Move of the Week: The Scorpion

This week kicked off another session of Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp Program.

I’ve been getting pretty creative on how to fit in all the workouts into my teaching schedule, if I do say so myself!!  I taught the full body straight set unilateral training workout in my Tuesday night Circuit class, and I taught one of the superset workouts in my Circuit class this morning.  One of my new favorite moves that I’ve taken away already from Week 1 of BBB is called the scorpion.

First of all, calling an exercise move the scorpion is just fun.

Second of all, I’ve been looking for a new core strength exercise to do on the stability ball.  I’ve taught stability ball planks, jackknifes, and pikes for a while but was craving something new to spice things up.  I don’t want people plateauing after all, including me!

Step 1

Roll yourself out on a stability ball so that the ball rests somewhere between your knees and feet.  The closer to your knees the ball is, the easier the move will be.  The closer to your feet the ball is, the harder the move will be.  Make sure to keep your hands beneath your shoulders and your abs nice and tight.  You don’t want to sag the hips or let your back arch.

Step 2

Bring your right knee in toward your left shoulder.  If you are just starting out with this move, leave it there.

If you want an increased challenge, continue twisting and extend that right leg out so it comes to the left side of the stability ball (not-pictured).

Step 3

Bring the right leg back onto the ball, and repeat on the left side.  Again, you can choose whether you leave your knee just coming into the shoulder or whether you extend the leg fully out to the right side of the ball.

A few other options for this move include holding a straight-arm plank and bringing your knees into your chest (modified option), or holding a little extra longer on each side (advanced option).  Try starting out with 8 on each side like we did today in class, and see how you do!

For a You Tube video that you can watch for how to do this exercise (it includes that full leg extension option) — here you go!

If you could name one exercise, what would you call it? 

Happy *almost* Friday!  I am chugging tea (my throat is KILLING me today) and getting ready for my first official seminar in the new position at work. Not a very good combo huh?  Today I’m talking about how to maintain healthy living while on the road though as part of our Travel Smart seminar… yay!!

Move of the Week: Alternating Medicine Ball Pushups

Love.  This.  Move.

Step 1

Kneel before medicine ball.   Place right hand on top of ball and left hand on floor slightly wider than shoulder width away.  Position upper body above both hands with left arm straight and right arm bent with hand on ball.  Straighten body with forefeet back away from ball on floor shoulder width apart.  Keep your butt down and your abs tight, making sure to not sag the hips.

Step 2

Lower body into a pushup until slight stretch is felt in shoulder and chest.

Step 3

Push body back up.  As the right arm straightens, roll the ball across your body from the right hand to the left hand.

(my sad attempt at an action “rolling shot)

Step 4

After the ball rolls toward the other side, land the left hand on ball while quickly placing the right hand on floor slightly wider than shoulder width.

 

Step 5

Lower body into a pushup on this side.

Then repeat all steps and continue by alternating sides — rolling the ball > pushup > rolling the ball > pushup > etc.

Have fun!

Favorite type of pushup variation??  Favorite medicine ball move??  Anything else you’d like to share??

Move of the Week: Dumbbell Pullovers

Time for this week’s Move of the Week post!

Move of the Week:  Dumbbell Pullovers

This exercise works your chest, but the shoulders are also doing a lot of work to stabilize all your muscles throughout.

Step 1
Lie upper back on a stability ball.  This can also be done by lying the upper back perpendicular on a bench.  Flex your hips slightly.  Grasp one dumbbell with both hands and hold it over your chest with your elbows slightly bent.

Step 2
Keeping your elbows slightly bent throughout the movement, lower the dumbbell over and beyond your head.  Do this until your upper arms are in line with your torso.  Make sure you do not drop the hips down.

*Note:  In the above picture my arms are on the way down – I’m almost there!  Everyone will have a slightly different range of motion here depending on shoulder flexibility.

Step 3
Squeeze, then pull the dumbbell back up and over your chest.  That’s one rep.

Go for 10-12 reps and repeat for 2-3 sets to start, then build from there.  Just be careful not to confuse this move with a triceps extension!  I see that mistake a lot.

One of my favorite workouts that uses this exercise is one I did on Saturday for upper body work, from BBB.  The workout is composed of three different supersets.  Each superset consists of one “pre-exhaustion” exercise and one “main strength” exercise.  Basically you do the first move in each superset for as long as you can until you are fatigued, then you do 12 reps of the main strength exercise.  Then repeat for a total of two times before moving on to the next superset.

Pre-Exhaustion / Main Strength Upper Body Supersets

Superset 1

• Pushups
• Incline Dumbbell Chest Press on Stability Ball

Superset 2

• Inverted Row
• Dumbbell Pullovers

Superset 3

• Pulsing Lateral Raises
• Overhead Shoulder Presses

This workout doesn’t take very long (I would say 20-30 minutes tops), but it’s a good one to pair with cardio on a day you don’t feel like doing a long cardio sesh.  I’m always sore after this one too, and it’s a good one to keep in your back pocket for monitoring progress with increasing your weights.

Ever done dumbbell pullovers before?

If not, it’s a different way to switch up your chest exercises!  Go try it!