Weekly Workouts + Pulsing Reps Strength Format

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Achieve with Athena

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:

The .5 Treadmill Workout

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!

Upper Body Tabata Strength Workout {and a new playlist}

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Achieve with Athena

Woohoo, it’s like my Friday! I’m so happy about that I could do a little dance:

Side note: Whenever I hear a song I like, my shoulders are the first thing to start moving. Some people might tap their foot, some might bob their head, but not me. I start shaking my shoulders like nobody’s business.

Speaking of songs I like, I really enjoy ALL the songs on my new workout playlist:

Especially number one. I don’t think you can download it on iTunes, but you can find it on SoundCloud. The original version of No Diggity is already good enough. I seriously think the biggest decision of my day yesterday was whether to play this song as my 6am class intro or wait to play it somewhere in the middle.

I have problems.

For class I had two requests for an upper body and core focused workout (from Kaylin and Jen, my half marathon superstars!), so I busted out one of my favorite upper body strength workouts:

This is a Tabata style strength workout. I do need to give credit to Best Body Bootcamp since many of these moves were taken from a workout in one of the earlier rounds. I changed a couple of exercises from the original workout based on equipment available, and I also added 45 seconds of cardio between each set. We did 45 seconds of toe taps after set 1, 45 seconds of [CrossFit style] burpees after set 2, and then continued alternating in that pattern.

This continues to be one of my favorite upper body workouts because I am always sore afterwards. It takes about 45 minutes total, warm-up included. Since there was about 15 minutes to fill before class ended this morning, I finished with some floor stuff: inner and outer thigh exercises, side planks, and stretching.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to start my day off with some cardio and give a whirl at some heavier strength for quads and hamstrings, so it was a good day to request upper body, ladies!

Do you prefer working your upper or lower body? Do you have a favorite “go to” workout?

I used to prefer lower, but am starting to love upper body strength more and more!

Weekly Workouts

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Achieve with Athena

Morning, friends. Let’s get this week started on the right foot. Let’s talk Weekly Workouts!

Last Week’s Workouts

…on the road version!

Sunday
Day before my trip, at the Y: 20 minutes of cycle sprints on the Spin bike, followed by 6 rounds of upper body Tabata work.

Monday
After we arrived at the hotel and did some work from our rooms: 40 minutes of longer cardio intervals on the elliptical, followed by some core work. Focused on standing obliques and planks!

Tuesday
Morning workout before heading to the office: 20 minutes of sprints on the treadmill, followed by 4 rounds of lower body Tabata work.

Wednesday
Workout after the office & before dinner: 1 mile warmup on the treadmill, followed by a deck of cards workout that got me some weird looks from fellow hotel gym goers!

Thursday
Workout after the office & before dinner: 10 minute warmup on the elliptical, followed by a countdown circuit and 1 round of an abs focused Tabata.

Friday
Off / rest day!

Saturday
2 mile run outside with Tim, followed by some ab work and some practice rounds of April Arms as I was designing this week’s challenges. I originally wanted to go to Monique’s Kickboxing class, but it was too nice out and I just couldn’t get myself there in time. I promise I’ll be there soon, Monique!

This Week’s Workouts

This week kicks off both Round 5 of Best Body Bootcamp, and Week 1 of my April Arms Challenge, so I have lots of fun workout plans in store for me! If you are a regular class attendee of mine AND also doing BBB, pay attention because I will not be teaching the workouts from the BBB plan in the order they are listed in Tina’s spreadsheet.

Sunday: Rest
Monday: 3-2-1 cardio intervals + pyramid pushups
Tuesday: Returning to Two A Day for an hour of Kickboxing with Liz, then teaching my class with Workout C (unilateral training). I’ll likely do the Tuesday Triceps from the Arms Challenge in my class.
Wednesday: Off OR steady state + Biceps Blast
Thursday: Teaching my class with BBB Workout A + Tabata Thursday
Friday: 25 minutes cardio + Friday Five
Saturday: BBB Strength Workout B + cardio of some sort??