Weekly Workouts

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Achieve with Athena

I’m back with my weekly workouts post, as promised. Gonna get right to it!

Weekly Workouts

Last Week’s Workouts
Last week’s workouts can be summed up with one phrase – sore galore! The theme of Best Body Bootcamp Phase 2 (weeks 3 & 4) is endurance. My strength workouts this week really challenged and fatigued my muscles. Hence – sore galore.

Sunday
100 reps workout while the rest of the world was watching the Patriots lose

Monday
20 minutes of treadmill sprints, then taught Dynamax Bootcamp

Tuesday
Two A Day! Took Liz’s Kickboxing class, then taught one of the timed circuits from BBB. This one was a bit challenging to teach since everyone has a different pace when it comes to a “how many rounds of these moves can you do in 12 minutes?” workout, but I decided to write the moves out on the white board and bring it into class. Genius!

Wednesday
Off day

Thursday
Taught the other timed circuit workout in my class.

Friday
Rest day

Saturday
Two rounds of the deck of cards workout while visiting Jen!

And of course, I threw in most of the 31 Day Abs Challenge moves as little extras throughout the week.

This Week’s Workouts
Here’s the plan for this week!

Sunday: Rest day
Monday: Cardio + abs
Tuesday: Two A Day! Taking kickboxing, then teaching BBB timed circuits. I may end up changing some of the moves a bit this week to add some variety to class, but it will be the same premise.
Wednesday: Trying a piloxing class with Shannon! I’m psyched!
Thursday: Teaching BBB timed circuits again.
Friday: Rest day OR cardio of choice OR repeat the 100 endurance reps
Saturday: Rest day OR cardio of choice OR repeat the 100 endurance reps

Plus the last week of the Abs Challenge! Here’s today’s if you haven’t busted it out yet!

How are your January workouts going? What’s on the agenda for this week?

Have a great night, everyone!

31 Day Abs Challenge: Week 5 Plan & Notes

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Achieve with Athena

Ok, people! Last week of my January 31 Day Ab Challenge. How are you feeling? Who is still with me at the end of five weeks? Like Week 1, this is somewhat of a short week to wrap things up. Let’s finish strong, yes?!

Sunday 1/27: Sunday Circuit

The Sunday Circuit usually plays off of my Saturday Core Strength Tip. Yesterday’s tip was to push yourself and get out of your comfort zone. That being said, this week’s Sunday Circuit will be just that.

Jumping jacks until fatigue
To push yourself harder than a regular jumping jack, try crossing your feet one in front of the other as you jack , or jumping your feet out by bringing your knees up first.

15 pushups
To push yourself harder than you would in a regular pushup, try doing them with one leg lifted, with your elbows back, by bringing one knee to the side for a spiderman pushup, making a diamond with your hands, or staggering your arms.

Mountain climbers until fatigue
To push yourself harder, bring the knees in even faster or try driving the knees to the opposite shoulders instead of into the chest.

20 Full Situps
Because I’ve only had you doing crunches, crunch pulses, or butterfly situps so far.

Monday 1/28: Monday Morning Ab Burner

Do the following moves when you get out of bed on Monday morning!

For a reminder on how to do burpees, click here.

For a reminder on how to do your ab ladder, see the notes from Week 2!!

Tuesday 1/29: Plank for Time

This will be your second to last timed plank! Hold an elbow plank for as long as you can, trying to beat last week’s time. Has anyone reached their goal yet?? If so, let’s start making it more difficult! Try planking on a stability ball, bosu trainer, core board, or another unstable surface. Otherwise, set a new goal and shoot for the new goal. Don’t just stop once you’ve reached your first benchmark. There are ALWAYS ways to improve.

Wednesday 1/30: V-Sits Before Bed

For your pre-snooze core work on Wednesday, do as many V-Sits as you can until fatigue! Start lying on the floor with your legs extended out in front of you and your arms either by your sides or extended overhead on the floor. Lift yourself up so that you are either..

Here (beginner):

Here (Intermediate):

or here (advanced):

Thursday 1/31: Tabata Thursday AND Plank for Time

Today is the last day! First, time one final elbow plank so you can see where you ended up at the end of the challenge in terms of your plank times. Then finish strong with one last Tabata Thursday. This Tabata is going to be a TRUE Tabata, where you do the same move for the four minutes. That move is going to be plank jacks!

Do these for 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off… 8 times… for that total of four minutes. Note: You don’t have to do your final timed plank AND the plank jacks immediately after another.

And there you have it! Our last week. 🙂

Any questions, let me know. Enjoy, and good luck!

31 Day Abs Challenge: Week 4 Plan & Notes

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Achieve with Athena

Good morning! I love Sundays, especially Sundays that are a part of a long weekend. Before I head out to enjoy the day, just wanted to give you all this week’s ab challenge plan and notes. This is our last full week!

Sunday 1/20: Sunday Circuit

Notes:
–Jumping jacks: Self explanatory. If jumping is too much, just tap your heels side to side, one at a time.

–Canoe: Stand with your feet, knees slightly bent, and hands clasped. Keeping your hips still, bring your hands down to your left hips as if you were “paddling” backward. Next, raise your hands up to chest level, and then paddle them to the right hip. More advanced – hold a dumbbell while you do this.

– Front Leg Lift & Tap: Stand with your feet hip width apart. Raise your arms overhead. Bring one leg up at the same time you bring your arms down, so you are lifting one leg and tapping your toe (or as close to your toe as you can get) with your arms.

(dirty sock)

–High Knees: Beginners, just alternate bringing one knee up to meet the hips. More advanced, do these fast as if you are running but bringing your knees up high in front of you.

– Dumbbell Side Bends: Hold dumbbell (or water bottle if no weights) in one hand. Band waist toward dumbbell until slight stretch is felt, then lift back up to center. Repeat on opposite side once all reps are done on one side.

Knee Cross Crunch: Stand with your shoulders in line with your hips, and extend your right arm up and your left leg to the side, toes pointed. Next, lower your right elbow and raise your left knee, crunching them together on a diagonal line. Return to start.

Monday 1/21: Morning Ab Burner

Get yourself energized for the day and the week ahead with another Monday Morning Ab Burner! This week I want you to repeat the 25, 50, or 100 crunches from Week 1. Try to aim for a higher number than you did last time – if you did 100, shoot for 125! Also, try to make them a little more challenging in some way – bring your knees over your hips, straighten your legs in the air, do them on a stability, add a weight… up to you!

Tuesday 1/22: Plank for Time

Hold an elbow plank for as long as you can, trying to beat last week’s time! Has anyone reached their goal yet??

Wednesday 1/23: Leg Lifts Before Bed

Do leg lifts before zzz’s! Lying on your back, start with your legs straight up over your hips. Your hands can be either underneath your butt, or right by your sides. Lower down until you feel like your lower back might come off the floor – that’s your stopping/low point. You don’t want to be arching your back. Do as many as you can until fatigue! Note, to make this more challenging, lift your upper back off the ground during the leg lifts.

Thursday 1/24: Tabata Thursday

Notes:
-Walking Plank: Get in a straight-arm plank position. “Walk your arms” to the left, until you get to what 10 o’clock would be if you started at 12. Then walk over to the right until you reach 2 o’clock. Continue “walking” back and forth.

-Plank Leg Kick & Knee Tuck: Start again in straight-arm plank position. Kick one leg back (it’s actually OK to lift your butt a little here!), then pull the knee in toward the chest. Alternate sides.

Friday 1/25: Focus On Hips

Notes:
– Lying Hip Abduction Series: Lie on one side with hips stacked, knees slightly bent, then straighten top leg so knee is straight, foot is flexed, and your toe is facing forward. Raise top leg (that’s the abduction), then instead of returning to start as you lower, lower slightly in front of the other leg. When you raise back up, make sure you raise it in the center where you started. Do 20 reps to the front, then repeat but doing the same thing to the back. Do on both legs. More advanced — add an ankle weight or hold a dumbbell on your outer thigh.

– Lying Hip Adduction Series: Lie on one side with one foot flat on the floor and the other leg straight out in front. Lift and lower so you feel the movement in the inner thigh. Try 30 on each leg. More advanced — add an ankle weight or hold a dumbbell on your inner thigh.

– Squat and Kick Series: Do a regular squat, but when you come up do a front kick on the right. Squat again and then do a front kick on the left. Do 40 total.