Tag Archives: glutes

Wall Sit Shoulder Press

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It’s time for another Home Exercise of the Week!  Get your legs and shoulders fired up with the Wall Sit Shoulder Press.

From the video, it may look simple enough but don’t let that fool you…this will burn!  Grown men have almost cried because of the wall sit, curses have been vocalized through clenched teeth, and sweat has poured down grimaced faces.  I know it sounds horrible and you might be thinking “Craig, why would I ever want to put myself through that?”.

Well the answer to your question is you will gain more strength and endurance in your legs, you will increase strength and mobility in your shoulders, and you will strengthen the deep core muscles of your trunk and your spinal muscles.  All that plus if you’re weird like me, you might even think it’s fun! (Ok I’ll be honest…it’s more fun making people do it than actually doing it!)

The wall sit portion of this exercise is isometric which means you are working your muscles without any movement at the joint.  This is great for building strength and endurance.

Some key points to remember when doing the Wall Sit Shoulder Press:

  • make sure your knees are directly over your ankles
  • slide down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor
  • keep your back pressed firmly against the wall
  • press your arms back against the wall as much as you can throughout the movement (you may not be able to maintain contact with the wall throughout the exercise at first but over time your mobility will increase)
  • exhale as your press up and inhale as you lower your arms

So there you have the Wall Sit Shoulder Press.  Start with a couple sets of 12 repetitions or a couple of timed sets of 30 seconds at the end your leg or shoulder workout and feel the burn!

Sea Turtle

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In case you just quickly read the title of this post I’m not actually going to be talking about Sea Turtles!  As cute as they are, this is a fitness website…not a wildlife one. 😉

What I am going to discuss here is the Sea Turtle exercise for the Home Exercise of the Week.

I would say this is an easier exercise compared to some of the exercises I have shown in the past but it is still very effective and will help strengthen your lower back muscles.  Along with the erector spinae muscles, you will be working your glutes, posterior deltoids (rear shoulder), rhomboids (middle back), and trapezius (large muscle that spans the neck, shoulders, and back).

Some key points to remember when doing the Sea Turtle:

  • keep your head up off the floor and in line with your spine
  • laying on your stomach can make it hard to breath but try not to hold your breath
  • squeeze your shoulder blades together when bringing your arms out to the side
  • perform at a nice even pace…not too fast, not too slow.  A good speed would be two seconds out then two seconds in

Try doing a couple sets of 20 repetitions to start off with then as you get comfortable with the movement, try a couple timed sets of as many Sea Turtles as you can do in 20 – 30 seconds.

So there you have the Sea Turtle!  It’s not just a cute animal anymore but an effective back and butt 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!

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!