempo training comes in. Tempo training forces you to use your muscles instead of momentum to do the work, so that you're focusing on the work of your muscles to do the job. Here's an example: Squat - instead of down, up, down, up think of this motion in phases and use a different amount of time for each segment. For example, 3 sec. to lower into parallel. 2 seconds to standing and 2 seconds at the top of the movement, contracting the glutes. Try it. You'll definitely feel the muscles working. It usually only takes about 3 or for exercises for a muscle group to get completely burnt out when done this way, but sometimes, it's good to shock your muscles, and this is one of the best ways to do it.Think quality over quantity.

Squats: keep knees and toes in the same directions, no pidgeon toes! Place hands in front of you  lower 3 seconds, stand 2 seconds, squeeze 2 seconds.

Push-ups: Even those of you who can do full push-ups may want to do the modified push-ups this time. Lower 2 seconds, push up 2 seconds, pause 3 seconds. This will help enable you to do more full push-ups, and get great abs.

Reverse Crunches: Zip up those abs and keep 'em zipped! Lower 3 seconds, Lift 2 seconds, Pause 3 seconds

Single-Leg Dead Lift: Find a focus point. This move was never meant to be rushed any way. If you're unsure, add resistance and try a stiff-legged dead lift. But most importantly , your back must stay straight, abs in!
Throughout the movement. If your back rounds, you've lowered too far. Lower 3 seconds, lift 3 seconds, pause 2 seconds. (Add that squeeze.)

Bicep Curls: Use tubing or weights for this one. Lower 3 seconds, lift 2 seconds, pause at the top 3 seconds...this is a killer with resistance bands.

Side Plank with Hip Dip: Zip it up! Lower 2 seconds, lift 3 seconds, pause 3 seconds.

I would love your questions/comments on anything posted on this page! Thank you for reading! And if you like what you see, share the love!
Exercise tutorials are available on http://www.acefitness.org/