Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your personal trainer in Amarillo. I’ve got a Weekend Warrior exercise for you today. What’s a Weekend Warrior, you ask? Monday through Friday you labor away at your career, at your house, with your family/friends. You try to make the most of what little time you have available. Suddenly, it’s the weekend and you have yet to workout. So, you try and fit all of your workouts (or as much as you can) before Monday rolls around again. This is your routine every week. Your workweek constitutes your rest days and you cram in your exercise over the two day weekend. Sound familiar? I’ve got something new to add to your routine. If you have questions about the exercise I’m going to demonstrate for you today or you’d like a program that is more doable throughout the week rather than cramming it in two days, give us a call: 806-322-3188.
If you’re not working out during the workweek, but hit the weekend hard, you’re gearing up for some problems. This type of schedule has been proven to cause injury. You want to make sure you are doing a little bit of exercise everyday. It doesn’t have to be as intense as your weekend routine; you can add in yoga or pilates or some gentle workouts. Your goal is to get moving 7 days a week.
Today I am going to show you a multi-joint, multi-muscle exercise. We will compound a few different moves to really burn off some calories. You can intensify this by adding in heavier weights for strength building. If you are planning on doing higher reps or more time, you want to keep the weights light. Reason being so you can be more agile and move more swiftly to increase the calorie burn. It really depends on your goals. If you’re looking for weight loss, you want to move fast and smooth whereas if you want muscle tone and strength you want to lower the reps and increase the resistance (weights). As a personal trainer in Amarillo, I have seen too many people try and train heavy to feel more macho or because they think that’s what they should be doing. Heavier means better, right? Wrong. Your reason for choosing a certain weight amount should be in line with your overall goal of training.
I have my dumbbells ready to go. Start off standing with your feet hip-width apart. Hold your dumbbells down at your sides. Reach down placing the weights in front of the feet and jump back into your plank position. Keep in mind your weights should be directly under your shoulders. You should see a line between shoulder, elbow, wrist, and weight. That was like a Burpee-lite, right?
From here you do a Snow Angel: feet jump in towards each other and then back out while holding the plank. Stop. Next up is a Renegade Row. Pull one of the weights up towards the ribcage, place it back down, do it again with the opposite arm. Jump the feet back to the weights and stand back up. If you want a little bit more umph, once you are standing you can squat while your arms push the weights up over head. This is completely optional.
Let me show you the flow in real time. Standing with feet hip-width apart, reach weights down to feet, jump feet backwards into plank, feet jump open, they jump close, Renegade Row right, Renegade Row left, jump the feet back towards the weights, and stand. If you choose, here is the time to squat and press weights overhead.
Notice on the Renegade Row, if your feet are in the closed position, like mine just were, your stability is compromised and you’ll have a tough time maintaining balance while keeping proper form. If you keep your feet in the open position while you work your arms, your base will be wider and stronger. This will keep you from wobbling so much. To modify the Renegade Row, you are welcome to bring this position to your knees.
When you are lifting your weight to your ribs, you want to be careful not to roll your hips to the sky. You want to maintain a straight line with your toes out wide to the crown of your head. Then bring your weights straight up to your ribs. Going any higher will cause your shoulder and hips to rotate, giving your balance and alignment issues. If you chose to modify by bringing your plank onto the knees, you also don’t want to wiggle your hips or cause them to rotate. Keep everything but your arms nice and still (one long line).
As you jump your feet to your weights, keep your hips nice and low. You don’t need to show off your tush to everyone around you as you jump inward. Bend your knees and keep your butt parallel to the ground with nice low hips. This will give you more momentum to stand up.
Want to try? Add this into your next Weekend Warrior workout and let me know how it goes. Feel free to comment below about topics you’d like to see on our Facebook Live vlogs. We would love to address your questions or further your interest in a healthier lifestyle. You can also give our studio a call to set up a complimentary consultation.
We want our clients to feel comfortable with what we do. Our consultation is just a time where we can sit down and get to know one another. We’ll figure out what your specific goals are and give you an example of some attack plans. We provide a comprehensive approach by training with nutrition, body, and lifestyle modification. Our studio is comprised of a team of professionals who are highly certified. They are with you every step of the way bringing you accountability and support. If we can be of more help to bring you great new ideas for workouts or push you past your plateau, we’d love to work with you, 806-322-3188 or info@customfitness.biz. At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day everybody.