Strickland Fitness

Body weight bicep curl

When we do exercises, there is a constant focus on the concentric motion (contraction or shortening on the muscle). However, the eccentric motion (relaxing or lengthening of the muscle) is just as important. For this example, we will look at the biceps. If you do bicep curls to add size or tone up your arms, this great addition will help with both.

To do a basic standing bicep curl (dumbbells or barbell):

Stand with you feet shoulder width apart, slight bend in the knees, spine and shoulders in a neutral position, and your elbows pinned to your sides.

Without changing the position of your shoulders, spine, or elbows, raise the weight to the front of your shoulders. You should be using a weight that doesn’t compromise your form and it should take about 2 seconds to raise the weight. This is the concentric movement. While lowering the weight, concentrate on trying to contract your triceps (back of the arms). This makes the lowering (eccentric movement) to be slow and controlled and it forces the biceps to work in both directions getting the maximum of each repetition. Lowering the weight should take about 4 seconds to complete. Focusing on both movements of any exercise will optimize your results. Your muscles will work harder and more efficiently and you will feel the difference.

In the picture shown, I am doing a version of a bicep curl using my own body weight. The movement of lowering my body using my biceps is done in the same way. I focus on contracting my triceps and controlling my eccentric motion. Feel the burn!

Circuit Training

If you don’t have a lot of time and you are looking to get in a good workout, try circuit training. This type of workout will raise your heart rate, build lean muscle, and burn calories, all while maximizing your time.

Circuit training is basically moving through a series of exercises with little to no rest. This will keep your heart rate high ensuring extra fat burning. The actual resistance exercises in the circuit will help to build lean muscle which will speed up your metabolism and continue to burn calories even at rest. The great thing about circuit training is you can do it almost anywhere and with little weight. You can also create a circuit using only your body weight.

There are a few different ways to do your circuit. You can do a certain number of reps per exercise or do each exercise for a certain amount of time. The idea is to do the exercises a little faster than you would normally do to raise your heart rate while concentrating on muscle isolation. The other thing to think about is what exercises to do and what order to do them in.

In order to minimize fatiguing a muscle to fast, I like to do a lower body exercise, followed by an upper body exercise, followed by an ab exercise. So for example, if you are at a beginner fitness level, you could do 30 seconds of knee push-ups, then 30 seconds of body squats, and finish with 30 seconds of crunches. After doing this series, you would rest and then do it again. Depending on your fitness level, you can start doing 3 exercises in a row and then rest. You can work up to doing 12-15 exercises before resting. As your fitness level increases, you can add exercises to each circuit and add a little extra time to each exercise. For my advanced clients, I set up 15 different exercises (alternating the upper body, lower body and abs) and have them do each exercise for 45 seconds. After doing the circuit once, they rest until their heart rate goes down to normal and then they do it again. After doing this circuit 4-5 times, they are exhausted and feeling great.

I like doing the exercises in the circuit for time. It gives you the opportunity to go at your own pace that matches your fitness level. The goal is to work continuously through the time of each exercise. The more advanced your fitness level, the faster you will go. Just don’t start off so fast that you can’t go for the entire pre-set time. Find the pace that challenges you but you can complete each exercise.

Even though you are working faster than normal, form is still essential. Concentrate on doing each exercise right and controlled. Working out this way combines cardio and resistance training all in one. You will have maximum calorie burning in the least amount of time.

One of the best cardio training tips I can give you is to mix it up. Your body starts to adapt to the same stimulus, so mixing up your cardio sessions will surprise your body and keep it working hard. Do you enjoy running but you seem to have hit a plateau with your time, speed or weight loss? That is your body adapting to the situation and using the least amount of energy to do it. Try running outside every other time. That change in environment and running service is enough make your body work a little bit harder.

If you have sore knees from running too much, try a low or non-impact exercise. Today, my fiancé and I did sprints in the pool. I was completely exhausted after just 20 minutes of swimming. How did we do it? She would swim as fast as possible to the other end of the pool. As soon as she touched, I swam as fast as possible to the other end. As soon as I got there, she took off again. This is a form of interval training. The swimming would raise our heart rates, and the waiting for each other to hit the end would rest our heart rates. This raising and lowering the heart rate burns more calories and trains the heart to recover. It’s easy on the joints and a great time saving cardio workout. Besides working the heart, sprints in the pool work all muscles in the body.

There are many cardio exercises you can do as mentioned in a previous post. Try alternating between all the ones you enjoy doing. You will work the body more efficiently and not get bored doing it.

Everyone wants a nice firm butt. It’s not only about doing the right exercises to tone the gluts, it’s about doing the right exercises right.  For most, the quads and hamstrings do most of the work in these exercises. The key is getting the gluts to fire. I will go over a few butt burning exercises and the important aspects of each one.

1Leg Squat

This exercise is great for targeting the gluts and quads while working on strength and balance. Stand directly in front of a workout bench or chair (for at home workouts) with the back of your legs nearly touching it. Raise your left leg out in front of you so your left hip and knee are bent at 90 degrees. Standing only on the right leg, slowly lower yourself bringing your hips behind you until your butt just touches the bench. Press through your heel to raise yourself to the starting position. Concentrate on not letting your right knee collapse in towards your left leg. Your knee should stay directly in line with your foot. Do 10-12 reps and then switch legs. Do 3 sets.

Walking Lunges

This exercise works the gluts, quads, and hamstrings while helping to stretch the hip flexors. You should have about 20-30 feet of space to do this. Take a big step forward, stop, and then drop your butt straight down. Your front leg and back leg should both be bent 90 degrees at the knee. Keep your back straight and stop lowering yourself when the back knee is a few inches off the ground. Rise up and bring the back leg even with the front and step that leg forward and repeat the lowering and raising. This sequence should be even paced and controlled. Go 20-30 feet and then return the same way. Do this 3 times. You can also hold dumbbells in your hands if you need more resistance.

1 Leg Pelvic Lifts

This exercise works the gluts, hamstrings, and the lower back. Lying on your back with 1 leg extended straight (about 2 feet off the ground) and the other leg bent (knee at about 45 degrees and foot flat on the floor), press through your foot on the floor raising your pelvis off the ground. You should raise it until you have a straight line from your head to the tip of your bent knee. Lower your pelvis to the ground and then raise again. Concentrate on activating the gluts while going through the motion. Do 12 reps and then switch legs. Do 3 sets.

The gluts can be hard muscles to train when you don’t activate them. Concentrate on making them work and they will work for you.