Exercise Update » Workout of the Week

Workout of the Week: A Basketball Style Workout

ExerciseUpdate — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 05:43:46 +0000

In the spirit of the NBA Finals here is a short basketball workout that requires no equipment. That’s right, you don’t even need a basketball. You could also incorporate these moves individually into your existing workout routine.

Full Court Sprints – Find an open grassy area and do short sprints of about 40 yds. Since this is the first exercise use it as a warm up. Start off slow on the first few sprints and slowly build up so you are going full speed on your last sprint. Do 6 sprints total.

Bunny Hops – Small jumps on the balls of your feet like you are jumping rope. Jump for 1 minute and repeat for a total of 3 sets.

Squat and Jump – Raise your arms as you jump like you are dunking a basketball. Try sets of 10 with a short rest between sets. 3 sets for a total of 30 jumps.

Side Shuffels – Squat low and shuffel side to side 10 feet in each direction like you are guarding when playing basketball. Do it for 1 minute. Repeat the drill 3 times.

Line Drills – This exercise drill should be familiar to some and it’s a great way to finish your workout. You will need some open space to run. Mark your area with a starting line and then a second, third, and forth line beyond that. A good idea is to use small cones as markers for each line. Each line or cone should be about 10 yards or meters apart. Start by sprinting and touching the first cone and returning your starting line. With no rest you turn and sprint to the second cone and then sprint back to the starting line. Repeat for the third and finally fourth cones. When you get back to the starting line after touching the fourth cone you can rest. Repeat the drill for a total of 3 sets.

This workout should take you about 30 minutes or less if you go really fast and it’s sure to burn a lot of Calories.

how to do a line drill

The TT Abs Bootcamp Workout and the Big 7 Fat Burning Circuit

CraigBallantyne — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:00:56 +0000

This is just 1 of the new 31 TT Bootcamps workouts, and specifically, this is Part 2 of 3 for the TT Abs Bootcamps series.

It’s called “Abs Endurance” because of the endurance nature of the abs circuit at the end of the program, but like all TT workouts, it is a total body fat blasting program.

REMEMBER – Train at your fitness level…take extra breaks if you need them. Do only one round of each circuit if you are have not been exercising recently.

Train safe, train smart, and have fun.

Enjoy!

TT Bootcamps Workout #8 – Abs Endurance

Part 2 of the Abs Bootcamps

Warm-up (20 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
- Bodyweight Squat
- Stick-up
- Kneeling Pushup or Pushup Plus
- 1-Leg Hip Extension (20 seconds per side)
- Plank (40 seconds)
- Side Plank (20 seconds per side)
- Run in Place
- Rest 1 minute and repeat 1 more time.

TT Strength Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) – 5 minutes
- Bulgarian Split Squat or Forward Lunge or 1-Leg Deadlift (30 seconds per side)
- 1-Arm KB or DB Press OR Elevated Push-ups (30 seconds per side)
- Optional if you have equipment: DB Row or Bodyweight Row
- Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 2 minutes

TT Big 7 Circuit (20 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
- Jumping Jacks
- Prisoner Squat
- Spiderman Climb Pushup or Close-grip Pushup
- Band Row or KB Row or Cross Crawl
- Diagonal Lunge (20 seconds per side)
- Inchworm
- Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 2 minutes

TT Depletion Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
- Total Body Extension or Jump Rope
- Cross-Body Mountain Climber
- Reaching Lunge (30 seconds per side)
- Squat Thrusts
- Shuttle Run or Run in Place
- Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 2 minutes

TT Total Body Abs Endurance Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) – 5 minutes
- Pushup Plank
- Get-up (30 seconds per side)
- Optional: Stability Ball Plank
- Rest 1 minute before repeating 1 more time.

Cool-down, Stretching & Water Break – 10 minutes

Hope you enjoy that workout.

And if you want Parts 1 & 3 of the TT Abs Bootcamp series plus all
31 new TT Bootcamps workouts, just visit this website:

TT Bootcamp 2.0

You’ll get 31 total body workouts – including the 3-part TT Booty
Bootcamps program – that you can do with minimal equipment (and even
use in your own bootcamps if you are a trainer).

Changing Your Treadmill Workout

Dillon Martin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:55:54 +0000

Most of the time I don’t use a treadmill. I prefer to run outdoors because I like getting out on the road where my running stride feels more natural.

The treadmill however can be very beneficial for certain types of workouts.

On a treadmill you have some great tools right at your fingertips. You can control your running or walking speed, time, and incline, but how often do we just set these adjustments to one setting and forget about them for duration of our workout? I encourage you not to take this approach and instead use these tools to make your workout interesting and effective.

The possibilities are endless but here are three good suggestions.

Ladder Up

With this workout you build in speed and intensity over a short period till you are close to your max peceived exertion. Then you back-off on the treadmill speed, recover for a couple of minutes, and then buildup or “ladder up” again.

For example:
Start at a treadmill speed of 5.0 and get a good warm up for 10 minutes.
After the warm up take it up to 6.0 for 1 minute,
Then 6.5 for 1 minute,
Now 7.0 for one minute (now your moving)
Finally 7.5 for 1 one minute (Whew!)
Then back off so you are back down to 6.0. Jog there for 2-3 minutes to recover and then do it again.

You speed will need to be faster or slower than what I have suggested based on your current level of conditioning. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
See if you can repeat the “ladder up” up to 4 times. That should give you a good 20 minute workout on the treadmill and this kind of training is great for fat loss.

Here’s another idea you could do a similar “ladder up” but instead of changing the speed of the the treadmill increase the incline and keep the speed constant.

Intervals or Fartleks

Fartlek style training is great because how often do we really run at an absolutely constant speed. If you are running outside you may be going uphill or downhill. If you are in a race your pace will always be speeding up or slowing down depending on what is happening around you. We need to train our bodies to adapt to these variables and that is the reason for doing fartleks. Not to mention it makes your workout harder and is great for fat loss.

Your fartlek interval is made up of one period of running fast followed by a period of running slower to recover.

For example:
Warm up for 10 minutes at a comfortable jogging speed of 5.0.
Then speed up for 1-2 minutes to 7.0 – 7.5 This is your fast interval.
Then slow back down to 6.0 and recover for 1-2 minutes or more if needed.
Repeat fast and then slow up to 10 times for a great workout.

Again your speeds will be different than those suggested based on your conditioning and you can have your intervals be longer or shorter to suit your needs. What if you just did 30 second intervals? How would that feel? Or are you able to hold out for a longer 3 minute interval? It will surprise you how quickly the workout seems to go by when running fartleks vs. running at a constant speed.

Want more variety? Try creating an in interval switching from a high incline to a low incline.

Ladder Down

This one is a little harder to master. I would suggest starting with the first two examples till you have a good idea of your ideal running speed and capabilities.

The concept here is that you get a harder workout because you go hard in the beginning when your body is recovered and as you get tired you decrease the speed just a little bit to compensate. However, over the duration of the entire workout you are working at a higher intensity than your average.

For example:
Start at a treadmill speed of 5.0 and get a good warm up for 10 minutes.
After the warm up take it up to 7.5 for 1 minute,
Then 7.2 for 1 minute,
Now 6.8 for one minute
Finally 6.5 for 1 one minute
Then back off so you are back down to 6.0. Jog there for 2-3 minutes to recover and then do it again.

I hope these suggestions help add some variety to your workout and remember that changing up your workout is a good thing. It places new stresses on the body which in turn cause you to adapt and get stronger.

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The 4th of July Workout

Dillon Martin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:02:44 +0000

Happy Fourth of 4th of July! I know everyone most everyone has plans today to go be with family and friends, or maybe you just plan to relax at home and enjoy the freedoms that we have in America. I want you to remember that you also have the freedom to get outside and workout and so for the 4th of July I am sharing with you a special military style workout. This means a workout that requires no weights and no fancy equipment. This simple yet effective workout can be done at home in your backyard. A nearby park would also be perfect. Let’s keep it simple and get back to basic training

These four exercises will target most all your major muscle groups and give you quick hard workout. All this workout will require is a pull-up bar and some space to run. If you have a hard time finding a place to do pull-ups or chin-ups you could instead try doing a bent over row type movement with a dumbbell.

Start:

Do one set on Pull Ups or Chin Ups 1-10 reps depending on your strength. If needed you can have someone spot you or use the ground to give you a little extra boost over the bar.

Do one set of sit-ups or crunches 15-30 reps

Do one set of push ups 10-15 reps

Get up and sprint as hard as you can 40-50 yards out and back. This should be enough distance for you get up to full running speed. Slow down and come back again at full speed.

It should take about 2-3 minutes to complete one circuit. Now rest for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. *You should not be resting between the exercises*

You can repeat this circuit anywhere from 3-10 times depending on your level of conditioning. Trust me, this is an intense workout. Hope you enjoy!

What ever you are doing for the holiday have a great time, but let’s not forget all those who have died or currently fighting for the freedoms we enjoy everyday.

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A Bodyweight Workout Not Only For Abs and Core, but Full Body

Dillon Martin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:53:32 +0000

It happened last Friday. I had plans to go to the pool to do my swim workout when all of sudden plans changed and I had to go with my wife to meet some friends that had come into town. All I had time for was a workout at home, but I didn’t want to do a workout that was easy. I needed something that would challenge me.

I found the following workout that uses bodyweight-only exercises, but gives you a very intense workout. This workout is for people at advanced fitness levels.

Keeping that in mind if you’re not yet at an advanced level, you can still use this by simply using the basic format of the workout, and just do less of whatever exercises you struggle with, or choose an easier alternate exercise that’s similar.

Here goes…

This workout not only uses your abs and core muscles, but the entire body so you get a total body workout that will get your heart rate elevated. You will notice that the rest periods are kept as short as possible. This workout uses no added weight and you don’t need it. Instead it includes plyometrics which means that your bodyweight provides the resistence.

Start with a 2-3 min warmup of light jogging, jumping jacks, or jump rope.

Then, move through these exercises in circuit fashion, one right after the other with only 10 seconds rest between each (repeat the circuit 3-5 times for a killer total body workout):

1. bodyweight squats – 12 reps

2. plyo pushups (clapping) – 10 reps

3. walking lunges up 6 steps and back 6 steps

4. floor mountain climbers for 30 seconds

5. lunge jumps – 6 reps to each side

6. lying leg thrusts (abs) on floor in pushup position, jump and bring legs into chest and out again- 12 reps

7. squat jumps – 8 reps

8. side plank hold 30 seconds one side, then 30 sec opposite side

Rest 2 min after each circuit; repeat circuit 3-5x

If that doesn’t challenge you then nothing will. This style of workout is great for the cardiovascular system, the abs and core, and for weight loss.

Also, grab a free report on the truth about losing body fat and getting a lean body.