WOD Asana

What happens when you combine Crossfit and yoga?

WOD Asana!

Sunday morning started bright and early with an hour and a half combination workout; half Crossfit, half yoga. Rochester, Auburn Hills, Royal Oak and the surrounding communities have a large-ish Crossfit population with boxes everywhere. We headed to New Species Crossfit in Royal Oak; one of the assistant managers and educators trains there and both were leading us through the Crossfit portion.

We started with a timed-5 minute warm up of 15 seconds each:

• jumping jacks
• “air” squats
• mountain climbers
• hollow rock

After that..duh-duh-duh.

12-minutes:

7 burpees

14 tuck jumps

7 candlesticks

The burpees were different from the ones I usually do; they had us come all the way to the ground, then almost peel ourselves off to come to standing, clapping overhead. When I do them, I either perform a push-up or hold a plank, then jump my feet back in and jump up. The Crossfit burpees were more challenging since pushing up from the ground is the hardest part-NO MOMENTUM.

Burpees have 6 movements:

1. hands to the ground
2. walking or jumping feet back to plank
3. push-up, hold plank, or drop completely on the floor
4. pushing up from the ground to a full extension
5. walking or jumping feet back in to a squat
6. standing/jumping up or clapping arms overhead

Another reason they’re so challenging? Think about the amount of mass (your entire body weight) you move over a distance (your full height plus the height of your vertical jump); transitioning from a squat to plank to squat to a vertical jump requires tons of muscles and lots of energy. Breaking a burpee down makes us quickly realize why burpees are a functional exercise and calorie/fat burner! Please add them to your workouts; yes, they’re hard and test every aspect of you but there are SO many variations to make them easier/harder!

How do you burpee?

Day 2

Seeing the sunrise on a Tuesday morning is a great way to start the day! So is taking Body Sculpt and Stretch at 6:30am :). Today is going to be a busy day so I thought a morning workout would give me the energy I needed to get through.

Beginning with a functional warm-up, the workout started with walking lunges, lat. pulls downs using a flat resistance band, and 2 sets of 10 push-ups. Big muscle groups + littler muscles assisting=big calorie burn and fatigue! I’ve never used flat resistance bands before and I actually liked them a lot better than the round ones with the handles; they didn’t rub against my body and were much easier to increase or decrease the tension to make the exercises harder. I find that the tubing with handles can get uncomfortable when you hold the rubber part if you wanted to increase the tension on the band without switching bands entirely. Squats, lateral raises, and an overhead press/lateral raise combo were next. This exercise was different; while one arm pressed the weight overhead, the opposite arm pressed the weight to the side. It not only worked your muscles physically, but cognitively made you think about what each arm was doing- a “two-fer“! We then tied the flat resistance band around our ankles and completed side steps to work our abductors..ouchie! Plie squats, biceps curls, triceps kickbacks using the band, triceps push-ups, planks, low back, and obliques rounded out the workout.

I felt accomplished leaving! Nothing too fancy but a nice change from my usual strength workouts; the key to continue seeing results is to change-up your routine. Even if it’s the same exercises, changing the tempo, order, weight, and/or time between sets leads to muscle confusion and eventually seeing results! I believe that’s why a lot of people stop exercising and/or get bored with their workouts; they don’t change-up their routine enough and plateau. Change is good!

The rest of the day was spent meeting with more employees, observing a wellness profile, staff meeting, and setting up for a big event that’s taking place Wednesday- Employee Health and Fitness Day! Lots of activities including a 5k race around campus, a putt-putt challenge, fitness classes with twists, and prizes for all!

Remember my saying “I thought a morning workout would give me the energy I needed to get through”? Wrong-o. My energy was lagging. Whether it was from a hectic day 1 or getting up at 5:30am, it was non-existent and I struggled to enjoy the activities of today. I haven’t posted yet, but I met with a nutritionist last week to go over my diet; I plan to write an entire post about what I’ve been going through and how I’m revamping my lifestyle.

See you tomorrow!

IFTA Raleigh Fitness Weekend HITBI

I’m so blessed :). This past weeekend, NCSU hosted the Interactive Fitness Trainers of America Raleigh Fitness Weekend event! Such a great opportunity to network with professionals, meet new instructors from all over, and take tons of different classes that you might not be able to take anywhere else.  I, along with my boss and another instructor at U.Rec., was asked to be a presenter and teach a class-how cool AND honored??! For me, this was a dream come true; to not only be in the presence of my idols like Gay Gasper, Petra Kolber, and Greg Sims but also to be able to network and talk about how they got started in the fitness business was surreal. I can only keep practicing and being persistent to be on their level one day..

The class I taught was High Intensity Total Body Intervals; a weightless workout that interspersed short, intense intervals with toning exercises using the best tool God gave us-our body! Here’s the deets:

Lower body:

• single-leg squats (pulses, tap forward-side-back)
• single-leg power jumps
• squats (pulses, jumps)

Upper body:

• push-ups
• staggered push-ups
• triceps push-ups
• triceps dips

Lower body:

• forward/reverse lunges (pulses, knee lifts)
• clock lunges (forward-side-reverse, pulses, knee lifts)
• plie squats w/ calf raise (pulses, jumps)
• bent-over, single-leg hamstring curls

Upper body:

• diamond push-ups (they LOVED these!)
• lateral “walking” push-ups
• can-can triceps dips
• side-lying triceps push-ups

Core:

• dead bug

The class flew by and I had a blast teaching it! The participants had high energy (for it being Sunday at 11am), they were interactive and personable with me, and they even asked for a copy of my workout! MY PERSONAL WORKOUT! How honored I felt to almost be “a master trainer”; it’s a feeling that I have and will yearn for and I’m determined to achieve it again and again..

TRX Circuit

Today’s workout was more of an active recovery. Since no one decided to attend my Weights & Plates class :(, I felt like a TRX circuit was the next to-do. I completed a long run yesterday and definitely felt it today! It’s odd; when I run (and everyone else I’m assuming), my arms stay in 90degree angles. Common-right? Well today when I awoke, my biceps were on FIRE! Seriously felt like I maxed out on curls yesterday to make them this burny..yowsers!

TRX Circuit: 4X-45 seconds

1. Squat
2. Atomic Push-up
3. Alligator
4. Rows
5. Balancing Lunge (R/L)
6. V-sit-up

Remember, proper form and safety cues!

Has anyone else felt a burning sensation in their arms after a run??

Exercise of the Week- August 25

Kettlebell Windmills=core stability, flexibilty, and strength of your shoulder joint. Very functional exercise that will help you in other areas of your fitness regimens!

Turkish Get-ups=deceptively challenging yet fun! Starting from a supine position into a standing position, then back down again with your arm extended involves just about every muscle to work. Try the exercise with no weight, then progress. Don’t have a Kettlebell or Smartbell-don’t worry! Any piece of equipment will do.

Proper Form and Safety Cues

When training clients, teaching group fitness classes, and even exercising on my own, I constantly stress and practice proper form and safety cues-probably more than anyone wants to hear.

Using proper form while exercising is crucial for many reasons:

• safety,
• preventing injuries,
• proper use of energy,
• targeting muscle(s) groups,
• effective and functional workouts.

Working out is hard-it takes effort on a regular basis to achieve your desired goals. Make it easier on yourself and do it right the first time! “Put your mind in your muscle(s)”

Here are more proper form and safety cues-these can never be used enough!

• engage your core muscles
• exhale on the exertion, inhale to recover
• when squatting and lunging, keep your knee(s) behind toes and inline with ankle(s)
• keep your neck neutral with your spine
• keep your wrist aligned with your forearm
• chest up, shoulders back and down
• relax your shoulders (don’t “shrug” up)
• BREATHE!

Questions?

Total Body Sculpt

Equipment needed: Dumbbells, resistance band, stability ball, mat

Perform each exercise 2X through before moving on to the next exercise. Use heavy enough weights (with good form!) to challenge yourself  (the last rep should be tough).

1. Single-leg Tilt
1. Weight in left leg-lift right leg in front
2. Extend left arm to shoulder height
3. Tilt forward from hips-swing leg behind you as you try & touch hand to foot
4. Stand & repeat

2. Single-arm Chest Fly
1. Lay upper shoulders on stability ball
2. Weight in right hand
3. Slight bend in elbow as you lower weight
4. Lift & repeat for reps/opposite arm

3. Single-leg Row on Ball
1. Place 1 knee on ball-slight bend in opposite knee
2. Weight in opposite hand-palm facing behind
3. Lift weight to ribs
4. Lower & repeat/opposite arm

Curtsy Lunge & Hammer Curl

1. Weights in hands
2. Lunge diagonally back with right leg and curl weights to shoulders
3. Return to center
4. Lunge diagonally back with left leg and curl weights to shoulders
5. Repeat

5. Triceps Push-ups & Leg Lift
1. Lie on right side-left arm bent in front of chest, fingertips towards head (bottom arm can be resting on floor in front of stomach)
2. Extend left leg from hip
3. Straighten elbow and lift upper body off of the ground (leg remains lifted!)
4. Lower & repeat
5. Switch sides to complete set

3-way Jump Squat

1. Feet under hips-10 reps
2. Feet wider than hips-10 reps
3. Plie squat-10 reps

Tornado Raise

1. Lay down-loop band around feet-hold handles and make an “X” with tubes
2. Lower legs as you make little circles in 1 direction
3. On the way up, reverse the circles

Exercise of the Week

This weeks featured exercise is..Plyo Side Planks!

A twist on traditional side planks, adding a plyo movement with the upper leg makes your core work harder to remain stable.