Tag Archives: metabolic rate

Training and Nutrition Tip – Plateau’s

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Sometimes a plateau is reached in your training program after initial progress. This is due to your body being lighter and burning less energy with every activity you do. To get over this plateau either increase your activity, consume a little bit less food with each meal, or a combination of both. If you are trying to gain lean muscle mass then you need to consume more calories during each meal. Measure your progress often so you can adjust your plan and minimize the occurrence of these plateau’s!

Lateral Lunge Helicopter

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Hey everyone!  It’s time for another Home Exercise of the Week and this week I have combined two exercises in one to really burn your legs out and get your heart rate up.

The exercise is called the Lateral Lunge Helicopter and it’s going to target all the muscles of the lower body.  It’s a plyometric move as well so get ready to sweat as your heart rate increases to pump all the oxygenated blood to the working muscles!  You’ll not only be working your lower body but you will be working on your cardiovascular conditioning as well.

Also, if you hold a dumbbell with both hands in a half curled position while doing the movement you can get a good isometric bicep workout during the set!

Let’s take a look at how to do the Lateral Lunge Helicopter properly.

  • stand tall with your shoulders back and your feet shoulder width apart
  • lunge to your right and keep your body weight on your right heel
  • keep your left leg straight while squatting down on your right leg
  • push up through your right leg back to the starting position
  • squat down on both legs and then jump as hard as you can and turn 180 degrees in the air
  • you’ll now be facing the opposite direction
  • lunge to your left side to work your left leg and repeat the movement

So there you have the Lateral Lunge Helicopter!  It is quite challenging but once you get the hang of it, you’ll want to add this in to your lower body or full body workout routine.  Nothing gets you results more quickly than plyometric and dynamic movements!

Happy jumping and I’ll see you next week with another new exercise!

Split Squat Jump

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Hey everyone!  It’s time for a new Home Exercise of the Week and this week I have a plyometric lower body exercise for you to try.  It’s called the Split Squat Jump and I won’t lie…this one is going to burn!  Don’t let that scare you away though because the benefits outweigh the temporary discomfort.

The Split Squat Jump is going to target your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. This will also help to improve your balance and the plyometric component of the exercise will burn more calories and help improve your cardiovascular conditioning.

Let’s take a look at the key points to doing the Spit Squat Jump properly.

  • start in a lunge position with one foot in front of you and one behind
  • maintain an upright position throughout the movement with your head up and shoulders back
  • lunge down until both legs are at 90 degree angles
  • from the bottom position, explode up quickly jumping in the air while maintaining your leg position
  • land from the jump and immediately lunge down again and repeat
  • do 10 to 12 reps on one side or for the desired amount of time then switch to the other side

So there you have the Split Squat Jump!  Give it a try and let me know how you do.  Work hard, stay healthy and I’ll see you next week with another new exercise!

Cardio Tabata Workout

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Hello, it’s time for another Home Workout of the Week!  With all the previous workouts I’ve posted the main focus has been on resistance training using just your body weight.  The following routine though is more focused on the cardiovascular component of a workout.

There are many ways to achieve a good cardiovascular workout without having to use a treadmill, bike, or elliptical.  You can go for a walk, jog, bike ride, or swim for example.  By far, the best type of cardiovascular training for boosting your metabolism, fat loss, and strengthening your heart and lungs, is interval training.  Interval training has been shown to cause your body to burn more fat and calories for 24 hours after the workout than it would if you did a steady pace cardio workout.

A very effective type of interval training is the Tabata so this week I would like you to try my Cardio Tabata Workout.  It’s intense and will also work your legs too but the focus is on the cardiovascular component.  This workout has 4 rounds of 4 different Tabata’s and should take you approximately 20 minutes to complete.  This is a great workout to do between your strength training sessions.

Get ready to sweat and let me know how you do!

Cardio Tabata Workout

Tabata Protocol – 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest; 4 rounds of each pair of exercises followed by a 1 minute rest before moving on to the next Tabata

Tabata 1

  • Burpee
  • Spider Jump (like a spider man climb but jumping to each side instead)

Tabata 2

Tabata 3

  • Cross Country Skier
  • Seal Jack

Tabata 4

  • Speed Skater
  • High Knee Running

Lower Body/Core Circuit Workout

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Hey there!  I hope you’ve been working hard with these Home Workouts of the Week.  I have a new one for you this week and this time you are going to be doing a Lower Body/Core Circuit Workout!

Legs are always challenging and the least favorite for most people to work on.  The reason for this is because the legs consist of some of the biggest muscles in your body and thus require more oxygen and blood to be pumped to them while exercising.  This means a higher heart rate and more rapid breathing.  So basically working your legs is going to really tire you out.  That being said, the benefits far outweigh the temporary discomfort.  Working your legs will increase your metabolism, burn more calories, excrete more growth hormone in the body helping them to recover as well as helping the rest of your muscles to grow, and also give you shapely toned legs over time.

So work your legs hard and enjoy the benefits!  Let me know how you do with the workout or if you have any questions.

Happy leg training!

Lower Body/Core Workout

Warm-Up

  • 30 seconds of Jumping Jacks
  • 10 Spinal Rotations for each side
  • 10 Shoulder Circles for each arm
  • 12 Body Weight Squats
  • 12 Spiderman Climbs

Circuit

Rest for 60 to 90 seconds then repeat the circuit 2 more times.

Core