Category Archives: Workout
“Time” To Do Arms: Timed Bicep & Tricep Workout
This was my arm workout yesterday. It was fun, fast paced, and challenging. I set the timer, cranked the music, and my workout buddy and I went to town! With timed workouts like this, you don’t have to count. It’s nice to turn off your brain and just go. The timer becomes your boss (hence the name “GymBoss“) and you start when it say start, stop when it says stop – and you get your workout done in less time. It’s a win-win!
Using the GymBoss Interval Timer, do each exercise for the allotted time.
1st Round: 45 seconds on & 15 seconds off
2nd Round: 40 seconds on & 15 seconds off
3rd Round: 35 seconds on & 15 seconds off
4th Round: 30 seconds on & 15 seconds off
• Barbell Biceps Curl
• Triceps Dips
• Resistance Band Biceps Curl
• Nose Breakers
• Triceps Kickback
• Plank
Complete all 4 rounds.
NOTE: In this workout, I focused more on triceps than I did biceps. Mainly because women typically care more about the giggley underarm part than they do the size of their biceps. The only time you really notice a person’s biceps is when they flex (and who does that?). Triceps, on the other hand, are more visible and also help shape and tone the arm where most women want – under the arm, the side of the arm and where the arm meets the shoulders (which helps make shoulders look more pronounced). I threw in planks to help tone up the entire arm (shoulders, triceps, biceps & forearms), while also tightening the core. Enjoy the workout! Hope you like it!
Fast Shoulder Circuit
Yesterday was shoulder day for me, and this is the workout my girlfriend and I did. Instead of doing traditional reps and sets, I wanted to set up stations that we could quickly move through to really set those shoulders on fire, as well as get our heart rate up too. It was a quick workout, but judging by how nice and sore I am today, it was a successful workout! Have Fun!
Tools: One medium weight Bar/plates or dumbbells (I only did 30lbs), yellow bodylastics band or 5lb dumbbells, 8-10lb dumbbells, 25-35lb plate (or the bar) and a green bodylastics band (or 8-10lb dumbbells).
Complete the following exercises as quickly as possible, with no rest between exercises or rounds. Click on each exercise below to review the demonstration video.
- 12 Dumbbell Overhead Press 30-45lbs
- 12 Lateral Raise Light Band or 3-5lb dumbbells
- 12 Ladder Presses 8-10lb dumbbells
- 12 Upright Row - 25-35lb barbell or plate weight
- 12 Rear Delt Fly - Light to Medium Band (or Rear Delt Fly with dumbbells)
When you are done, you will have completed 300 reps of nothing but shoulder work! YUMMY!!
#FitFluential #MOVE
22 Ways To Do Push Ups
Yesterday, I asked everyone what their favorite upper body exercise was. Although answers varied from pull-ups to upright rows, one exercise stood out: The Push Up.
Honestly, push-ups are just amazing. Not only do they work the chest, they tone the triceps, biceps, shoulders and core – all in one workout. But did you know there are many different ways to do a push up? Hand placement, tools and angles can help you hit muscles in different ways.
For instance, the closer you place your hands together, the more you work your triceps and inner chest (cleavage) area. The further out you place your hands, the further out on your chest you work (like your under arm bra strap area). If you place your feet up on a platform, or raise your hips up into pike, you put more weight on your shoulders and upper chest. You can even do push-ups on an uneven surface like a medicine ball or bosu to challenge your core more. This is why it’s best to try incorporate different styles into your workout – to hit your muscles in different ways, and continue to challenge your strength and range of motion.
Never done a push up? Start with the Modified Push-up. The key is to keep your bottom down. If you were to string a line from your head to your toes, your body should be in a straight line, following that line as you do the exercise. Always start attempting a military push up (standard push up) and then move to your knees when you can no longer maintain good form. The more you do it, the stronger you get. Have fun!
22 Ways To Do Push Up
Click on the link to watch video demonstration for each exercise.
- Push-up
- Close Grip Push-up
- Decline Pushup
- Dive-bomber Push-up
- Push-up To Sit-up Combination
- Push-up To T-plank Combination
- Diamond Push-up
- Bosu Push-up
- Stabilizer Push-up
Incline Push-up- Swiss Ball Push-up
- Modified Push-up
- Weighted Push-up
- Alligator Push-up
- Plyo Alligator Push-up
- Balance Ball Pike Push-up
- Single-leg Decline Push-up
- Resistance Band Push-ups
- Wide Push-ups
- Rotational Push-ups
- Bosu Kneeling Pushup
- Dumbbell Push-up
Ramp up your intensity and try Tabata push ups with the Gymboss Interval Timer. 8 sets of 20 seconds ON and 10 seconds of rest. Talk about a KILLER workout! Whew!
But wait! There’s More!
Now, of course this isn’t ALL the different ways to push up. There are one-arm push ups, plyo push ups, and all kinds of stuff you can do. Check out Funk Robert‘s extremely versatile and powerful push up workout. You’ll see his hands are all over the place – so this workout seriously works from every angle! Maybe someday I’ll grow up to be like Funk and actually learn to plyo like that!! 
Bored in the Gym? HIIT Training May Help
Are Your Workouts Boring?
If you feel like you’ve lost your, as Steve says, “ZIP, ZEST, PEP, DRIIIVE AND DESIRE”, well maybe you just need to get a trainer – interval trainer that is. You don’t necessarily need a personal trainer to kick your butt, especially if you know what to do already. Often times we just get lazy and comfortable, and we lose focus. But, as soon as you add a time component to your workout, suddenly a boring workout blossoms into a high-intensity workout with purpose and drive. To get this done, I use the GymBoss Interval Timer to ramp up my intensity, create focus and hold me accountable.
HIIT it Harder!
HIIT training is nothing new. It’ just gained popularity over the recent years. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT workouts are typically short workouts, from 4-20 minutes, and combine short bursts of intense exercise (typically at maximum intensity) with a moderate activity or rest. The original HIIT format was a 2 to 1 ration, like Tabata. Tabata is 20 seconds of work, and 10 seconds of rest or lighter work.
For instance, a HIIT running routine could be 30 seconds of sprinting and 15 seconds of walking or jogging. However, HIIT workouts now come in all shapes and sizes. The length of intervals, as well as intensity/work, may vary. HIIT, today, is just all about timed intense interval training, no matter what the length or combination of exercises and rest.
So, with the education under your belt now, let’s HIIT our legs! Here was my leg workout yesterday. It was awesome, simple, super effective and challenging. Also, when you use HIIT, you get a lot of work done in less time, so it’s also very efficient. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think!
HIIT Your Legs
This workout targets the quads and glutes. I will do a separate workout, like this Ham & Glute Workout, the for hamstrings later this week. Get your GymBoss Interval Timer and get ready to work!
Ramping Squat*
5 SETS: 30 Seconds on, 30 Seconds off
*Ramping (or periodization) refers to ramping up (increasing) your weight. Each set should get heavier and heavier. For instance, do just the bar the first set, then add weight in 10-25lb increments each set, depending on your strength, making each set more and more challenging.
Training Tips: The key to this exercise is to get LOW (like you see in this photo). I’d rather you do less weight, and get a full range of motion. Most people are not even close to getting as low as they can. LADIES LISTEN UP: These last few inches work your inner thighs and glutes a LOT more, so don’t miss out! Your weight should be on your heels the entire time, and your bottom should nearly bottom out on the ground you should be so low. If you’ve never done this before, then practice just with the bar or no weight at all. If you can’t seem to keep your heels on the ground, try spreading out your knees a bit more and sit down into the squat until your feet can stay completely flat. Tight and weak muscles may prevent you from getting this low, so you may want to incorporate this yoga move into your leg day to increase flexibility.
Yoga Squat: Hold this pose (pictured below right) for 30 seconds at a time and really stretch your legs and open those hips. Do this prior to lifting or even between sets to keep you nice and loose.
Heavy Walking Lunges (15-20lbs dumbbells)
5 Sets: 30 Seconds on, 30 Seconds off
Tabata Leg Extensions (toes pointed out)
Tabata is 8 Sets of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off
1/2 Tabata Leg Extension (toes pointed in)
Half Tabata is half the prescribed set (so only 4 sets) of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off
Tabata High Step Ups* (with or without weights)
Half (4 sets) Tabata on RIGHT FOOT
(20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)
Half (4 sets) Tabata on LEFT FOOT
(20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)
*Use a high bench or plyo box. Step POWERFULLY up and resist the negative (your weight coming down). So, it will be a quick and powerful explosion UP on to the step (being sure to step up on to your heel), and then a slowly lower down. No matter how tired you get, DO NOT allow your body to “fall” back to the floor. Fight it!
Tough Women: 4 Ways to Build Power, Strength & Confidence
Strong Enough for Men, but Made for Women Too
I always liked the the Secret deodorant slogan “strong enough for men, but made for a woman” but I think it also exposes another secret – the belief that strength is normally only made for men.
Of course we know there are strong chicks too, but I think a lot of women just think they were born that way. Some of the toughest chicks aren’t tough because they LOOK tough – they are tough because they ARE tough. Just like Demi More in G.I. Jane, tough comes with a price. She had to train hard to do the stuff she had to do in that movie – from doing intense workouts, obstacle training and even prepping mentally to shave her head. People aren’t just born that way, they are made that way through enduring tough tasks. The tougher the task, the tougher you become.
Watch this short video clip, and tell me that doesn’t make you want to learn how to do a one-armed push up!
Do You Know Your Own Strength?
While I believe, if most women were honest, there is a side to them that would love to be tough and powerful. But, many women struggle with the self-confidence to grow in this area. This is even more of a problem when a woman is overweight or not in good shape. Ironically, one of the best places to fix that (the gym) makes many women even MORE insecure so they avoid it at all cost, or they save it as a last resort. Well, NO MORE! It’s time for you to become the POWERFUL, STRONG and CONFIDENT woman you desire to be! And I’ve got news for you, it doesn’t include pink rubber weights!
If you want to discover power, strength and confidence, it requires training that requires you to be powerful, strong and confident. If your training doesn’t CHALLENGE these areas, don’t expect to CHANGE those areas. Sadly, many women “ease” into their workouts because they simply don’t know how powerful and strong they really are. Why? Because they just don’t know their own strength – because they’ve never really tested it.
4 ways to toughen up & gain more confidence:
Up your weight. I can’t tell you how many women are not even touching the surface of their own strength. They literally don’t know their own strength. However, if they were to up the weight, they’d be surprised to find they can do the same number of reps with the heavier weight. Would it be more difficult? Sure! Would it be possible? Sure! You’ll never know how strong you are until you try. Don’t worry about bulking up. Most women don’t have enough testosterone to gain manly muscles. - Test your strength. Once a week, choose an exercise to test your 1 rep max, which is the maximum weight you can lift in one exercise. Normally, we are doing multiple reps of a weight, so the weight has to be light enough for us to repeat the exercise 12-15 times. But what if all we have to do is one repetition? That’s the idea of the 1 Rep max. Some of the best exercises, according to Bodybuilding.com, to use to test this are bench press, squats, deadlifts, clean and press, military (shoulder press) and bicep curls. Use Bodybuilding.com’s 1-Rep Max (1RM) Calculator to find out what your 1-rep max should be. There is nothing more empowering that lifting a heavy weight – even if it’s just one time.
Try something new. If you are constantly staying in your comfort zone, using the same equipment or practicing the same training style, you will likely stay the same too. Venture out and try new things. Even if you discover you don’t like something, you will gain power from the knowledge you gained from trying it. Sure, you may feel a little dorky or awkward while you are learning it, but you will walk away feeling amazing.- Do what the boys do. If you are constantly gravitating to aerobics classes and the women’s section at the gym, you are missing out! There is a reason guys are tough. They do though things – and so can you! For instance, flipping tractor tires is tough. Your hands get dirty and it’s hard work, but it’s an amazing workout and you’ll feel great when it’s done. The same goes with exercises like bench press, dips or pull ups. These are often exercises that never make it on a woman’s workout schedule. Sadly, it’s not because the women can’t do it. It’s because they never even try to do it. Make it a regular practice to incorporate tough exercises into your program.
20 Tough Activities & Exercises
Try a handstand (and practice it)- Test your 1RM for bench press
- Take boxing or martial arts lessons
- Do a mud run
- Do something untraditional like flipping a tractor tire or doing wall-ups
- Take a intense boot camp program
- Practice olympic lifting
- Take a gymnastics class
- Do a 5K, half marathon, full marathon or triathlon
- Climb a rock-climbing wall
- Take a grappling (wrestling) lesson
- Test your speed in a quarter mile (sprinting, not driving!)
- Practice push ups, pull ups and dips
- Train with kettlebells
- Take a power yoga class
- Practice batting at the batting cages
- Do a tabata workout (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)
- Try a new sport – like surfing, skiing, cycling, mountain biking or swimming
- Play catch – football, softball or even frisbee (and GO ALL OUT to catch it!)
- Play with the boys. Play a coed ball game, workout with the guys, go to a car show and do something guys do. And don’t just show up – take that time to learn more about what you are doing. Whether it’s a drifting race or skin-boarding, knowledge is powerful.
8 Tough Workouts
Tractor Tire Training
10 Tire Exercises - If you’ve ever wondered what you can do with a tractor tire, here’s your answer!
Conditioning Tractor Tire Workout - Be ready for your heart to be POUNDING!
Tractor Abs – Learn 5 ab exercises you can do with a tractor tire.
Improve Your Push Up &/or Pull Up
Even if you can’t do a pull up or push up, THIS will get you stronger.
Savage Training
Try an untraditional workout, designed for mud runs and people who don’t have gym equipment.
BCx Wallup Workout
Climbed walls lately? Today’s your day! Try this crazy fun workout to boost strength and stamina.
Try a Kettlebell Workout
Learn some kettlebell basics.
Grueling Get Ups
Try this awesomely intense Turkish Getup inspired workout and get your sweat on!
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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!
The BIG Burpee Workout
Workouts do not have to be complicated. I think many people think they have to have a new set of moves or learn a whole new exercise in order to really get a good workout – but the truth is, you can take 1 single exercise and turn it into an entire workout if you get a little creative.
Let’s look the burpee for instance. What if you took just the first part (the squat), then the 2nd part (the thruster), the 3rd part (the plank or push up), then back to the thruster again, and finally the last part (the jump) and you did each movement separately. Suddenly, you have quite a challenging workout – all created and inspired by one simple exercise.
Check it out!
The Big Burpee Workout
Click on each exercise to watch the video demonstration.
- 10 Air Squats
- 10 Squat Thrust
- 10 Push Ups
- 10 Squat Thrust
- 10 Tuck Jumps (double plyo high knee)
Repeat entire workout doing 9 reps, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 each – and you’ll get your 1 BIG BURPEE experience! Time yourself and let me know how long it takes you to finish! Have FUN!
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Blast the Backside: Glute & Ham Workout
Another Great Glute & Ham Workout this week! Here’s what I did. REMEMBER, I’m hitting glutes twice a week. My other Leg day is quads and glutes. 
4 Sets of 18-20 Each:
- Straight Leg Deadlifts
- Leg Curls (3 sets reg. 2 sets negative)*
- Seat Leg Curls
- Stomps (both heels hit the ground)*
- Curtsies*
Finish this workout with doing the stairs, step mill, treadmill on a steep incline or the elliptical on a high resistance setting.
TIPS*
LEG CURLS: Change things up and do single leg curls to hit your legs a little differently. Or, boost your training by doing a few sets of negatives using too heavy of weight to do alone. Have your partner help you push the weight to the fully contracted position. Then you control the weight back down on your own for a great negative exercise.
STOMPS: I always do one exercise (like lunges or stomps) to fire up the quads too, so expect them to be blazing hot! The key to stomps is making sure the heel of the moving foot comes all the way down and touches the ground – not just the toe touching. Then sit on it – meaning, your bottom should drop down low with each step in.
CURTSIES: Be sure to not put ANY weight on the back foot. Use it only for balance. Also, with each bend, you should come ALL the way back up to a stand. It’s the upward motion that works the glutes. So, all the way down, and all the way up. Add a dumbbell in the dropped hand for more resistance.
Have a great workout!!
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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.
Simple Quad & Glute Workout
We are approaching bikini season so it’s time to take our lower body workout up a notch! Cardio burns fat, but weight training is what plumps up the bottom, smooths out the skin and minimizes the appearance of cellulite – plus it gives us the “right” kind of curves!
Personally, I’ve always wondered why we break up our upper body workouts into smaller body parts, but we expect to do our legs in one day and it be just as effective. So, I decided I needed to change this.
I started breaking up my legs – one day I do quads and glutes and later in the week I do hamstrings and glutes. I LOVE it – and considering I hate doing legs, that’s a really good thing!
Here was my workout yesterday!
Simple Quad & Glute Workout
Warm Up: Air Squats
4 Super Sets:
15 Back Squat (Heavy)
15 Overhead Squat with just the bar or pipe (DEEP!!!)
4 Sets – Walking Lunges (with 20lbs dumbbells) 30 steps
3 Sets – Leg Extension (toes pointed out)
3 Sets – Leg Extensions (toes pointed in)
Finish with step ups, knee repeaters, curtsies or skaters to really kill it!
PS: Just in case you noticed my new shoes! OMG I love them! They are my new Reebok SubLite Train. They are nice and flat (great for lifting) and super light. They have a high heel (for good achilles support) and they lace up a little higher than running shoes (great for mountain climbers and other exercises where a shoe might want to slip off the heel). The SubLites & Nanos are my favorite shoes for the gym!
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
