Tag Archives: obliques

Medicine Ball Cross Body Mountain Climber

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Hey there, it’s a new week and that means it’s time for a new exercise!  The Home Exercise of the Week this time is another core exercise called Medicine Ball Cross Body Mountain Climber.

With this exercise you will be targeting your abdominal muscles, especially your obliques, as well as your chest, shoulders, triceps, hip flexors, and lower back.  The added instability of planking on the medicine ball while doing the mountain climber further engages your core muscles and stabilizers, making it quite challenging.

Here are the key points to doing the Medicine Ball Cross Body Mountain Climber properly:

  • start in a plank position with your hands on the medicine ball
  • make sure the ball is directly underneath your chest
  • engage your abdominals and keep tight throughout the movement
  • from the full plank position, drive your right knee towards your left elbow giving your abs a really good flex
  • return to the starting position and then drive your left knee towards your right elbow
  • repeat until you have finished your set

So there you have the Medicine Ball Cross Body Mountain Climber.  Take it slow at first until you feel comfortable balancing yourself on the ball.  Once you get the hang of it you can try increasing your rep speed to add a cardiovascular component.

If you like this exercise leave a comment below.  I’d love to hear what you think.

Happy climbing!

Moguls

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Hey everyone, it’s time for a new Home Exercise of the Week!  The exercise this week is one that is challenging and honestly not a favourite of many but it is a very effective core and cardiovascular exercise!  They are Moguls!

Moguls target your abdominals, especially your obliques, but they also work your chest, shoulders, and triceps from holding yourself in the plank position.  Your legs and glutes will also get a good workout from this exercise.

Let’s take a look at the key points to doing Moguls properly:

  • start in a full plank position with your knees off the ground and tucked in underneath you
  • while flexing your core, jump your feet out to the side while keeping your knees tucked in and dropping your hip close to the ground
  • from this side position, jump all the way to the other side and drop your hip down again close to the ground
  • keep jumping from side to side at a fairly quick pace while keeping your core flexed and your knees tucked in underneath you

So there you have Moguls.  It’s challenging, your heart rate will be up, your abs will be burning, you’ll be sweating, but in the end you’ll be glad you did them and they will get easier the more you do them!

Leave a comment below and let me know how you do.  You can even curse me for presenting this crazy exercise to you!

See you next week with another new exercise!

Cross Body Punch Jump Squat

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Hey everyone!  I’m back with a new Home Exercise of the Week and this time I have a great full body exercise for you to try called the Cross Body Punch Jump Squat.

This exercise will work your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, obliques, deltoids, and triceps as well as giving you a great cardiovascular workout.

If you have problems with your knees then I would suggest not doing the jump squat and instead just do a stationary squat.

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

  • stand tall with your feet shoulder width apart and your fists up in front of you
  • rotate your body to the left while rotating your right foot and extending your right arm out to a punch
  • make sure that you are flexing your abs throughout the entire movement
  • return to the starting position then rotate your body to the right while rotating your left foot and extending your left arm
  • return to the starting position again and go in to a deep squat making sure you are sitting back on your heels
  • in one explosive movement jump up as high as you can and then land back in to a deep squat
  • repeat for the desired amount of reps

There you have the Cross Body Punch Jump Squat.  Add this exercise to your full body routine and get those muscles working!

Quick Tabata Workout

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Hey everyone, I have a new Home Workout of the Week for you to try!

This Quick Tabata Workout will get your heart pumping, calories burned, and muscles pumped.  As always make sure that you pay special attention to your form in order to get the best and safest results.

Tabata workouts are quick but intense.  With the warm-up, you should be able to complete this workout in about 30 minutes but if you need to take longer breaks between each Tabata then that is perfectly ok.  In time with consistent workouts you will build up your endurance and intensity.

Have fun and get sweating!

Quick Tabata Workout

Tabata Protocol – 20 seconds of as many reps as you can do 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 pair of exercises

Warm-Up

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

Tabata 1

Tabata 2

Tabata 3

Tabata 4

 

Side Plank Contralateral Knee Tuck

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Hey there!  I have a new Home Exercise of the Week to show you and this core exercise is going to target your obliques as well as work your shoulders isometrically.  It’s called the Side Plank Contralateral Knee Tuck and it is quite challenging so take it slow until you get the hang of it and then work your way up to higher reps.

Let’s take a look at the key points to doing the Side Plank Contralateral Knee Tuck properly.

  • start in a side plank position with your elbow directly under your shoulder
  • offset your foot position by bringing your top leg to the front and your bottom leg to the back
  • raise your hips up until your body is straight and contract your abdominals
  • extend your top arm overhead and from this position drive your bottom knee up underneath you and at the same time bend your top arm so the elbow and knee meet in the middle
  • squeeze your abdominals then return to the starting position
  • repeat for the desired amount of time or reps then do the same for the other side

So there you have the Side Plank Contralateral Knee Tuck.  It’s a tough one but well worth the effort!  If you have any questions please comment on this post or feel free to email me.

Happy planking!