Weekly Workouts + Pulsing Reps Strength Format

Hello and happy Sunday!

First I would like to announce the winner of my two-week customized personal training plan, Kim Farrell!  Congratulations, Kim!  Please email me at fitnessandfeta@gmail.com to claim your prize.  Thank you to everyone else that took my survey and for supporting F&F.

I am spending today working out and getting ready for vacation.  We leave for Maine tomorrow, so I have to get packing!  As I mentioned on Friday, I have lots of guest posts lined up for the week, but I still wanted to get my Weekly Workouts recap in before I left.

Last Week’s Workouts

My favorite part of last week’s workouts was the new strength training format I tried, pulsing reps.  I got the idea from a past Best Body Bootcamp workout.  I never actually fully completed the last round of Best Body Bootcamp due to some shoulder issues, so recently I have caught up on some more Tina workouts!  I am familiar with the concept of pulsing reps already and often add them to the end of my strength sets for that extra burn, but I had never used Tina’s version before:

• 5 standard reps of each exercise going through a full range of motion
• 5 pulses at peak contraction, then return to start of movement
• 10 pulses at peak contraction, then return to start of movement
• 15 pulses at peak contraction, then return to start of movement

I used this with supersets, so I chose three different pairs of exercise and did the above format three times for each exercise/superset.  In case you are looking for a new strength format, try this out!

Here’s the rundown of my exercise last week:

Sunday
Active rest – kayaking!

Monday
On Monday I completed the 30 minute treadmill workout that I posted last week, then did a 20 minute bosu circuit afterwards.  The 30 minute treadmill workout looked like this:

Tuesday
On Tuesday I took Lauren’s spin class at the Y, then taught a pulsing reps superset workout that focused on chest, back, and arms.  In between each superset we did two minutes of jumping rope.  We finished class with some lower body glute and ab work.

Wednesday
Active rest – 30 minute walk at work for Walking Wednesdays

Thursday
Taught a bootcamp style workout for Kaylin’s last class – so sad!  Also had a walking meeting at work.

Friday
Did a double!  1 hour of yoga (more restorative and relaxing style) followed by 1 hour of Zumba

Saturday
20 minutes steady state cardio on the elliptical + pulsing reps supersets that focused on lower body, shoulders, and abs.

All in all, a great workout week with lots of variety and solid active rest days.  For my vacation week next week I am planning to exercise, but I am going to play it by ear in terms of when and how.  I definitely see some outdoor runs along the water in my future!

What is your favorite strength format?  Do you plan workouts when you go on vacation?

I’ll be back later today with my Weekly Eats post!  Catch you then!