Glutes and Arms

    The exercises I did this week mainly focused on toning my glutes and arms. Using a 25 or 45 pound bar and dumbbells are great tools to achieve toning both of these areas. A good movement to tone your butt are glute bridges. This exercise targets your hamstrings and all the muscles in your glutes. By working these muscles it leaves you with a fitter and firmer butt.

    Start by lying on your back, placing you feet flat on the floor about shoulder with apart, and your arms flat by your side. Push your hips upward, at full extension, while keeping your feet flat to form a straight line. Hold at the top of the movement for a few seconds, while tightening your glutes, before you slowly lower back to starting. Repeat this movement 10 times for 3 sets.

This next exercise you can preform when you want to make glute bridges more difficult. Start by getting a small box sturdy enough to apply pressure to. Place your feet flat at the top of the edge of the box. Do the same thing that you would do with normal glute bridges. These are so beneficial in tightening/ toning the hamstrings, butt, and activating the core..

Overhead press is something that you are going to want to make sure someone is around for before you start your reps. Place you hands about shoulder with apart on the bar, get a loose rip, and step in  getting under the bar while squeezing your elbows in. Lift the bar clearing the rack before you start your reps. Press straight up over head with full extension in the arms.

 Start by repeating this movement 5 times for 3 set. As you get more comfortable you can build up the reps and the weight. I started with a 25 pound bar and added 5 pounds by the second set. Overhead press is a fantastic strength/ muscle builder for the whole upper body and core.

The last exercise I have is dumbbell bench press. This is a another great workout for toning your upper body. Lying down on a flat surface, startingwith a comfortable weight,  take one weight in each hand. Press straight up over your sternum keeping your arms even with a grip that creates a 90- degree angle between the forearm and the upper arm in the middle of the movement. Repeat this 15 times for 3 sets.

Those are all the exercises I have hope that you get a chance to try them. If you are looking for a gym and trainer in the Moorpark/Thousand Oaks area I recommend OSC (Olsen strength and conditioning). He is a great personal trainer and I can provide you with more information. Hope that you stay persistent with your workouts.

Pool Fun

Last week was so hot it made it hard for me to want to go outside and exercise. This was the perfect time for me to do some pool exercises that I found in a magazine titled, What Doctors Don’t Tell You. In the magazine there was an article, "Making Waves" written by Charlotte Watts, that explains why and how working out in the water is a fantastic way to get fit. Many of the exercises were simple, but you could feel them working when you got out. Doing exercises in the pool is great for people with bad joints, since it has low impact, there is no equipment required, it is stress relaxing, and people of all ages can enjoy . Water exercise builds stamina, strength, and flexibility. This was such a great way for me to exercise, not being able to walk well or run; since I could run in the pool without fear of falling and it gave me a chance to work on my balance. The poses I  performed I usually have a hard time with on land. When I got out of the pool I could feel the difference in myself, and the muscles I used were soar. If you don’t have a pool you can go to your community pool (like I did) or local YMCA. Water is great because, it supports our weight and gives us rest from gravity; making these normally strenuous exercises a way to destress.

The first exercise I show you are lunges, which works the glutes, hamstrings, inner thighs and shoulders. This is a natural bipedal movement. Doing this in the pool is much easier than on land since it has little wear to the knees by getting rid of the hard impact of the ground, and the water supports you while you balance.

          Other exercises that work on the glutes and hamstrings are Squats and Outer leg lifts. For the leg lifts I hung on to the side of the pool to help keep my balance, while drawing my leg up to its full range and back down to center. If you want to make this movement more challenging trying doing the motion without holding on to the wall. Do reps of 10 to 15 repeating 3 times. 

        When squatting place your feet wide, a little further than shoulder width apart, squat down into the water exhaling, as you come back above the surface inhale. Do as many rounds of 10 to 15 squats as long as you feel good. 

       Hamstring curls are another good exercise to focus on your glutes and hamstrings. While standing on one leg alternately lift the other leg towards your glutes. To make this exercise a little more difficult, to work on your balance, you can alternate lifting one leg while curling your opposite arm at the same time. Do the same amount of reps on both legs repeating as many times as you can.

        If you want to focus more on your arms, push-ups and triceps dip are a must. For the push- ups place your hands comfortably on the edge on the pool, keeping your chest up and elbows in, pushing your body straight up as if you were getting out. Start with 5 push-ups building up to as many as you'd  like.

         When performing triceps- dip, turn around placing your hands behind you, just about the same distance as the push- ups. Engage your abs as you push down on the heels on your hands, lifting yourself out of the water and back down again. Keep your chest lifted through the sets. Do as many as you’d like, build up the repetition the same as the push- ups.

 The last exercise I show you mostly targets the areas around the stomach. In this exercise we will be focusing on contracting your abdominal muscles, to keep yourself afloat. You will be making a V- shape with your body, pointing your toes up out of the water and curving your lower back. Circulate your hands underneither you as you try to keep your head above the water. This move involves the whole body by shifting your body weight in the attempt to keep yourself afloat (I had a hard time with this, as you can see by the picture). My grandpa does this all the time!

I hope that you find these workouts helpful, and can try some before it gets too cold to go in the pool. Hopefully you can see what I'm doing in the pictures and use them as a reference. Thanks for reading and remember to be patient with yourselves and that persistence is all.