Wednesday Workout!

I've decided to post a workout that I've done here every Wednesday. I figure it's a good way to keep the blog's  Fitness section from dying out, and I've also been coming across really great, quick workouts online.

Do each week's workout three times before starting the next week's routine. It will help to quickly and efficiently build up muscle before you change it up to surprise your muscles. Doing the same weights/strength moves without changing it up causes your body to adapt. Your body is inherently, fabulously lazy and will always figure out how to adapt as soon as it can. Switching up your strength workout on a weekly basis will prevent this from happening, keeping your body and muscles on their toes, your metabolism up, and most importantly, your boredom from kicking in.

It's great too, because Todd has a knack for coming up with great interval strength training workouts that are quick, hard and to the point, so I'm going to be posting routines that he has come up with for me.  I will start off by saying that all of his workout routines require weights of some sort. Dumbells can suffice but a kettlebell is really the way to go. A medicine ball is another best friend, too.

However, since I swiped today's workout from theberry.com (again), it doesn't require any weights, only your awesome body and the ability to count to 40-hippopotamus. Like Todd's workouts and the one I posted last week, this routine should take you less than 20 minutes to complete.

I did this yesterday after work and I'm SO glad I did. It was too chilly to go swimming but I didn't want to dive right into a calorie rich Valentine's Day dinner so I banged this puppy out beforehand to even the playing field, so to speak. Enjoy, and check out the ab pyramid below this workout; I finished up with that and today I'm delighted to report very sore muscles.

Abs Pyramid

8 scissor crunches  (pilates fan might recognize this but there's no ball to pass from feet to hands) Lying on your back, arms stretched out by your ears, simultaneously raise your feet and arms so your fingers and toes touch, then lower your limbs til they almost touch the ground. Repeat.
10 fold-out crunches Lying on your back, place hands behind your head in classic crunch fashion, shoulders off the floor. Lift your legs in a fetal position, knees close to touching your nose. Simultaneously lower your legs and shoulders to the floor. Repeat.
20 bicycle legs Instead of doing the full bicycle, keep your shoulders on the ground. Alternate bringing one leg to your chest, and extending the other out, but never resting on the floor.
30 bicycles Most people know what this is, but since I've already explained the hell out of the other moves, just click this
20 bicycle legs
10 fold-out crunches
8 scissor crunches

Before you know it, you've done over 100 crunches!