Short Circuit

Okay, this wasn’t necessarily a “short circuit” but I couldn’t get the movie out of my head, so post title it is! I’m really enjoying this circuit training layout of 3 strength exercises, 1 cardio, 3 strength, 1 cardio, 3 abs, 1 cardio. It’s challenging and it doesn’t get boring. So, yesterday I gave the old workout generator a go and picked a difficult workout. Here’s what it gave us:

“Difficult” Circuit- We went through this twice…probably should have pushed for 3 rounds!

• Isometric Bicep Curls- 15 reps. I haven’t found a good video explanation on isometric bicep curls yet, so I’ll try to explain them the best I can. One arm starts at 90 degrees, with your elbow against your ribs, holding a weight (I used 8lb. for these because they get tough). That arm stays in that position while the other arm does regular bicep curls. So, even though 1 arm is doing the curling, the other arm is working just as hard holding the weight in that 90 degree position. Then, you switch arms. Its’a nice way to add some variety into bicep workouts.
• Pushup Rows– 15 reps holding 8lb. weights. Holding the weights in your hands, you take yourself down to pushup position. While in that position, row one arm up and back down, then the other arm. So, the entire time you’re in pushup (or plank) position. If you want to make this harder, and why wouldn’t you :), you can do a pushup in between your rows. Honestly, this gets kind of tough on my wrists. I’m not sure if it’s the weights since they’re an unsteady surface or maybe I just have girly man wrists.
• Curtsy Lunge– 15 reps on both legs holding 12lb. weights. The most proper of all lunges: the curtsy lunge. Instead of taking one leg back and lunging (a reverse lunge), you take that leg back but to the opposite side so if it’s your left leg, your left leg is “curtsying” behind your right leg. This one might be hard to understand but it does have a video explanation on the workout generator page.
• CARDIO– Burpees for 30 seconds.
• Single Leg Deadlift– 15 reps holding 12lb. weights. SL deadlifts are hard! They’re hard even without weights because the lack of balance really throws you off, so keeping good form becomes difficult. But basically, you start on one leg, holding the weights in front of you, and hinge forward (bending over at the hips, but keep your back straight), then bring yourself back up. Your hamstrings are what’s doing most of the work so you should feel this in your hammies and probably your back too (should be muscle fatigue though, NOT back pain).
• Reverse Fly’s- 15 reps using 5-8lb. weights. I started with 8lb. weights then went down to 5 because I didn’t think I was using correct form. You start standing up, then hinge forward at the waist keeping your back straight. Next, bring your arms up at your sides to shoulder height, then back down again. These are always pretty tough for me!
• Shoulder Press– 15 reps using 10lb. weights. We did these standing, but you can also do them sitting on a bench or swiss ball.
• CARDIO– Mountain Climbers as fast as we could for 30 seconds.
• Swiss Ball Overhead Pass– I did as many as I could- somewhere between 8-10 reps each time. These are so hard! I hate these..but man, they’re effective!  Laying down in a straight line, so arms above your head and legs straight out in front of you, you pass a swiss ball from your legs to your arms, back and forth! You do this by crunching your arms and legs together. So hard!
• One Leg Toe Touch- 15 reps on both legs. Starting in the same position as the SB overhead pass (but with no ball), you crunch together bringing your arms towards 1 leg (so for example, your left leg comes up towards your arms) then switch legs, that would be 1 rep.
• Russian Twists with Weight– 15 reps on both sides holding 8lb. weight. Sitting on the ground, bring your legs up in table top position and your torso down towards the ground, but not far enough where you feel like you can’t hold yourself up. Holding the weight in between both hands, twist side to side.
• CARDIO– 1 50 meter sprint, 1 50 meter high knee skips.

That was yesterday’s workout! It was definitely challenging enough! I’ve been adding more workouts to the workout generator so hopefully there’s a fair amount of exercises in each level. I’ll constantly be updating it so you guys don’t get bored with the same exercises!

 

A couple days ago I wanted to do some cardio, but didn’t feel like running or using the elliptical. I found an awesome cardio circuit on Body FM’s blog and it kicked my buns big time! I didn’t even complete the whole thing, that’s what I found amazing! She must be a machine! Here’s what I did:

Killer Cardio Circuit

Go through it three time starting with 60 seconds, then 45 sec, then 30 sec for the last round.

• Burpees
• Skaters
• Mountain Climbers
• Tuck Jumps
• Squat Thrust
• Squat Jumps

Then 2 rounds of this:

• Sprint 50 meters, Skip with High Knees 50 meters
• Sprint, Walking Lunge
• Sprint, Sprint
• Sprint, Sprint

So hard! One minute of any of those exercises is hard enough! This was a great cardio circuit, so if you’re not feelin’ the treadmill today, try this out!

 

I’m headed to Phoenix today to visit family and friends! I’m so excited, but bummed I’m leaving the hubs behind. The weather will also be extremely unpleasant. This is basically the worst time of year to go to Phoenix, it is SO HOT. I remember growing up there and every now and then the air conditioners would break at the schools, so they had to let us out! Some people have snow days, we had air conditioner days. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be a high of 113…Saturday 115. Ew. We had chickens growing up (for a short period of time), and they had a couple chicks. One summer we went to California and our neighbor was taking care of our chicks but the temperature got up to 120 and they all died! Isn’t that terrible? I’m just trying to paint a very hot picture for you. 🙂

Do you have any fun plans for the 4th?