Six Week Workout Program

Holiday Home Workout

Holiday Workouts For Wherever You Are

The holidays present a workout problem. You are either traveling or you may be at home and the gym is closed. Even if you don’t workout for the same duration as you normally do at times during the holidays you should try to make the time you do workout the most effective. These are four exercises you can do anywhere that will ensure you’re working all major muscles and won’t miss a beat when you get back to your regular routine.

1-leg stiff leg dead lift with row

Stand on your left leg with a dumbbell (use a milk jug or water bottle instead if needed) in your right hand. Bend over at the waist keeping a neutral spine (flat back with slight extension)! When you feel a stretch in your hamstring stop and perform a row- by flexing your bicep and your upper-back muscles you’ll pull the dumbbell to the front of your shoulder. Lower the dumbbell and come back to a standing position on your left leg. Switch sides after each set. Perform 2 or 3 sets on each side of 8 to 12 repetitions.

This is an excellent exercise because it works your posterior chain- muscles involved in pulling movements- so well! Stabilizer muscles, mover muscles, propioception- knowledge of where your body is in space- and balance are all worked exceptionally!

Stabilizer push-ups

Everyone does push-ups. During the holidays perform your push-ups with a 2-4-2 tempo. This means that you will take 2 seconds to lower yourself to two inches above the ground, hold yourself in the lowered position for 4 seconds, then take 2 seconds to raise yourself to a beginning position. Always ensure that you have a neutral spine when performing push-ups. The most common mistake is letting your back be in a position of extension- back dipped down. If you do err slightly err with your spine flexed- arching it with your butt in the air. Perform 2 to 4 sets of 6 to 15 repetitions.

1-leg squats

Stand on your left leg with your right leg flexed and have a big chest. Squat down till your left thigh is near parallel with the ground and then stand up. Perform 2 or 3 sets on each leg of 5 to 20 repetitions.

Jumping Jacks

Jumping jacks are so effective because your upper and lower body is being exercised and you can do them anywhere! I don’t need to tell you how to do jumping jacks because everyone did them in PE classes when they were younger. A tip to help you do more of them is do them for time, not for count. It’s much easier to keep pushing yourself when you plan on going for a few minutes than for a certain number.

One arm dumbbell bench and shoulder press

The one arm dumbbell bench press and the one arm dumbbell shoulder press are oft overlooked in our workout programs, but very important!

What they are:  You perform a DB shoulder press or DB bench press like normal, but only one hand holds a dumbbell.

Why: When only one of your hands holds a DB your core has to counteract the torque created by the weight in the other hand.  This is fantastic for stabilizer muscles in your core.  This will help you improve the amount of weight that you can do when using both hands for these exercises because your core allow you to push more weight.

When:  These exercises should not completely replace barbell bench presses or shoulder presses or two arm DB bench presses or shoulder presses, but complement.  If you bench heavy early in the week, then perform one arm dumbbell bench presses later in the week.  This allows you to not over train your pectoral muscles, but it does allow you to stimulate them again.  It also benefits other muscles: core stabilizer muscles, shoulder stabilizer muscles,  and triceps. These lifts will decrease risk for injury in daily activities, athletics, and weight lifting.

There is more to weight lifting than how much you can lift, how many calories you burn, and how much muscle you can obtain.  While these exercises help you do all of those things they also improve your safety by improving posture and stabilizer muscles.  Don’t forget to incorporate these into your workout programs this week!

Decline, Incline, and Flat Bench Press

At almost every gym we have the option to perform the bench press below on a decline bench, and incline bench and a flat bench.  Is there a benefit to doing all three types of bench presses and what are the benefits?

- I must debunk a common myth first!  Using an incline bench versus a flat does not work the “upper pec” more.  The same goes for using a decline bench; you do not work more of your “lower pec” on a decline bench.  Skeletal muscles are striated.  A muscle fiber either contracts or it doesn’t from the insertion to the origin of the muscle fiber.  The weight determines the number of the muscle fibers we use in each of the working muscles. The lighter the weight – fewer muscle fibers are used.  The heavier the weight – more muscle fibers are used.

- There is, however, a benefit of not just doing flat bench.  Incline bench will work muscles in your shoulder more than just a flat bench.  Decline bench will work your lat (latissimus dorsi) muscles more than a flat bench, but I don’t recommend doing decline bench because it is not very good for the shoulder socket.

I hope this helps you make your workouts more effective and safe.