Muscle Power | Fitness & Feta

It’s pretty much confirmed that I am the biggest loser in the entire world. I really must lead a sad life if having friends take my classes makes me THIS happy.

Thank you Katrina, Bridget, and Geoff for buying the YMCA BuyWithMe deal and coming to class tonight! TWO classes for Bridget and Trina, and a two hour workout for Geoff. Yay, yay, yay. 🙂 I can’t wait for them to all try my spin class tomorrow.

Liz’s Kix class rocked, per usual. I was sad to miss out on Kix at CBC last night, even though I couldn’t believe how much free TIME I had in the evening without a class to go to. I was done with my errands and back at my apartment by 8pm and literally asked my roommates, Is this what it’s like to have a night that starts before 8:30?! Anyways, Andy posted a video from last night’s class on Facebook, so if I watched the video and did all the moves in my head, it’s like I still went right? Check out the video on the Corpbasics Facebook page here to see what all this CBC stuff is all about!

Anyways, back to tonight – Liz honored one of my song requests, so that also made me happy.

Below is what I did in Muscle Power tonight. I planned out my whole class ahead of time (I don’t always do that) but I left the routine in the printer at work. So I had to improvise some of it. Also, I did NOT listen to Pink’s “Funhouse” all the way through because it definitely had the word “F*cker” in it. I wasn’t even prepared to yell over that part like I usually do if I know a swear word is coming.

WARMUP

COMBINATION ONE

Cardio, legs, shoulders, chest

Runups on the step, with right foot lead. 30 seconds.
Jumping Jacks. 8 in each direction – front, side, back, side, front.
Lunges / Overhead Presses. Keep one foot directly behind the body on the step while arms press overhead. 16 slow reps, then 8 pulses while holding arms overhead.
Runups on the step, with a left foot lead. 30 seconds.
Jumping Jacks. 8 in each direction again.
Lunges / Chest Presses. Keep other foot directly behind the body on the step. This times, arms press in toward chest. 16 slow reps, then 8 pulses with arms squeezing in.
Spiderman Pushups. 10 total, right and left being 1. (I’m LOVING these lately if you couldn’t tell! Plus Liz requested them.)

COMBINATION TWO

Cardio, legs, shoulders, biceps

Up, up, down, downs. Facing sideways, straddle the step and bring right foot up, left foot up, right foot down, left foot down.
Squats / Lateral Raises. Right foot on step, left foot on floor. Squat and lift leg to side (works outer thigh) so that the right foot is supporting the body weight and the left leg is lifted to the side. The arms come to a lateral raise. Do 12 reps, then hold the lateral raise and keep the leg lifts going. Then hold the squat on the floor – do two pulses and 1 regular for 8, then hold for 8.
Bicep Curls. 16 slow reps. Then hold left arm halfway and do 8 singles on the right. Then hold right arm halfway and do 8 singles on the left. Finish pulsing both halfway.
Repeat the up up down down combo and the squat combo on the other side.

COMBINATION THREE

Chest, Core, Legs, Triceps

Incline Pushups. With hands on step and feet on floor, do 10 pushups and then hold the plank for 10 seconds.
Side to side jumps. Without coming out of plank, walk the feet in until legs are straight and butt is in the air. Jump the feet side to side, keeping hands on step.
Plie Squats / Overhead Tricep Dips. D0 16 slow, then hold the plie squat while doing tricep extension pulses.
Decline Pushups. With hands on floor and feet on step, do 10 more pushups. This time 5 with the right foot lifted and 5 with the left foot lifted. Hold plank for 10 seconds at end.
Repeat Plie Squat combo on other side.

COMBINATION FOUR

Biceps, Triceps, Core/Obliques, Shoulders/Back

Sitting on the step: Concentration Curls, 1 bicep at a time. First 16 fast, then 8 slow (up hold down hold), then 8 pulses.
Sitting on the step: Tricep Dips. 8 with right foot over left, 8 with left over right, 8 second hold with both feet on ground.
Sitting on the step: Bicycle Twists. 16 total with feet off the ground.
Lying face down on the step. – Arm raises first with arms in a Y. Then with arms in a T. Then arms straight behind the body, palms up.
Lying face down on the step. Lift arms up. Lift legs up. Lift both arms & legs up – swim.

COMBINATION FIVE

Glutes, Cardio

Incline the step. Glute work on all fours. Extend right leg straight behind body. Lift straight up and down, toe pointed down, for 10. Then 10 crossing the leg over the opposite calf (inside). Then 10 with the leg more to the outside. Finish with pulses up to the ceiling and a lot of squeeze & holds. Repeat on other side.
Jump Rope. 15 seconds regular, 15 seconds side to side, 15 seconds front and back, 15 seconds regular.

COMBINATION SIX

All Abs

Mountain Climbers. Regular slow, then regular fast. Finish by holding the plank 10 seconds and turning right into a side plank hold for 10 seconds.
Elbow to Knee. On all fours, extend right arm front and left arm back. Bring right elbow to left knee. 16 times.
Oblique Mountain Climbers. Slow then fast. Finish with the same 10 second plank hold and then into the left side plank for 10 seconds.
Repeat the elbow to knee move on other side.
V Up. Start lying flat on back like a starfish. Come to sitting bringing arms to legs in a V. Do 10.
Oblique Up. With right forearm flat on ground, bring left arm to right leg as the body lifts up.
6 inches. Hold feet 6 inches off the ground with hands under butt to support lower back. Hold 15 seconds.
Heel Taps. Feet flat on the floor, tap each heel for 15 seconds.
Repeat – V Up, Oblique Up on other side, 6 inches, and heel taps.
Last move. Hug knees into the chest, then extend legs long. Do 12.

COOLDOWN / STRETCH

How my roommates and Geoff felt after class:

SUCCESS!

For a post-workout dinner, I actually ate the salad I made for lunch since I ended up getting a free lunch at work today because of the meeting I was in. I had lettuce, grilled chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, and bleu cheese crumbles with light raspberry pomegranate dressing. Yum!

I’m already sore. Time for bed.

I taught three classes this week, yay! 🙂

Tuesday night was Muscle Power, right after Liz’s Kix of course! My typical Tuesday night double sessions are my favorite. I want this t-shirt so I can wear it on Tuesday nights.

Wednesday night I subbed for Ed’s spin class. I haven’t taught (or taken!) spin in a long time, so it was great to be back at it and switch it up for my muscles. My legs are definitely feeling it today.

This morning was Burn & Build (cheesy alliterative fitness class name). This one is my weekly 6am class before my 9-5 workday, and pretty much the reason why I need to eat lunch around 10:30 am every single Thursday!

Side Note – The Y has been a mob scene! There were at least 6 people in line yesterday ready and waiting with their BuyWithMe deals. If you got one and are going to redeem it before doing a class, make sure to get there nice and early!

My workouts went extra well this week. Not sure if it’s because I was out of my regular “routine” last week while I was in New York and I’m just excited to be back in the swing of things, or if it’s because I made three new CD’s for each of my classes. Yes, I still rock CD’s most of the time. Sometimes I use my iPod, but really I just haven’t gotten around to syncing all my old music with my new computer (well – newest computer that work will give me!) and transferring all my playlists. A project for the to do list, which is never-ending lately it seems.

Anyways, I figured I would share my playlists this week in case anyone was looking for some new workout music ideas! And while I’m at it, might as well share the workouts too. Enjoy!

MUSCLE POWER

Playlist:

Move Your Body – Eiffel 65
Black Horse & the Cherry Tree – KT Tunstall
Poker Face – Lady Gaga
Somebody Told Me – The Killers
Pump It – Black Eyed Peas
Idealistic – Digitalism (side note, this is a song from Just Dance II! One of my favorite songs to put on my playlists. Check it out! The routine on the Wii is actually a great workout, too.)
Forget You – Cee Lo Green
Love Shack – B52’s
Black Train – The Brew
Paralyzer – Finger Eleven
Last Friday Night – Katy Perry (I’m not sick of this one yet!)
Bugaboo – Destiny’s Child
Dress You Up In My Love – Madonna
Blinded When I See You – Third Eye Blind
Look After You – The Fray

Workout

I did a Swiss Ball based class because I found a new website for new Swiss Ball workout ideas. Check it out! If you click around the website enough you can find ideas for other “themed” classes – bands, crossbow, etc. Really cool. Swiss Ball classes are GREAT for an extra core workout because they are geared toward targeting those muscles more.

Fun Athena fact: I broke my right wrist in 5th grade because I tried to stand and balance on a Swiss Ball to show off in front of my friends. Clearly I didn’t have good core strength then because I immediately fell off and snap, my wrist broke. Oh and it was April Fool’s Day so my mother didn’t believe me that I actually broke a bone. Thanks, Georgia.

Anyways, each different “combination” that I did on Tuesday night included two strength moves and one cardio interval move. We did each combo twice with little variations the second time through.

WARMUP

COMBINATION ONE

QUADS – One legged ball lunges, keeping one foot rested directly behind the body on the ball.
BICEPS – One legged bicep curls (standing on one leg, the other is resting on the ball in front of the body)
CARDIO – Jumping Jacks
REPEAT – Repeat combo using other leg. For a jumping jack variation, I had them add leg crosses.

COMBINATION TWO

QUADS – Squats with ball lift to the front diagonal
CHEST – Pushups with feet resting on the ball
CARDIO – High knees
REPEAT – Repeat combo, this time with a plie squat and pressing the ball forward, instead of a regular squat. We also did those new spiderman pushups I mentioned in “Gym Characters” instead of another pushup set on the ball.

COMBINATION THREE

CALVES – Calf Raises, holding the ball overhead
TRICEPS – Weighted extensions, in bridge position
CARDIO – Jump Rope
REPEAT – For a variation on the calf raises, we repeated with the toes turned out to the side (first position in the ballet world). For the second round of tricep work, we did one armed dips, this time sitting on the ball instead of bridging.

COMBINATION FOUR

CORE – Ball rollouts
GLUTES / HAMS – Ball Reverse Bridge
CARDIO – Mountain Climbers
REPEAT – This time instead of rolling the ball during the Ball Reverse Bridge, I had the class balance with one foot on the ball, then bring the knee in and back to the ball, then switch legs. For Mountain Climbers, we targeted obliques instead of keeping the knees straight forward.

COMBINATION FIVE

SHOULDERS: Lying prone on ball, lateral raises
CORE: Crunch series
CARDIO: Standing jump switches
REPEAT: For shoulders instead of a lateral raise we did a Ball Rear Deltoid Raise with elbows bent. And for the core we finished with planks on the ball, jackknifes, and pikes.

COOLDOWN / STRETCH

SPIN

Playlist / Workout Combo:

I Walk Alone – Oleander = Warmup / Stretch
Unsung – Vanessa Carlton = Alternating fast run between high 3rd & low 3rd
Love Song – Sara Barelis = Run in second with squat isolations
Jump, Jive & Wail – Brian Seltzer Orchestra = Sprint intervals
Angel of Harlem – U2 = Standing Climb
Hot Tubs & Tool Sheds – Straylight Run = Jumps from seated to second
Love & Memories – OAR = Run in low third, on chorus sit and spin faster
Workin’ Day & Night – Michael Jackson = Seated run, on chorus add tension, then sprint through resistance in high 3rd.
Just Can’t Get Enough – Black Eyed Peas = Seated climb with leg isolations
State of Massachusetts – Dropkick Murphys = Fast run, flat road
King of Wishful Thinking – New Found Glory = Slides
Everybody Dance Now (Remix) – Bob Sinclair = All positions
The Devil Went Down To Georgia – Charlie Daniels Band = Sprint
Waiting for the Sun – The Shore = Cooldown
Silver Lining – Rilo Kiley = Stretch

BURN & BUILD

Playlist

A lot of the songs on this morning’s mix were ideas I found on another blog! Check this out – I really enjoyed reading through some of these song suggestions and I was excited for the new music today.

Right Here, Right Now – Fatboy Slim
Headsprung – LL Cool J
Mr. Vain – Culture Beat (This one got a lot of smiles this morning!)
Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 (New catchy favorite of mine! It’s from The Voice. )
Jai Ho – A.R Rahman
Round & Round – Bodyrockers
Hot – Smash Mouth
Stoned in Love – Chicane
Funhouse – Pink (Three notes for this one – First, inspired by Jen’s Muscle Madness mix a few weeks ago! Second, for other instructors – it’s hard to count during this song when Pink is counting down as part of the lyrics. Third, can’t get this out of my head today!)
OMG – Usher
She Wolf – Shakira
Give Me Everything – Pitbull (because I just can’t get enough of this song!)
Love Generation – Bob Sinclair
The Edge of Glory – Lady Gaga
Dance Like This – Wyclef Jean
Little More Time – ZOX
Australia – The Shins

Workout

This morning I did a similar style class as Tuesdays with the two strength and one cardio move per combination. Today’s theme used a step instead of a Swiss Ball though.

WARMUP

COMBINATION ONE

CARDIO – Jump Rope (with actual ropes, there were enough to go around this morning!)
LEGS: Around the World Combo. Forward lunge onto step, side step into squat, back lunge – repeat on same side throughout step.
BICEPS: Regular curls, then continue on one arm while holding the other halfway.
REPEAT: With other leg & other bicep isolation

COMBINATION TWO

CARDIO – Run Ups on the Step
GLUTES/ SHOULDERS – Standing on step, glute lifts & front raise (1 leg)
CHEST – Pushups with one hand on step, one hand on floor
REPEAT – With other leg for the glute lift, and other hand up on step for pushups

COMBINATION THREE