Category: Advanced Training
Old School Drop Set Workout
Posted by Stephanie in Advanced Training, Fitness Friday, 20 August 2010 10:26 1 Comment
Today I’m sharing an advanced Drop Set workout for those of you who like your training “old school” - you start with the heaviest dumbbells you can handle with good form and then as you move through the circuits, you’ll move to lighter weights. In fact, if you don’t HAVE to move to lighter weights in a drop set workout, that’s a clear indication that you’re not lifting heavy enough! You can also use bands for this workout or kettle bells – just start with whichever level will provide the heaviest resistance you can handle before moving to lighter or no resistance. I’ve also included a chart at the bottom of this page should you want to print this workout for easy reference. As usual – should you have any questions at all, please ask!
“The Lord gives strength to his people. The Lord blesses his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11 (NIV)
I figured I’d share that verse with you as you need to head into this workout fully prepared to need some extra strength! 
Hope you’re having a wonderful week and God bless!
steph
Drop Set Workout
The purpose of drop sets is to exhaust muscle groups in as little time as possible. Therefore you start each set with the heaviest weight you can use with good form, and then you pyramid down in weights as you move through the workout as needed. That means that even if you can just do the first 5 reps with the heavier weight and then you have to pyramid down before you are done with the set, that’s just fine and that means you’re working hard.
How many reps and sets?? I’ve found the best way to do this is by using a clock with a second hand so you don’t actually have a set number of reps. You do as many reps as you can in a controlled manner for 45 seconds and then you have 15 seconds to move to the next exercise. You’ll do each mini-circuit three times in a row. That means cycling through each circuit takes 9 minutes so if you do this workout straight through you’re done in 27 minutes. Sometimes to change things up I’ll do one complete 9 minute circuit cycling through all three of them at one time (doing either upper body OR lower body) and then add in 5-6 minutes of cardio such as plyometrics or lunges off of a step between each circuit. This will take you to about a 45 minute workout as after the last circuit I’ll throw in some ab/core work and then stretching. If you don’t want to do drop sets but just want to hit your muscle groups quickly and effectively, you can also just move through each exercise one time for a short 9 minute upper body workout or a short 9 minute lower body workout. Looking for a quick express workout? If you manage to do each exercise I’ve listed here for 45 seconds before taking 15 seconds to move to the next one, you can get your ENTIRE body in less than 20 minutes. (as you can see there are TONS of options so do what you want to make this YOURS!)
Warm Up
2- 3 minutes light cardio with big motions. (and if you’ve been doing some heavy housework, playing with the kids..etc… I count that as warm-up!)
Upper Body Circuit
Circuit 1
Overhead Press
Hammer Curls
French Press
Circuit 2
Incline Biceps Curls
Lying French Press (sometimes called skull crushers…)
Upright Row
Circuit 3
Triceps dips
Medial/Anterior Flyes
Angled Curls
Lower Body Circuit
Circuit 1
Regular Stance Squats
Alternating dips R/L
Plies (as wide as you can go – toes turned out to side)
Circuit 2
Dead lifts wide stance (feet a little wider than hip distance, toes turned in slightly, knees slightly bent)
Closed squats (feet almost touching)
Alternating lunges R/L (You can also lunge onto a step or if you love doing leg presses off of a tall box- insert them here and I’d start on top so that you’re just alternating which foot will slowly move toward the floor – NOT crash to the floor!!)
Circuit 3
Alternating side lunges R/L
Dead lifts regular stance (feet almost touching, toes forward)
Wide stance squats (feet wider than hip distance and toes forward)
Etc:
- Don’t forget to stretch!!
- If you’re not comfortable with using the clock interval training method, just go with a traditional approach with a set number of reps per set. I recommend 14-16 reps per exercise if you’re not going to use the clock.
| Mini Circuit 1 | Mini Circuit 2 | Mini Circuit 3 | |
| Upper Body |
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| LowerBody |
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Lower Body Lift Off!
Posted by Stephanie in Advanced Training Friday, 12 March 2010 19:47 No Comments
Many of us lift weights and do large range of motion lower body moves like squats, dips, plies, etc. and though sometimes it might be a little challenging, we usually get through each set just fine. What I’m going to ask you to do is during your next workout, stop after you complete a heavy leg set, put down the weights, and do some plyometric training challenging the same muscles. When you add this component, you’re adding another dimension to your training by truly lifting all of your body weight off of the ground with a jump. If you do a set of squats with smooth control your muscles fire in that pattern to support your movement. If you change things up and add in power jumps, you are asking your body to recruit muscle faster and explosively, which is one more way to cross train yourself.
Now, you don’t want to over do it by adding jump training after every single set, but I think if you pick three moves in your average lower body workout and add on 12-20 jumps you’ll feel and see a difference.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you start with squats and you do 16-20 reps and then move onto something else. Before you move onto whatever the “something else” is, put down your weights and do 12 squat jumps as high as you can. And don’t rush through them like a mad woman! Take your time to really make yourself go a little higher with each repetition. Land softly, melting into the floor as you land…After the last one, pick up your weights and keep right on going with whatever you would normally do next.
Some other suggestions are plie jumps after a set of plies, scissor lunges after dips or lunges (you start in lunge position, jump up and switch legs), plyo jumps where you jump out big once and hop in with two little jumps, or jump the legs out and in.
I don’t suggest doing more than three sets of these in one workout as that’s plenty of extra work for one workout.
Happy Jumping!!
steph
Plank Workout
Posted by Stephanie in Advanced Training, Workout Routines Friday, 12 March 2010 19:44 2 Comments
This is one of many plank routines which I enjoy and I hope you will too! A couple of notes: this is not for beginners and always remember to breathe…. don’t hold your breath while you’re holding your plank
Elbow Planks in frontal position – hold for about 20 seconds then release down. Repeat 3 times.
Side planks on the Right side – elbow support, either on knees, one knee out, or both feet side – stretch top arm up to ceiling – hold steady for about 10 seconds then add movement moving down and up for 8 reps. (Don’t forget that you’re working the side closest to the ground primarily)
Change to the left side.
Do three sets of the Right/Left side planks
Push up plank position – move into push up position – make your body one long plank and hold steady for about 10 seconds. Add slow alternating leg lifts R/L for 8 reps total. Release bottom to rest then do this one again.
Wide V plank position – move into push up position but place your feet as wide as you can and hold steady for about 10 seconds. Add alternating arm lifts R/L for 8 reps total. Rlease bottom to rest and then do this one again. (“arm lifts” aren’t a great description – i alternate touching one arm to the same quad – R hand reaches to R quad, left hand to left quad..) Good gracious I’ll be glad when I have the website up with pictures!!! This one is hard to explain…
Move back into original plank position on elbows – hold steady for 20 seconds then release.
Rest – then add alternating leg lifts R/L for 8 total. If you do these on your knees, simply extend the leg behind you.
Move into table position – do some spinal stretches by rounding the back and then releasing and stand up slowly… then pat yourself on the back for a job well-done!!
16 minutes – 12 moves – DONE!
Posted by Stephanie in Advanced Training, Workout Routines Friday, 12 March 2010 19:39 No Comments
designed this express workout which should take you 16 minutes to complete from start to finish. All that I ask is that you give it your all as it’s not very long, but I think you’ll find that it’s extremely effective for making sure that you get a good workout in even if you’re short on time.
The plan is pretty simple. You’ll warm up for 2 minutes by walking in place, doing some step touches or full form squats… Then you’ll do each of the 12 exercises listed below for 45 seconds straight. Then you have 15 seconds to move to the next exercise. Keep your pace steady and maintain good form of course.
After you’ve moved through the workout, do some full form squats, some spinal rolls, gentle stretching for the legs and some large upper body motions like a body wave and then you’re DONE! This is a great travel workout to do in hotel gyms if you want to use dumbbells or just stay in your room and use bands!
steph
1. Push Ups
2. Squats with Overhead Press
3. Plyometric Jumps
4. Alternating Dips with Hammer Curls (palms in and that’s a total of 6 per leg)
5. Plies with Upright Row
6. Plie Jumps (feet wide in plie position and jump trying to get high enough to point toes – since we’re going for an entire minute I’d do one and then take a couple of second to recover rather than firing them off right after one another…unless you want to of course!)
7. Biceps Curls
8. Alternating Leg Press or Dips – Start on top of box if you’re using one
9. Double Bent Row
10. Alternating Leg Press or Lunges – Start on floor
11. Triceps Dips
12. Ab crunches – start out with upper and after 20 seconds add in lower body for a full form crunch
Make any DVD more cardio intense with this trick!
Posted by Stephanie in Advanced Training Friday, 12 March 2010 11:45 No Comments
If you want to take things up a notch when you’re doing one of your workout DVD’s, I’m going to encourage you to borrow from sports training and to add some drills into your own workouts. This is a great way to add some intensity to your workout video routines, and more importantly – it’s very simple to do!
Whenever the lead of the video is doing a cardio interval, go ahead and do the interval but then pause your DVD/tape right at the end. Now, do 1 minute straight of some sort of athletic drill. You could do the football run (I like to alternate between a wide run and a close run with my feet), a power march where you’re really leaning in and pumping your arms, you can do as many jumping jacks as you can, you could do the mountain climb (hands on a step or the floor alternating the feet, jumping back and forth to switch), some shuffles side to side, pretend to run through tires with your knees as high as possible as you run, or anything else you can think of that will make you push yourself for an extra minute. If your workout has 4 or 5 cardio intervals and you add one minute after each one, you can easily lengthen the workout and get a whole interval’s worth of cardio in at the same time.
Have a great day!
steph