Core Galore? Sore Galore!

Hello again!  It’s Two A Day Tuesday, and I’m teaching both classes tonight.  [I think] I have two really fun playlists, so I hope to see you guys all there!

Two A Day Tuesday can also mean two blog posts.  I want to get right to the CORE!

Core Galore

I mentioned in this morning’s post that I had a personal training client last night, Jen.

I’m already digressing.  This is what I look like when I personal train:

All official in my Y shirt, name tag, and clipboard.

I feel more comfortable when I teach my classes looking like this:

But maybe that’s just me.

Jen emailed me last week and requested a workout that truly focused on her core.  Of course I got all excited when I heard that.  I love core work!  Some benefits of core conditioning include but are not limited to:

• Improved posture
• Improved balance
• Trimmer appearance
• More effective workouts
• Decreased injury risk
• Decreased lower back pain
• Stabilized spine and firmer base of support for all movement

It is a common exercise misconception that a core workout focuses solely on your abdominal muscles.  While of course a solid core routine incorporates a lot of ab work, it should also focus on the back  so that you don’t end up with any muscular imbalances.  It should also focus on the pelvic muscles that lie between your rib cage and hips.  Some will even argue that a true “core” workout will target all muscles that hit your body’s “trunk” — shoulders, chest, upper back, lower back, abs, glutes.

That being said, if you are doing only crunches for your core workout it’s time to switch things up a bit!  You should develop a workout plan that targets all muscles from your hips to shoulders.  This is what I did for Jen last night, and I dubbed it “Core Galore.”  She said it would be okay to share with all of you, so here is the workout:

If you have any questions regarding any of these moves or how to move through this workout, please let me know!  I’m happy to help!

Disclaimer:  As my client who was actually DOING the workout, Jen renamed this “Sore Galore.” 

Just a warning.  🙂

How do you like to focus on full core conditioning?

Off to bust a move teach!

Day in the Life

Good morning, friends.

I had a glorious Monday because I was home at 8pm and not 11pm.  You have NO idea how thrilling those couple extra hours of extra time were to have last night!

My day looked like this:

• 6:45am — Alarm goes off.  **Groan**
• 7:25 — Out the door.
• 8:00 — At my desk.
• 8:00-4:15— The whole 8 hour thing.
• 4:15-5:00 — Commute to the Y.
• 5:00-5:30 — Chit chat with my boss, Jess (another trainer back from Italy), Ashley (instructor friend back from Antigua), get changed, scarf a snack.
• 5:30-6:30 — Own workout.
• 6:30-7:30 — Personal training client (hi Jen!)
• 7:30-8:00 — Impromptu meeting with another fitness instructor
• 8:00-8:30 — Drive home, chat with Slesh, throw together quick dinner
• 8:30-9:00 — Wrote this blog post while eating
• 9:00-9:15 — Wrote tonight’s blog post
• 9:15-9:30 — Shower
• 9:30-10:30 — Get ready for bed, send off some Y emails, finalize playlists for tomorrow’s classes, chat with Tim (who is away AGAIN — on business this week), 5 minutes of breathing with no electronics before bed.
• 10:30 — Bedtime!  Early for me!!

Thank goodness I don’t have a “day in the life” blog.  HOW boring would that be?!

Cardio Workout

Anyways, last night’s personal workout was an elliptical sesh.

The bootcamp program I’m following called for “5/5 Cardio Intervals.”  It was definitely a sweaty 50 minute workout!  Here’s what it looked like:

This concept can be adapted to any cardio machine, where you start by warming up lightly, then alternate between five minutes at a normal pace and five minutes at an increased intensity pace, until you you’ve done that four times and it’s time to cooldown.  If you try this one on your own, please make sure to adapt your resistance to your own level of fitness.  You don’t want to just be starting out with a cardio program and be on a 9 resistance!

By the end:

Calories burned = happy Athena.  Not that these machine calculations are ALL that accurate anyways, but still.  Yay!

If you are in the mood for a long cardio workout where you can zone out but still work really hard, this is a keeper.

If you choose a cardio machine workout, what is usually your machine of choice?  And how long do you stay on it for?

Mine is the elliptical or the spin bike, for sure!  I definitely need something low impact to offset all the H.I.I.T work I do in all my Circuit classes and all the jumping I do in Kickboxing and Cutz!

Enjoy the day.  🙂