April 30, 2014-Shoulders and Back

Okay, I don't know about anyone else, but shoulders are the hardest for me to feel like I actually did anything the next day-I never feel sore.  But, we work 'em anyway, right?!  Right.  I also feel like shoulder and back exercises go well together...hence today's workout.  (I also included pictures of each exercise so you know what you're doing! Sorry some of them are of real people...it's a little creepy, I know) So, here we go!

NOTE: This is A LOT of reps.  Go slightly lighter than you would on a normal day.  If you don't know how heavy to go or even where to start in the least, don't hesitate to ask!!

500 rep workout:
Each exercise: 5 sets of 10 reps.  Do all sets of one exercise before moving on.
Seated barbell military press-sitting on a bench, press a barbell from your chest to above your head and bring it back down.

Close-grip lat pull-down-at the lat pull-down machine, bring the bar down to your chest, keeping your hands about shoulder-width apart.

Car drivers-holding a plate like a steering wheel, twist it to the right and left 'till hands are "stacked" perpendicular to the floor.  R-L is one rep.

Wide-grip lat pull-down-same thing as before, but this time keep your hands wider than shoulder-width apart.

Front incline dumbbell raise-sit/lay on an incline chair (your back on the pad) and do front raises with a dumbbell.

Seated cable rows-either at a rowing machine or at the cable machine, sit with your feet pressed against the foot pad and, keeping your back as flat/straight as possible, pull cable in towards your chest (imagine your shoulder blades being pulled down and together).

1-arm side lateral raise-normal raises, keeping arms straight and only bringing weight to shoulder height-DO NOT raise above parallel. One arm at a time.

Incline (or just normal/bent over) T-bar row-if on incline, pull bar up to chest, "tucking" shoulder blades in and down.  If doing bent over, keep back flat and pull shoulder blades in and down.

normal bent over T-bar row

Incline T-bar row

Cable rear delt fly-on the cable machine that has two cables on the same side, grab the left one with your right hand and vice-versa, crossing them over one another. Pull them back, keeping arms as wide as possible.

Back hyper extension-on the "back hyper extension" machine (shown below), start from completely relaxed over the pads and use your lower back to pull yourself up to a hyper extended state, where the lower back muscles are contracted.

*This workout might be a little longer than you're used to (a.k.a., it might take about an hour or so), because of the increase in sets, so plan accordingly!*

What do you think? Any tips to make the workout that much better?

April 29, 2014-HIIT

Time for HIIT, lovelies! HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  Each exercise lasts one minute, and they are to be done immediately after one another, with a 90 second break in between sets (yep, you're doin' three of 'em!).

Jumping Jacks
Burpees (from standing, drop down, jump legs out into pushup position (do a pushup if you're really feelin' it), jump legs back in, jump up)
High Knees (just like in those high school track days, running in place! Make sure to get thighs parallel to the floor)
Plank
Inchworm (from standing, bend over at the waist and touch your toes, walk your hands out to pushup position (again, do a pushup or two if you feel so inclined), then walk your hands back to your legs and stand up.  Make sure to keep your legs as straight as possible the whole time)
Frog Jumps (basically squat jumps, but this name makes it sound more fun...right?)

ABS, YAY!
Do 25 reps of each exercise, just once through!
Right side hip raises (side plank, drop hips towards floor and bring 'em back up)
V-ups (or one-legged v-ups)
Left side hip raises
Leg pull-through crunches (like a normal crunch, but let the knees fall outwards towards the floor, keeping the bottoms of your feet touching each other-make a diamond with your legs and extend your arms over your center, reaching towards your feet)
Cherry Pickers/Russian Twists (I call them Cherry Pickers from gymnastics, but I have no idea where that came from.  Sitting with body inclined and feet raised a few inches off the ground, twist your arms side-side, touching the ground each time)
Shotguns (same body position as the twists, but no twisting.  Just extend the legs out and pull them back in for one rep)

Can't wait to hear what you think!

April 28, 2014-Arm Circuit

Good morning, lovelies!  So for right now, I'm using this space as a way for me to stay motivated about working out consistently.  I usually hit the gym 4-6 times a week, and I love it.  But lately, with finals and everything happening, it's been really difficult for me to get my butt out of bed and actually do it.
So, here we go: day one of my new and improved workouts-Arms (my second favorite day!)

I've been doing my research this weekend, and I came across this really great article here.  Tom talks about his favorite arm workouts, where he really feels the burn, and I've decided to mix a couple together.

Since "arms" encompasses biceps and triceps, we'll be working both today.  I decided to combine the multi-grip and multi-angle tri-set routines for today's workout, but I'm gonna just say we do supersets instead of tri-sets.* We'll choose two exercises for both biceps and triceps, with two different grips, as well as two exercises for each muscle, this time making different angles (the elbow being the pivot point).

Biceps:
1.  Standing dumbbell reverse curl (like a normal bicep curl, just keep your palms facing down)
2.  Hammer curl (bicep curl with palms facing in)
3.  Incline dumbbell curls (lay at an incline so that your arms hang off of the sides, creating a stretched angle at the elbow)
4.  Preacher curls (keep the arms slightly contracted, so they do not fully extend at the bottom of each rep)

Triceps:
1.  Reverse grip triceps push-down (using the cable and small, curved bar, pull down, keeping your palms facing up)
2.  Triceps push-down (using the rope attachment, keep palms facing in towards each other)
3.  Seated triceps press (sit on a chair and raise one dumbbell over your head with both hands. Keeping your elbows in the same position, lower the weight behind your head and raise it back up)
4.  Lying triceps press (I call these Skull Crushers, because you lay down, holding a bar (or dumbbells) straight up. Keeping your elbows in the same place, lower the weight to just above your forehead, and raise back up)

For each exercise, perform 6-8 reps, with ONLY 10-15 seconds of rest between each exercise.  After each routine (full biceps OR full triceps), rest for 120 seconds (2 minutes).  Go through the full workout (biceps AND triceps) 2-3 times.


*supersets=two different exercises, with no rest between them, which either work the same or antagonistic muscles (i.e., curls + hammer curls; curls + triceps dips).
tri-sets=group of three exercises performed one after the other, with no rest between, to work the same muscle group.

I'll be doing this workout today, so we'll be suffering together!  Try it out and let me know what you think!

P.S., I promise the workout posts won't be this long every time, I just wanted to give some background information before we got started!

**EDIT**
I am already feeling the burn from this workout this morning! I was feelin' good after doing the entire routine 3 times through, so I dropped down in weight and performed the whole thing again, this time really focusing on my speed/tempo and my form.  Let me know how your workout goes!

First post!

Good morning, blogging world!
Eeeek, I'm so excited to finally have a blog of my own!  I've lived with my roommate (and one of my best friends) Brianna for almost nine months now, stalking her blog every time she posts something and secretly obsessing over her blog life; but now I have one all to myself, and I cannot wait to actually get started with it!  I'm hoping to make this a space for me to post and stay organized with workout tips (I'm working towards my Personal Training certification), nutritional information (I'm a Nutritional Sciences major), and really anything in between.
I came into college at the University of Arizona, here in sunny Tucson, as a Physiology major with high hopes of becoming a doctor orthopedic surgeon one day.  Welp, guess we can all see how that turned out, seeing as I got halfway through my college career and decided I actually wanted a life once I finished my undergrad.  Weird, right?  Whatever, my favorite body systems are the bones and muscles anyway, so this works out even better!  The goal is to be a sports trainer/physical therapist someday (for the Diamondbacks, potentially?!), but for right now I just want to spend my time living and working in the gym, helping people realize their full fitness and health potentials.
And, now a little bit about my boyfriend!

This is him with my parents' new kitten sleeping on his chest...your heart is melting, I just know it.

Okay so I'm just going to say it: we met on Tinder (more about this in a later post...trust me).  Cue the exclamations about how unsafe that is and blah blah blah, but it really isn't as sketchy as it seems, I swear!  Anyway, his name is Toby, he's from a tiny town in Ohio (literally, its ridiculous how small of a town it is.  Like, smaller than half the size of my high school, small).  He's a firefighter in the Air Force (hot, I know).  He's a real gentleman.  We've only been dating for almost two months, but I feel like I've known this boy my entire life, and I honestly don't know what I would do without him in it.

Also, he's a cat person so I mean honestly, what's not to like obsess over, ya know?

Sorry for ranting so much, and I know very few people will even end up seeing/reading this post, but I wanted to give a little more in-depth background on my life as of now!  If you want to read the short story (and make fun of my selfies), you can do so here!

Comment so I can blog-stalk and make new friends! :)