strength training Archives - Page 4 of 5

15-Rep Dumbbell Workout

December 12, 2014 by Jenna

This morning was one of those mornings where my alarm went off to go workout and I really just did not want to get up. At all. I’m sure you understand the feeling.

“Sleep more or workout? If I did get up to go workout, would it even be worth it since I’m so tired?” The answer to that question was, of course, yes. Yes, it is always worth it. Unless I’m sick, then rest is the better option. Or unless I have bunches of time to dedicate to a workout after work. Today that was not the case. It was now or never, so I dragged my butt out of bed. Plus, I thought about all those cookies I ate yesterday. Whoops.

I’m staying at my sister’s apartment in Sioux Falls (sister weekend!!!) and the gym here is less than ideal. A few old treadmills, an elliptical, one set of 10-lbs dumbbells, and a multi-functional fitness machine that is only partially useable. I’m so spoiled by the nice gym in my condo building and by the one in General Mills.

But hey, you don’t need fancy gym equipment to get a good workout in! In fact, you don’t need a gym at all. Here, I’ll prove it:

This is a full body workout from top to bottom: shoulders -> back -> chest -> triceps -> biceps -> core -> legs. Then, of course, there are some burpees. Because.

All you need for this workout is a set of dumbbells, nothing fancy. I only had a set of 10-lbs dumbbells, so that is what I used for all the exercises. If you have the luxury of many weights you can increase or decrease resistance as you please. Example: 10-lbs for shoulder press, 20-lbs for triceps extensions, 12-lbs for bicep curls. I didn’t use dumbbells for the push-ups, plank twists, and burpees. Maybe that’s obvious, but maybe it isn’t.

You also might need some motivation, especially if you plan on doing this in the AM on a Friday, or any day, really. You can do it though. I believe in you.

So go get after it and enjoy your weekend. I’m going to being enjoying sister bonding, crafting, and wine all weekend, but I’ll be back on Monday with a delicious cookie recipe.

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Superset Tabata Workout

November 16, 2014 by Jenna

As the days are getting shorter and the holiday festivities begin to pick up it is nice to have arsenal of quick workouts for those days you just don’t have time to spend hours in the gym.

This superset Tabata will take you 20 minutes to complete, plus some time for warm up and cool down. It is a no-equipment-needed-do-anywhere-workout that hits your triceps, abs, chest, and legs. Also, your heart, because there are quite a few cardio bursts involved.

You’re at your in-laws for Thanksgiving? You can do this in the guest room.
You’re travelling for work and staying at a hotel? This can be done in the hotel room.
You just don’t feel like going to the gym because it’s 4 degrees and snowing? No problem-o. This can be done in your living room.

Convenient, amiright?

Let’s be clear, just because this workout is convenient, it does not mean that it is easy. No sir, it is intense. Push yourself, get your heart pumping, and work to earn that sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie!

Now let’s talk about what a superset Tabata actually is.

SUPERSET. A superset is when exercises are performed back-to-back with little to no rest in between, rather than performing all the reps and sets of a single exercise before moving to the next.
TABATA. Tabata is a type of high intensity interval training (HIIT) where an exercise is performed at high intensity for 20 seconds and followed by 10 seconds of rest. This pattern is completed for 8 rounds, a total of 4 minutes.
SUPERSET TABATA. A superset Tabata is when two exercises are performed within one Tabata in an alternating fashion. Each exercise is performed 4 times within the 8 rounds.

Here is the superset Tabata I have for you today.

Within each Tabata there is a mix of strength and cardio. During these exercises I want you to work. Get your knees high, squat low, hold in your core, kick your butt. You’ll get an intense full-body workout in a quick 20 minutes, but please don’t forget to give yourself a couple of extra minutes to warm up and cool down too.

There you have it. Add this to your collection of quick and convenient workouts. Don’t have one yet? Go ahead and start one! Remember, you will never regret a workout (especially during the calorific holiday season). Even though it is quick, it is still totally worth it.

Fun fact: Tabata is named after Izumi Tabata, which is why it is always capitalized. If you like Tabatas check out this 4th of July one too!

Leave a comment if you have any questions!

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HIIT IT!

September 8, 2014 by Jenna

Who is excited that it is Monday?!?!!

No one? That’s ok. Mondays are hard, but muster up some enthusiasm, people. We’re going to HIIT it!

HIIT as in High Intensity Interval Training. I talked a bit about the concept in this Do Anywhere HIIT Workout post. Basically, it consists of short spurts of high intensity exercise followed by a short rest. The goal is to push it hard (70-80% of max). You can do it, though. I really believe in you.

In less than 35 minutes you will get a warm up, a full body workout, and a cool down. This means you’ll get your workout in and have plenty of time to spare before the start of Monday Night Football (or whatever else you have planned for the evening). Awesome.

Plus, you’ll continue to burn calories long after the workout is over. This is because of a lovely little thing known as EPOC, which is excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, but you can also just think of it as afterburn.

Pretty great, right?

Yes, so let’s do it.

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No Equipment Strength + Cardio Circuit Workout

July 29, 2014 by Jenna

It is always great to be able to sneak away from Minneapolis and go on little weekend getaways. This is especially true when it’s spent up north with lots of family, good food, relaxation, and sunshine, which is precisely how I spent my time this weekend.

The downside (probably the only downside) to weekend travel is figuring out how/where I can squeeze in a workout or two. You know, in between sleeping in, brunch, beers, and relaxing. It truly is a rough life.

But really, it does give me some anxiety.

This weekend I was in northern Minnesota at a family reunion (it was so fun, but more about that later, I’ll discuss the workout first) and fortunately my mind was at ease because I fit in my 10-miler on Thursday morning annndddd because I was scheduled (per my Mother’s reunion agenda) to lead a Saturday morning bootcamp with the family.

I was a bit nervous (so I guess my mind wasn’t totally at ease) that A) people wouldn’t show up for the bootcamp and B) whoever did show up would think it was dumb, too hard, or not challenging enough. I even had a dream Friday night that my sister and cousin were the only ones that came and they ended up quitting mid-way through. Sad.

Luckily, none of that happened. People came! We met out by the lake at 9:00am and had a great workout together outside.

To sum it up, this workout is composed of four rounds and three sets of each round. 30 seconds of a resistance training exercise is followed by 30 seconds of a cardio/plyo exercise. This workout keeps your heart rate elevated and helps you hit the major muscle groups.

The great thing about this workout is that absolutely no equipment is necessary. We did this out by the lake and the only thing I needed was the stopwatch on my phone to time the 30-second intervals.

Meaning, no more fretting about weekend travel workouts! You can do this workout anytime, anywhere. Do it on your next vacay. Or today at home!

Another great thing about this workout is that anyone can do it! Progress or regress the exercises as needed (feel free to put a question in the comments if you need help with this) for whatever works best for YOU. Push yourself during those 30-second increments and make the work count. You will (as I did and some of my family members too) feel it the next morning.

The workout above is a little bit modified from what I went through on Saturday. We did some more ab work and added on some hills at the end. Yes, hills! We were not messing around. You are welcome to tack on some hill training on the end of this too if the mood strikes you, but the outline above is a great workout as is.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves – you know, after it was all over – which was a huge relief for me.

Dummers can party hard and work hard. Look at this: strong, sweaty, and smiling.

The rest of the weekend was an absolute blast. I was even able to fit in two 5-mile runs on top of Saturday’s morning bootcamp (bonus!). We went out on the lake, ate too much good food, had a bean bag tournament, golfed, drank beer and margaritas, made s’mores by the campfire, celebrated a 40^th birthday, played volleyball, and enjoyed time together as a family. Some of these people I hadn’t seen since our last reunion three years ago!

We are planning to have the next one in two years, potentially in Laramie, WY. But no matter where it is, it will be amazing. I’m already excited.

Here are some fun pictures from the weekend.

My favorite is the top one of the three brothers. They are three handsome and amazing men, who met beautiful women and raised wonderful families. I love them all so much. The bottom picture is just the Ed (my grandpa’s) branch of the Dummer tree.

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Basic Full Body Strength Workout

July 7, 2014 by Jenna

How was everyone’s 4^th of July weekend?! Did you go anywhere? Did you eat hotdogs and watch fireworks and sit by a lake? I hope you did, plus much, much more.

If you were anything like me you may have spent the weekend indulging in burgers and beers and brats and baked beans (alliteration!). That’s ok. Indulgences are good every so often. Plus, it was all so delicious annnddd it was America’s birthday so…. YOLO!

Am I right?

I was luckily able to fit in some exercise between the s’mores and strawberry shortcake. On Friday morning I coaxed my mom, sister, and sister-in-law to do my 4^th of July Tabata workout with me. They didn’t come willingly, but they did do it… and I think they even enjoyed it a little bit. Then on Saturday a bunch of us (“Bass Lake Bandits”) participated in the Nisswa Firecracker 5K that I had mentioned on Thursday. I was originally just going to walk the 5K with everyone, but I felt good and ended up running the 10K instead. It was actually my first 10K race, which is silly considering I have done 5K’s, half-marathons, and marathons. It was a beautiful morning for a run and we were all rewarded afterwards with an ice cold PBR.

Side note: how cute are we?! Don’t you love our matching red, white, and blue headbands?

Despite those two good workouts, my caloric intake definitely still outweighed my expenditure. I’ll say it again: delicious, America’s birthday, YOLO.

Maybe you were better-behaved than I was, maybe you weren’t. Either way, let’s start out the week with an awesome workout to help negate some of the cookies.

This is a very basic strength training circuit that hits all the major muscle groups. If you are a beginner to strength training focus first on technique and proper form. Once perfected, you can work towards increasing the weight. Improper form can develop into muscle imbalances and injuries. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Here are some instructions on proper technique. If you have any questions, please leave a comment so that I can help!

While you are performing the exercises concentrate on the muscles that you are working. Are your biceps burning a little during the bicep curls? Can you really feel your glutes during those squats? If so, you are doing the right.

Once you have form perfected, feel free to increase the weight of the dumbbells. If/when you do this you may decrease the reps from 15 to 10-12 or even 5-8 if you are going really heavy. However, please, please, please ensure that you have the correct form with the increased resistance – utilize mirrors or workout with a friend or ask the cute guy at the gym to watch your form (the cute guy, not the meathead guy, unless of course you are into that).

You can also enrich your proprioception and stabilization by utilizing a stability ball, BOSU ball, or performing the standing exercises on one leg instead of two. Again, be careful here. When you add this type of challenge, keep your core engaged and your movements slow and controlled.

I recommend choosing either the heavier weights or the unstable platform, not both at once. Advance slowly, gradually add in new challenges, and keep proper form. Overtime your body will adapt to the challenges that you are placing upon it. It will then grow stronger and you will need to continue to challenge it. Then it will grow even stronger… and the cycle continues.

Now go get at it.

Here are some added pictures from my wondrously relaxing 4^th of July weekend!

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Strength and Cardio Circuit

June 17, 2014 by Jenna

Sometimes it’s good to mix things up a little bit. Throw on a pair of heels instead of the usual flats. Add some cayenne pepper to your grilled chicken. Explore a new running route. You know, keep things exciting and different.

I realize that none of my examples were off the charts crazy. I am not talking about a quarter-life crisis here. I am just talking about simple changes. Little things that make regular routines seem just a little bit new.

That sounds nice, right?

Like adding cardio in between strength circuits.

Not mind-blowing, but it makes sense.

Sometimes when I am doing my strength training I get bored and move through things quickly so that I can get it over with. Especially when the gym is empty. I don’t know about you, but I work a lot harder in a fuller gym.

Adding cardio in between my different circuits (rather than all at the beginning… or none at all) helps me break up the monotony of lifting weights. A little bit of weights, a little bit of running. Some more weights. Some more running. Then BAM, all of a sudden 60 minutes has flown by!

Really, in either situation my endorphins eventually kick in and I end up working out about 20 minutes longer than I anticipated just because I feel really good. Never a bad problem, but still good to switch things up here and there.

So I created this workout for when I am in the mood for a tiny change. Each circuit has a lower body, upper body, and core exercise. Perform 15 reps of each exercise in the circuit back-to-back. Go ahead and hold onto some dumbbells during the lunges and core exercises for some additional resistance. When you have completed all three exercises rest for one minute then repeat the circuit twice more.

Then it’s cardio time! Choose whatever type of cardio you enjoy most: run, bike, speed walk, jump rope, elliptical, stairs, row, etc. Since the cardio piece is only for 5 minutes you should push yourself a little bit harder than you normally would, compared to if you were doing a full 30 minutes of steady state cardio. This 5 minutes would also be a good opportunity for some sprint or interval work if you need/want it.

Repeat the same pattern with the second circuit and second set of cardio. Then cool down a little bit and stretch.

And hey, look at that. Your workout is complete. Good job! I am virtually high-fiving you.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

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