Fitness Friday

Happy Friday!

How was everyone’s week? I hope you were super inspired by my two posts earlier this week about loving yourself and preparing for your future self. Deep stuff, I know – now it’s time for some light-hearted fun!

Workout of the Week

Let’s start it off with the workout of the week. This week, it’s all about those legs!

Here's the lowdown: complete the pair of exercises in each superset back to back without rest for 10 reps. Then rest 30 seconds before repeating that sequence two more times. Finally, complete 20 jump squats before moving onto the next superset.

The Exercises:

Forward Lunges: Holding your weights by your sides, step forward with your right leg, sinking down into a lunge. Try to get that front thigh parallel to the ground and keep that knee in line with ankle. Stand back up and repeat on the left side. That’s one rep.

Squats: Holding the weights up on your shoulders, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Squat down, sitting back like you are sitting down into a chair. Get as low as you can, then stand back up and repeat.

Curtsy Lunges: Holding your weights by your sides, step your right leg back and to the left, sinking down into a curtsy. Your leg should be going back at an angle behind you. Stand back up and repeat on the left side.

Sumo 1.5 Squats: Stand with feet wide, toes pointed out, and weights on your shoulders. Squat down, rise halfway up, go back down, and then come all the way back up. That’s one rep.

Glute Bridges: Lay on your back with your knees bent. Push through your heels and lift your hips off the ground towards the ceiling. Squeeze your glutes throughout the entire movement. Lower and repeat.

Thrusters: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and weights by your shoulders. Squat down and rise up, pressing the weights above your head. Repeat.

Glute Kickbacks: Get on your hands and knees. Keeping your core tight, lift your right leg back and up behind you, keeping a bend in your leg. Try to get the bottom of your shoe to face the ceiling. Lower and repeat. Do all 10 reps on the right before moving onto the left side.

Lower Body Lifts: Lay on your stomach. Squeeze your glutes and lift your legs up. Slowly lower and repeat. This is a small movement, so make sure you are squeezing your glutes to feel it!

Deadlift: Hold weights in your hands in front of your body and have feet shoulder-width apart. Push your hips back and hinge down, keeping your back flat and lowering your weights to the ground. You legs should have a slight bend in the knee. Squeeze your glutes and rise. Repeat.

Side Lunges: Holding a single weight by your chest, lunge your right foot to the right and sinking down into a sideways lunge. Stand back up and repeat on the other side. That’s one rep.

Sounds fun, right? Give it a try. You may not be able to walk the next day, but that’s a good thing, right??!!

Fitness Tidbit

Today, I wanted to take some time to talk about finding yourself in fitness. So often, we think that in order to get fit, we just need to hit that treadmill and log our miles. And while yes, running can be a great workout, it doesn’t work for everyone. That’s why it is all the more important to find what works for you and your goals and your schedule. Besides, there are so many options!

Strength training is perfect for those who are looking to add muscle or overall strength to their frame. You can take a strength based fitness class, do dumbbell work at your local gym, or even incorporate bodyweight movements into your training.

HIIT training, also known as high-intensity interval training, involves periods of high-intensity, max effort cardio followed by rest. HIIT training is usually anywhere from 4-20 minutes; any longer, and the workout turns into more of an endurance workout. This type of training is great for people who are short on time, but want to see fast fitness gains or fat loss.

Steady-state cardio in the form of running, walking, or biking is great for those who just want to pick a pace and stick with it for a longer amount of time. Personally, I love incorporating long walks during the summer. It’s a great destresser!

Group fitness Classes are also perfect for those who need external motivation to stick with a fitness routine. The group environment is competitive, yet fun and inviting for those who want to sweat with their friends!

There are so many other options (yoga, cycling, barre, personal training, etc), but I hope my point is clear: find what works for you!

For me, I love HIIT training and heavy lifting, but that doesn’t work for everyone! The purpose of fitness and exercise is to find what makes you happy, what is enjoyable, and stick with it!

Plus, if you find that you are getting tired of your routine, feel free to switch it up. Our body adapts when we do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Throw your body a curve-ball and try something new. Maybe you’ll like it!

My Workouts

Alright, last but not least, what did I do for workouts this week? I won't bore you with all the details, but I do want to highlight my workouts from Saturday and Tuesday.

Since I had missed the previous two weeks due to conflicts, I decided I had to get my butt back to Crossfit. We had a killer team workout that involved 91 reps each of box jumps, burpees, situps, and squats. We had to do 1 rep of each movement, then 2, then 3, all the way up to 13. It took my team 27 minutes, as we each had to go through the progression. Needless to say, we were pretty sweaty at the end.

Tuesday was where the real magic this week happened. Tuesday was normal in the fact that I taught my regular two classes – Barbell Strength and HIIT Kettlebell. But, my HIIT Kettlebell class was free in celebration of Love EveryBODY Week, so I had a full class – 18 people! I think that’s a record for East Campus! There was so much energy in the room, and we all got a killer workout.

And, do you want to know the best part?? It was featured on TV! Channel 8 News in Lincoln did a story about Ashley Graham, the first plus size model to be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, who is from Lincoln. So, they wanted to add in a feature about Love EveryBODY Week as well. I’m hoping they have a video link of the TV clip soon – I missed it live (stupid DVR...)!

Alright, that's all I have for you this week. Have a wonderful week, and I'll be back on Monday!

xoxo Olivia