Archive for the ‘Workouts’ Category
5000 STAIRS
Yes, that is the Week 4 Challenge!!! If you do 10 sets of the Capitol Hill Stairs on 10th AVE E and E Blaine St that would be 2930…..you’d be more than half way there!!! Seriously, Seattle is the stair city…..they are everywhere…..Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Ravenna, Lake Washington, Leschi, UW, your house, your office building, school, your Reebok Step…..whatever it takes:) Teresa is doing them in Paris so vacation is no excuse! Keep going with your H20, Temple Crunches, Fruits and Veggies and now add the stairs in and you are GOLDEN! You have 6 more days to get your stairs in…..We will be at the Capitol Hill Stairs on Wed morning crankin em out:)
Week 3 Challenge
I am writing to you from Denver Colorado….where we are watching the Women’s Final Four Basketball Tournament! Did I mention that we were on TV (only because we sat in front of Condoleezza Rice….I thought maybe it was my bright yellow shirt and my sunny personality). That doesn’t mean I am not thinking about your fitness!!!! Are you ready for the WEEK 3 CHALLENGE??
In week 3 our challenge is to get 5 cups of Veggies and Fruits per day-
Preferably 3 cups of veggies and 2 cups of fruits. Check out these recipes and more information about the benefits of eating vegetables and fruits.
Remember we are keeping up with the following:
Week 1 Challenge- 60oz of H2O daily
Week 2- 500 Temple Crunches per week
Week 3- 5 cups of veggies and fruits per day
Keep up the great work everyone!!!!!
Signing off now….need to make sure Orion’s form is good on her temple crunchesJ
5 MUST DO BUTT EXERCISES
We all want a nice booty, right?
Incorporate the following best backside exercises in your regular strength routine and you’ll burn fat, shape and firm your booty, sculpt surrounding muscle groups, and rev up your metabolism.
1. Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell swings combine strength and cardio training to redefine your backside. In addition to toning your glutes and hip flexors, you’ll work your core, and cardiovascular system (an all-in-one exercise). Stand with your legs shoulder width apart. Place the kettlebell about one foot in front of you. Push your hips backward, with a slight bend in the knee (shins almost vertical) and reach forward, placing both hands on the kettlebell. From your “hike position” (hips pushed backward, back flat, and chest out) hike the kettlebell behind you, with a purpose (don’t let go).Drive your hips forward, while contracting your glutes and tucking your tailbone under, to swing the kettlebell (always above the knees) until you are standing at “attention” with your hands about chest height.
Important Tips: Always make sure to keep your abs tight (this will keep your lower back protected.) Keep your neck in line with the rest of your spine. Always drive the swing with your hips and NOT your arms. If the bell ever gets too far out in front of you, never reach for it- just let it drop!
2. Lunges
Lunges are a workout staple that will firm your butt and tone your legs. Start with your feet hip width apart then step forward with one leg. Keeping your abs tight, chest high, and spine straight, sink down into the move until your front thigh is parallel to the floor and your back knee is almost touching the ground. Concentrate on squeezing your glutes as you push through your front heel back to the starting position. Important tip: don’t let your moving knee extend past your toes.
3. Step Ups
This is a great exercise for your butt as well as your quads and calves. Step ups also increase your heart rate so you’ll get the extra benefit of fat-blasting cardio. Stand with your right foot firmly planted on a step or a bench, your left foot on the floor. Push down through your right heel to straighten and stand on your right leg, squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement. At the same time, pull your left leg forward and up, knee bent 90 degrees and raised waist-high. Lower your left leg back to the ground, then step your right foot down. Alternate legs to make one rep.
4. Single Leg Bench Squats
All you need for this one is a bench! Stand in a staggered stance with your left foot slightly in front of your right. Keep your right foot flat on the ground and point your left toe up and left heel down so it is in contact with the floor. You will be using your right leg to do the squat. Squat down with your right leg and slowly lower yourself onto the bench (use L heel for balance). Keep your eyes forward and chest up. Stand back up focusing on pushing up through the right heel. The left foot will help you balance as you stand up out of the squat. Do a full series of reps before switching to your left leg for the second half of the set.
5. Single Leg Deadlifts
Single leg deadlifts do triple duty, activating your muscles for a highly effective toning session that works your butt, hamstrings, and lower back. Holding a kettlebell/dumbbell in each hand, stand with your feet hip width apart, knees soft. Keeping your weight firmly on your left leg, lean forward from your hips, reaching the dumbbells toward your left foot and raising your right leg out behind you. Remember to keep your core tight and not round your back. Now stand straight, squeezing your glutes as you come back to start. Do a full series of reps before switching to your right leg for the second half of the set.
In case you are not in our current boot camp session, we cover these exercises and MUCH MUCH MORE! Seattle’s Best Boot Camp’s next session begins March 19. SIGN UP NOW!
Get out and Play with your Kids!!
OK….I have been thinking about kids lately…..why???!!! Well I am adopting a little girl from Nepal, her name will be Orion Kirchoff and it has been a long 2 and ½ years of waiting….but I am so excited!
So with kids in mind and the summer weather to enjoy, outdoor play seems like a great topic to talk about.J Most boot campers and clients know that movement is more than just what you do in the gym….it is about living a more active life. That is why I am challenging you all to get out there and play with your kids (or nieces, nephews, neighbors, or pets). Not only will it strengthen your body, it will strengthen your relationships.
Most of us remember the times our parents took us hiking, bike riding, walking the dog, or even kicking the ball around. There is something about being active with the ones you love that tend to create lasting memories.
Here are some ideas for activities you can do with the kiddos in your life….can’t wait to test this out on my own little one!
Circuit
• Get to a tree as fast as you can (walk briskly, jog, run, skip, side shuffle)
• Work together as a family to climb the first branch of the tree (one person at a time)
• Get to a bench as fast as you can (walk briskly, jog, run, skip, side shuffle)
• Do 20 step ups
• Do 10 dips
• Get to the swing as fast as you can (walk briskly, jog, run, skip, side shuffle) Swing as hard and high as you can 30x
• Run up the slide and down the stairs. Repeat 10x
Take a brake (sometimes they won’t want to!!!! That is when you know you have them trained!)
Repeat the whole circuit 2 more times and go home and enjoy a glass of wine while your kids are passed out with fatigue!!
Tag Games
• 1-Leg – Everyone hops around on one leg
• Freeze – Once tagged, you stop until a partner touches you and makes you ‘free’ again
• Monkey/Frog – Everyone jumps around like a monkey or frog — both the person who is ‘it’ as well as those not ‘it’
Back yard games
With younger kids, you can also play games like Capture the Flag or Simon Says. What about playing Simon Says when Simon is calling out instructions very quickly and they include things like running to a specific spot, jumping, squatting down, standing on a single leg? It’s fun and physically demanding. Create circuits that include these patterns:
• Crawl
• Climb
• Run
• Jump/Skip
• Throw/Kick
Find Your Zone
5 days left until the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon and Half Marathon!!! We have at least 30 Seattle’s Best Boot Campers/Alum and or Kirchoff Fitness PT clients that are headed to the start line!!! (warms my heartJ) My 70 year old mom is hitting the pavement too!!! Go Sumiko!!!
Many of us start a fitness progam to ‘lose weight or drop body fat’ so when the fitness industry introduced the ‘fat burning zone’, a place where we could get on a treadmill and stay in the same zone without breaking a sweat AND watch our favorite TV show, we all jumped! In contrast to training in the fat burning zone, some decide to make the commitment to train for an event/activity….like the Rock N Roll Marathon. And although making a commitment to hard work will take us out of the ‘fat burning zone’ it keeps interest high, teaches self-motivation, encourages community, increases strength and endurance, and it sure doesn’t hurt the body fat goal either!
So for those who are interested in the best way to burn calories or drop body fat…..well here is the skinny. (By the way- many of YOU ARE ALREADY DOING THIS!!!) Check out this article from the IDEA fitness Journal!
FAT BURNING MYTHS AND FACTS
A popular myth is that there is a specific range of heart rates in which you must exercise to burn fat. Even many cardio machines display a “fat-burning zone” on their panels, encouraging people to exercise in a specific heart rate range. Have you ever wondered if you really have to exercise in a specific heart rate zone to lose fat? And what happens if you venture out of that zone? Jason R. Karp, PhD, a nationally recognized speaker, writer and exercise physiologist who coaches recreational runners to Olympic hopefuls through his company, RunCoachJason.com, sheds light on this issue.
Fuel Use During Exercise
You use both fat and carbohydrates for energy during exercise, with these two fuels providing that energy on a sliding scale. During exercise at a very low intensity (e.g., walking), fat accounts for most of the energy expenditure. As exercise intensity increases up to the lactate threshold (the exercise intensity that marks the transition between exercise that is almost purely aerobic and exercise that includes a significant anaerobic contribution; also considered the highest sustainable aerobic intensity), the contribution from fat decreases while the contribution from carbohydrates increases. When exercising just below the lactate threshold, you are using mostly carbohydrates. Once the intensity of exercise has risen above the lactate threshold, carbohydrates become the only fuel source.
If you exercise long enough (1.5–2 hours), your muscle carbohydrate (glycogen) content and blood glucose concentration become low. This metabolic state presents a threat to the muscles’ survival, since carbohydrates are muscles’ preferred fuel. When carbohydrates are not available, the muscles are forced to rely on fat as fuel.
Since more fat is used at low exercise intensities, people often assume that low-intensity exercise is best for burning fat, an idea that has given birth to the “fat-burning zone.” However, while only a small amount of fat is used when exercising just below the lactate threshold, the rate of caloric expenditure and the total number of calories expended are much greater than they are when exercising at a lower intensity, so the total amount of fat used is also greater.
The Bottom Line
For fat and weight loss, what matters most is the difference between the number of calories you expend and the number of calories you consume. Fat and weight loss is about burning lots of calories and cutting back on the number of calories consumed. For the purpose of losing weight, it matters little whether the calories burned during exercise come from fat or carbohydrates.
Sidebar: Workouts For Fat Loss
To maximize your fat loss, try these workouts. For assistance in designing effective, safe workouts, consult with a certified personal trainer.
Go Hard
A great way to perform high-intensity exercise and decrease your body fat percentage is through interval training, which breaks up the work with periods of rest. Not only does interval training allow you to improve your fitness quickly; it is also more effective than continuous exercise for burning lots of calories during exercise and increasing your postworkout metabolic rate. Try one or two of these workouts each week:
5–6 x 3 minutes at 95%–100% maximum (max) heart rate (HR) with 2-minute active recovery periods
4 x 4 minutes at 95%–100% max HR with 3-minute active recovery periods
8–12 x 30 seconds fast with 1-minute active recovery periods
Each of these interval workouts should include a warm-up and a cool-down.
Go Very Long
Long runs or bike rides (≥ 1.5–2 hours at 65%–70% max HR) that stimulate mitochondrial synthesis and promote the depletion of glycogen threaten the muscles’ survival, since carbohydrates are muscles’ preferred fuel. In response to this threat, muscles “learn” how to use fat more effectively and over time become better fat-burning machines.
IDEA Fitness Journal, May 2010