The Fanny Firmer Workout

Start this intense glute and leg circuit with the left leg planted, right leg moving. Take NOOOOO REST until you do both legs. Work through the burn – it will pay off big-time!!

16 Step Back Lunges
16 Lunge Kicks
16 Repeater Knees
16 Stomps
16 Jumping In & Out Squats

REPEAT with right leg planted and left leg moving. Again, NO REST until the entire circuit is complete. Rest for 1-2 minutes between rounds. Repeat 3 times. Add to cardio (Circuit + 10 min cardio X 3).

This segment is part of this month’s kickboxing routine led by Steve Pfiester at Max Fitness Club, held on Mondays & Wednesdays at 5:30pm.

Get a FREE WEEK PASS and do this workout at the Max!

Lunge-Hour Workout

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nothing sculpts the glutes, inner and out thigh, and legs like lunges. Here is a killer lung workout you can do anywhere. NOTE TO LADIES: If you are sick of workout shorts riding up on leg day, these CrossFit Shorts totally rock. they have built-in undies (so no accidental flashing of pink parts, lol) and, while the fit flat and snug around the waist, they are loose around the thigh – and the stretch fabric lets you kick, squat and lunge without binding up or pulling. Plus, they don’t look like those running shorts that are so baggy they look like diapers. These shorts are all the same comfort, but much more flattering. 🙂

30 WALKING LUNGES
30 Seconds Rest

15 Static Lunges (right leg forward)
15 Lunge Kick (right)
15 Diagonal Lunge (45˙, right leg)
15 Stomps (right)
30 Seconds Rest

30 WALKING LUNGES
30 Seconds Rest

15 Static Lunges (left leg forward)
15 Lunge Kick (left)
15 Diagonal Lunge (45˙, right left)
15 Stomps (left)

30 WALKING LUNGES
30 Seconds Rest

REPEAT 3 TIMES

My newest Reebok CrossFit Gear:

CrossFit Perform Tank (what I am wearing today!)

CrossFit Shore Training Shorts (the shorts I’m wearing in the above pic)

CrossFit Intensity Shorts (LOVE THESE!!)

CrossFit Endurance Training Jaquard Hoodie (AWESOME FIT!)

CrossFit Skinny Strap Bra (super cool design!)

 

 

Fit & Trim Bikini Bottom Workout

We have several clients we train to compete in figure, physique and bikini. This is one of the workouts Steve put his bikini girls through that I loved. While you don’t have to wear a two piece (or be a girl) to do this workout, it’s definitely a workout you’ll want to try!

Butt & Leg Workout

Click on each exercise to watch video demonstration of the exercise. Do 15 reps of each, with no rest between exercises. Rest for 1-2 minutes between completed circuits.

15 Back Squats (95lb-135lb)
15  Thrusters (10-15-lb dumbbells)
15  Walking Lunges (15lb dumbbells)
X3  (rest after 3rd round)

15 Leg Extension (moderate, 45-55lb)
15 Leg Curl (moderate, 40-50lb)
15 Skaters
X3  (rest after 3rd round)

15 Leg Press (heavy)
15 Kettlebell Curtsies (25lb kettlebell)
15 Stomps
X3   (rest after 3rd round)

 

1 Workout and 15 Body Sculpting Exercises Every Woman Should Try

This month I’m using YOUR suggestions for my Designer Whey Workouts this month! Last week, Julie from “Reaching My Fullest Potential“, wrote “I am planning to compete for the first time in Figure next spring and am hoping to strengthen and build my upper back, shoulders, and glutes. I would like to see a workout that uses the barbell and dumbbells.” 

Before I share the workout I created for you Julie, I thought I’d share some extras with ya! First, you are plenty lean, so I’d be sure to beef up your protein intake (which I bet you are already doing!) and really lift as heavy as you can. I’d do a lot of negatives (which means push-press, split jerks & pull ups with a slow controlled downward movement would be helpful). While I wouldn’t put legs, shoulders and back in one workout, I can suggest a few exercises that are a must, along with many other staples, to help develop those areas. Here are just a few of my personal favorites!

15 Exercises Every Women Should Try!

Shoulders:

1. Barbell Press (I do 55lbs 12 reps)
2. Push-press (I do 65-75lbs 12 reps)
3. Split Jerks (I do 75-85lbs 8-10 reps)
4. Snatch (you can use a dumbbell if you don’t have kettlebells)
5. Upright Row LOVE THESE! (I do 55lbs)
6. Handstands (Ok, I just think they are FUN – but they also really challenge your core and stabilization muscles through your shoulders & upper back). Hold each handstand for as long as you can, keeping active shoulder and core tight.

Rear Delt & Upper Back:

1. Pull Ups (I always try to do them on my own first, and then I do assisted ones)
2. Face Pulls – (real delts and upper back)
3. T-Bar (flared arms, out 90 degrees from your side, to work more upper back)
4. Bentover Barbell Row (mid back)

Glutes (Lower Body):

1. DEEP Overhead Squat (I love this for core, glutes & inner thigh – even no weight rocks)
2. Weighted Walking Lunges (I do 15lb or 20lb dumbbells)
3. Runner’s Pose Stomp
4. Slow Knee Repeater (NO weight on that back leg)
5. Curtsy (use a light weight to add resistance)

Remember, this isn’t ALL the exercises for each body part – just a few of the ones I like! 🙂 Now for the workout dedicated to Julie!

The Julie (Curve-Building) Workout:

This Figure Athlete inspired workout is a lower-body conditioning workout that gives you more bang for your buck! I used exercises that will sculpt the legs & glutes – plus tone the shoulders, tightens the core, and burn a bunch of fat! This would be a great workout to do alone or add to your current cardio or conditioning program. OR, you can throw this workout in as an extra refresher later in the week after you have done your normal leg and shoulder days. ENJOY!

Tools: Dumbbells or Kettlebells and a barbell.

Warm- Up:

• 3 Sets of Kettlebell Swings

Workout:

• 20 Thruster or Plate (or sandbag) Thrusters (DEEP – elbows touch knees)
• 20 Sumo High Pull – or with Dumbbells (Also DEEP!)
• 20 Overhead Walking Lunges (a total of 40 steps using HEAVY fumbbells)
• 20 RIGHT Single Leg DeadLift with 1-arm Lat Pull (pull at 45 degrees on the way up)
• 20 LEFT Single Leg DeadLift with 1-arm Lat Pull (pull at 45 degrees on the way up)
• 20 Curtsies RIGHT
• 20 Curtsies LEFT

          3 Times Through with 1 Minute Rest Between Rounds

NOTE: Remember, you’ll never see any of these curves if you don’t work as hard on your diet as you do on your workout!

The Glute Killer Butt Workout

You can never have too many butt workouts. Seriously, who doesn’t want a great toosh?! Plus, it’s bikini season, so it’s time to get that butt bikini ready! And men, don’t you think for one second you don’t need this workout. Just because you don’t wear a string bikini (I hope) doesn’t mean you need to neglect your backside! Flat flabby butts are never attractive – no matter who you are!

Try this new workout Steve wrote this workout for DualFit. Many of these exercises are the same exercises he uses to train his bikini and figure competitors to sculpt their perky bottoms.

Pictured above: Team Max Bikini Competitors Melissa Wolfe, Kathleen Morgan, Angel Howell, Cristina McDaniel, Nicole Toore, Leslie Hendricks & Ursula Kepferer.

The Glute Killer Workout

Couplet #1

Start on one leg and repeat the couplet on the other leg. No rest between the 2 exercises.
12 Weighted Step Back Lunge
12 Lunge Kick
(repeat on the other leg)

Couplet #2 

Start on one leg and repeat the couplet on the other leg. No rest between the 2 exercises.
12 Weighted Curtsy
12 Stomp
(repeat on the other leg)

Couplet #3

12 Sumo Squat
12 Skater

Repeat Entire Workout 3 Times

Visit DualFit.com for more fitness tips and workouts!

Get A Better Backside: 4 Tips and a Workout

One muscle group I feel gets neglected often are the hamstrings. I don’t know if it’s because people can’t see them, or if people just don’t know the importance of them – but they tend to get the leftovers.

If there is enough time “left over”, people will squeeze a few hamstring exercises in their workout.  Most people who actually do hamstrings will end their leg workout with two or three exercises, but if they run out of time, guess what gets cut? Yep, you guessed it – the hammies. While gyms make it easier to work the hamstrings, because they offer specific machines just for that muscle group, people who workout at home may never actually work them at all simply because they don’t know how.

Stronger & Safer

First let me explain why you should work them – and work them more. Hamstring exercises, like straight leg dead lifts, strengthen the body to prevent injury. Let’s face it, we should always lift heavy objects with our legs (and not our back), but how many times do we bend over from the hips to pick something up on the floor? Probably more often than we should. Straight leg dead lifts not only strengthens the hamstring muscles that pull our body to an upright position, they also strengthen the low back. The stronger these muscles are, the less chance of injury doing regular daily tasks.

Second, hamstrings also improve joint movement. The hamstrings are attached at the knee and the hip. If both the hamstrings and quadriceps are attached at the same joints, but you have strong quadriceps and weak hamstrings, you can imagine how the stronger muscles will win the tug-of-war on your joints. Balancing your strength will help your body stay in proper alignment for optimal joint movement – preventing injury.

Smooth & Shapely

Lastly, hamstrings not only improve the shape of the leg, they improve the shape of the bottom too. Look at the girl in the blue dress (above), and notice the curves going up the back of her leg. That is a result of great hamstring and glute development. The less body fat you have, the more you will also see that muscle separation from the quad and the hamstring ( the line down the side of the leg).

Also, hamstring and glute exercises help the appearance of cellulite. As you develop both your glutes and hamstrings, you plump up the muscle under the fat, which smoothes skin texture and supports the subcutaneous fat and loose skin. If you feel there is no start and stop between your butt and thighs, you can change that too by ramping up your hamstring and butt routine. As you develop these muscles you will start to notice better muscle separation between the two muscle groups – creating a more toned, lifted, perkier, rounded rear end.

4 Fit Tips to Boosting Your Backside

1. Diet: You can have great legs and muscle that stay hidden under a layer of fat if you aren’t watching your diet too. If you have fat around your thighs, hips and butt, you likely need to reduce your calories to shed some body fat. See: Sculpt Your Body with What You Eat

2. Cardio: You can’t rely on weight training alone to sculpt your body. Burn more fat and tone your lower body with challenging cardio including running, elliptical, gauntlet step mill, step aerobics, power-walking hills, kickboxing or spinning. See: 15 Sweat-Your-Butt-Off-at-Home Workouts

3. Boost Protein: You can’t build muscle without protein. If you aren’t getting enough protein in your diet, your body will use stored protein (muscle) as fuel. If you want to build or sculpt muscle, it’s important to get enough protein in your diet whether it’s from whole foods or protein supplements. See: How Much Protein Do I Need?

4. Go for Variety: Learn as many exercises you can to constantly change up your routine. Not only will it be more interesting, your workouts will also be more effective. Although I always have my staple exercises, I leave room for a few different or new exercises I alternate in and out of my routine. See: 25 Butt Blaster Exercises

My Workout

I’ll be the first to admit my hamstrings need work, so I’ve been taking my training up a couple of notches. If you follow my blog, you know I now split up my hamstrings and quads. I do quads and glutes at the first of the week and hamstrings and glutes at the end of the week. I’ve not only had more time to work each body part better – I also have more power and energy to train harder. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to doing legs all on one day!

Here’s my ham and glute workout I did yesterday. I change it up each time. Last week I did walking lunges and step ups. This week I did Cook Hip Lift & Curtsies. 🙂

PS: I’m sporting Reebok Realflex shoes in this pic. The realflex line is one of my favorite lines of shoes I’ve ever owned. Lightweight, super cool and very flexible.

Ham & Glute Workout

Warm Up
This can simple be couple of sets of light straight leg dead lifts, like with the bar only, a light jog, air squats or walking lunges.

Do 4 Sets of Each:

• 18 Straight Leg Dead Lift (I do 95lb/bar or 45lb dumbbells)
• 18 Prone Leg Curl (For Home: Leg Curl with Bands, I use Bodylastics)
• 18 Seated Leg Curl (For Home: Standing Hamstring Band Curl, I use Bodylastics)
• 20 Cook Hip Lift (also called a single leg glute bridge)
• 25 Curtsies (Tip: Don’t put any weight on the back leg)

Finish with 30 Minutes of Elliptical with a challenging resistance.

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Is Your Behind BEHIND?

If you were keeping score on how often you did arms, chest, back, quads, hamstrings and glutes, what would be behind? 

Have you ever thought about how we divide our body parts up? Many of us do chest one day, shoulders on another, etc – yet we hit our legs all on one day. That little jewel hit me this year, so I decided to make some changes.

If you’ve seen my legs, you know they don’t look like this girl in the pic. They look more like legs on a giraffe – knobby knees included. I can’t change the way God made me but, by-golly, I can at least make them more fit looking! So, I started incorporating walking lunges in my morning run every other run and started dividing my legs up more.

Butt Why? – Pun Intended
The more I thought of it, the more I realized my glutes and hamstrings didn’t get the intensity the rest of my body did. My behind was behind! What do I mean? After leg press, squats, and leg extensions, I was always worn out by the time I got to the back of my legs on leg day. So, in order to make sure I gave my backside just as much attention as I gave the rest of my body, in addition to my interval lunges & runs, I started adding in a hamstring and butt day once a week.

One day a week, I hit heavy quads and light hamstrings and another day (later in the week) I hit light quads and heavy hamstrings and glutes. Here’s an example of one of my glute & hams workouts with the weights I used on my last workout:

3 -4 Sets of the Following:
18 Seated or Prone Hamstring Curl (80-90lbs)
18 Straight Leg Dead Lifts (30lbs dumbbells)
20 GHD Glute/Ham Developer (25lb plate)
18 Standing Hamstring Curl (40lbs on Hammerstrength)
30 Steps Walking Lunges (15lb dumbbells)

1 Set Each, Repeating Circuit 3 Times with No Rest
20 Stomps Left
20 Curtsies Left
20 Stomps Right
20 Curtsies Right

Don’t let your backside backslide! Give it the attention it deserves!
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Get a Bootylicious Butt for Jeans Season

I love, LOVE, LOOOOOVE jeans. I’d wear them every single day if I could. Jean shorts, boot cut jeans, wide leg jeans, skinny jeans –  you name it, I love JEANS! —BUTTTTTT, (pun intended) no matter what brand is hot, it’s a big “NOT!” if my butt looks bad in them.

Redbook recently did a story on the Best Jeans for Your Butt. Don’t get excited – they didn’t give you a great list of cool brands to choose from, but just gave some pointers on what to look for to “mask” your flaws. But why try to hide what we can fix?

In 15 Minute Fashion’s Best Jeans for Fall 2011 article, skinny jeans and jeggings (leggings that look like jeans) show up in the top pics. I have news for you, if you don’t like your butt – you are NOT going to have a lot of options this year because skintight jeans are still dominating the clothing stores.

If your butt was already saggy or mushy, skinny jeans will just flatten and spread it out more. So, instead of trying so hard to get a shapely pair of jeans, let’s work hard to get a shapely butt!

Have you ever seen a flat bottom on a kid? NO! They have perky firm bottoms because they are constantly active. As we age, and sit around on the computer all day, we lose muscle – including our butt muscles. Similar to a deflated balloon, we just need to re-inflate the glutes by exercising those muscles.

Steve Pfiester demonstrates his top 3 butt-lifting exercises that will perk up, and firm up, your derriere. pFit Tip: Do 3-4 sets of 20 of each exercise 2-3 times a week.

My Favorite Jeans in My Closet:
#1 Miss Me
#2 True Religion
#3 Rock Revival
#4 MEK
#5 Vigoss
#6 Joes Jeans
#7 ReRock (now available at Express)
#8 Rich and Skinny
#9 Miss Sixty
#10 Destroyed Jeans  

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