Tag Archives: exercise

Reverse Lunge Leg Kick

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The Home Exercise of the Week this week is the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick.  If you ever have one of those personal trainers that are always pushing you to do more when you don’t want to, then this exercise could come in handy! 😉

Like a regular reverse lunge, the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick works your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.  Adding the leg kick however, will increase the difficulty and will greatly improve balance, coordination, and core strength.

Some key points to remember when doing the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick:

  • Step backwards with one leg and lunge down until both legs are at 90 degree angles
  • Keep your back upright and straight throughout the movement
  • When stepping out of the lunge, push up through your front heel
  • When raising your knee up to do the kick, make sure to really squeeze your ab muscles (make sure your trainer is close enough in front of you as well if he/she is annoying you!)
  • give a nice forceful kick and bring the same leg back in to the lunge and repeat
  • do 10 to 12 reps for one leg then repeat on the other leg

So there you have the Reverse Lunge Leg Kick!  This is a great variation to the regular lunge and also good practice if you ever want to be a kung fu master!

Cross Body Mountain Climber

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This week’s featured exercise is the Cross Body Mountain Climber.  This is a fantastic exercise that will build strength and tone your abs including your obliques.  Not only will it bring you one step closer to that highly sought after “six pack”, it will also strengthen and tone your entire body!  Shoulders, triceps, chest, back, quadriceps, glutes, and calves are also working in this movement.

Some key points to remember when doing the Cross Body Mountain Climber is to keep your body straight from head to toe.  So no butts in the air on this one!  If your butt is up high you won’t be engaging your abs and too much strain will be put on your shoulders.  Another point to remember is to keep your abdominals flexed throughout the movement.  An easy way to engage your abs is to pull your belly button in towards your spine.  If you aren’t flexing your stomach then the abs aren’t being worked as effectively as they could be.

The difference between this exercise and the regular Mountain Climber is the degree to which your oblique muscles are being used.  Driving your knee to your opposite elbow will really get them working.

The Cross Body Mountain Climber can be done anywhere so by adding this great core exercise to your routine you’ll be on your way to a strong and flat stomach!

Close-Grip Pushup

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The Home Exercise of the Week this week is the Close-Grip Pushup also known as the Military Pushup.  This is a great exercise to work your tricep muscles, inner chest muscle, anterior deltoid (front shoulder), as well as your core!

This is generally more challenging than a regular pushup because the tricep muscles are the prime mover whereas your chest does more of the work in a regular pushup.  Since the tricep muscles are smaller than the muscles of your chest they won’t have as much strength.

If you are new to performing the Close-Grip Pushup, you will most likely find that your elbows tend to flare out from your body because your chest takes over and does the work to compensate for the weaker tricep muscles.  You will want to try and keep your elbows tucked in to your body as much as possible to avoid this.  Over time, as your triceps get stronger, it will be much easier to keep your elbows from leaving your sides.

Another key point to remember when performing this exercise is to always keep your body as straight as possible.  There is a tendency, especially from the kneeling position, to just move your upper body down towards the floor while leaving your butt up in the air.  You will want to make sure that your hips come down with you so you get the full benefit of the exercise.

So there you have the Close-Grip Pushup!  Add this effective exercise to your routine and you’ll be on your way to sculpting strong and shapely arms!

One Sided Body Weight Squat

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This weeks Home Exercise of the Week is the One Sided Body Weight Squat.  This is a great exercise to isolate one leg more than the other and is a nice change from doing just regular squats.  The muscles being worked are your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.  The key to doing this exercise properly is to keep your body weight on that one leg the whole time while using the other leg for balance support.  Make sure to push up through the heel of the working leg and keep your back upright and straight.  To make this a little more challenging try holding on to some dumbbells or a kettle bell!

Helicopter

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The Home Exercise of the Week this week is the Helicopter.  I could have called it a squat jump with a 180 degree turn but that’s pretty boring!  This is a plyometric exercise that will target your quads, hamstrings, and glutes while building explosive power and improving agility and coordination.

Also, since this is a plyometric movement that requires many muscle groups to work together, your cardiovascular system will be working hard and your body will require a lot more oxygen.

Is this a challenging exercise?  A big YES to that question!  The movement itself is fairly straight forward but the challenge comes with the jumping and turning part of the exercise.  Your heart pumps faster and harder and your breathing rate increases quite a bit to get that much needed oxygen to your muscles.  But…the rewards to doing this exercise and many others like it far outweigh the uncomfortable feeling while doing it.  You will burn more calories with this exercise than just a regular squat and if your goal is fat loss then definitely try adding this to your routine!