Bodyweight — Page 23

15-Minute Lateral Low Body Workout (Video)

April 28, 2016 by Nicole 8 Comments

Wow my butt is feeling it after shooting this workout yesterday! 🙂

Today’s workout is going to focus on lateral movements and the outsides of our lower body (abductors). It’s great for everyone, but can be especially beneficial for runners. Running is a very forward-backward, single-plane activity so to prevent muscle imbalances, it’s good to mix in some workouts using lateral (side-to-side) movements. I loved megaformer workouts during marathon training for this reason–the lateral sliding on the machine is so good!

I teamed up with Iron Lily on this workout, so let’s first take a second to admire the leggings I’m wearing! Iron Lily is an LA-based women’s activewear line to which I was recently introduced. As a newer brand, the current collection is small, but I instantly was drawn to their leggings. The mesh panel, color blocking and visible seams are totally on trend, and the compression material makes them great for high-intensity workouts. If you like leggings that really hold everything in place, you’ll love these. And the waistband is wide and comes up high enough that the compression material is still flattering around your stomach.

I’m wearing the Vanquish Leggings which retail at $106. It’s a higher price point (although definitely not as high as other brands I’ve seen!), but the quality is great and they’re made right here in the good ol’ USA, which I love. Check them out here!

15-Minute Lateral Low Body Workout

Watch the Video

This 15-minute workout is going to target your lower body using lots of lateral movements. So think abductors. We’re opening up the hips and forcing the outer thigh/side butt area to work. The 15 minutes is broken up into three exercise combos. After each 3-minute combo, you’ll do a 60-second cardio blast. No equipment is needed.

Combo 1 | Curtsy Lunge + Curtsy Lunge Hold (Balance!)

30 seconds of movement + 10 seconds holding x6 (3 times each leg, alternating)

Curtsy Lunge | Start standing with feet hip-width apart. From here, sink down into your curtsey lunge: right foot stays planted on the ground and as you bend that right knee, reach your left foot behind it as far to the right as you can until it hovers off the ground. To modify, plant the ball of your foot on the floor for stability instead. From this deep lunge position, you’re going to press back up to standing, just lightly tapping your left foot to the floor before sinking back down into your next rep.

Curtsy Lunge Hold | Hold the bottom of your curtsy lunge and then try to hover the back left foot off the ground so that you’re balancing low on your right side.

Speed Skater 60 seconds

These are like side-to-side leaping curtsy lunges. Leap to the right, landing on your right foot and bending down to touch the ground by your foot with your left hand as you swoop your left foot behind the right (think of a curtsy). Come up, leaping left and reversing the move. Keep it going quickly, back and forth, trying to never let that back foot come to rest on the ground—keep the weight in the foot you land on.

Combo 2 | Hydrant Crunch with Lift + Pulses (Straight)

30 seconds of movement + 10 seconds pulsing x6 (3 times each leg, alternating)

Hydrant Crunch with Lift | You’ll be in a stacked/open tabletop position for this one. To set up, get onto all fours and then lower onto your left elbow. Open up your right hip like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant so that your hips are stacked and you’re facing the side of the room rather than the floor. From here, you’re going to crunch the right knee in towards the right shoulder. Extend it back out straight and then lift it up as high as you can keeping the hips stable and lower. Repeat.

Straight Leg Pulses | Hold the leg out straight, thigh bone rotated open (knee and toes point to the wall, not the floor) and from there pulse up and down.

Speed Skater 60 seconds

Combo 3 | Sumo Squat Lifts + Pulse Wide

30 seconds of movement + 10 seconds pulsing x6 (3 times each leg, alternating)

Sumo Squat with Lift | This is a wide-stance squat with a lateral leg lift. Feet wider than hip-distance apart, squat down low. Shift your weight into the left side and then as you begin to straighten the left side and rise up, lift the right leg straight up and out to the side. Lower it, bringing your weight back to center in that deep squat.

Wide Sumo Squat Pulses | Hold a wide squat and angle your toes outward, knees tracking in line with toes. From here, you’re going to pulse your legs out wide (think of pulling your knees towards the back of the room while you squeeze your glutes).

Speed Skater 60 seconds

And you’re done!

Good Stretches to Do after This Workout

These are two great stretch options for this particular workout:

WEARING | leggings c/o Iron Lily // tank c/o Reebok (old but similar here) // Nike sneakers

Let me know in the comments if you try the workout!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Iron Lily. While I was compensated for my time, all opinions–as always!–are my own. I appreciate your support of the brands who make this blog possible! 🙂

Filed Under: Bodyweight, Butt, Cardio, Interval Training, Lower Body, Video, Workouts

15-Minute Legs & Butt Slider Workout (+Video!)

March 31, 2016 by Nicole 15 Comments

It’s about damn time I started doing these workouts in video form! I know it’s Thursday, but with today as an exception, I plan to upload a new workout video & post every Tuesday. Keeping on that schedule will be helpful in planning shoots and editing.

I figured it’d be fitting to kick off the workout videos with something similar to what I teach in Boston on the megaformers. All you’ll need is on object that’ll allow you to slide across the floor (glider, dish towel, etc.). I recently made the genius discovery that the duster pads you put on a Swiffer mop work PERFECTLY for this (with the added “bonus” of cleaning your floor as you workout).

Watch the Video

Let’s do the workout together! How exciting is this?? Watch the workout below in real time and follow me on YouTube.

15-Minute Legs & Butt Slider Workout

Equipment I Used:

Slider (I used a Swiffer duster pad but you can use a dish towel or anything that glides across your floor)
Exercise mat

FYI This workout is going to make waaaaay more sense if you follow along with the video. But in the best way I can describe it through writing, the workout is made up of a few exercises, with variations within each move. For example, you’ll do a lunge for two minutes but within those two minutes there’ll be pulses and slides to switch it up. I’m calling the major exercise grouping “complexes” in the below descriptions.

Squat Complex

Numbers indicate seconds (how long to stay on each part).

[30] Squat
[15] Pulse | Hold the bottom of your squat and from there, pulse up an inch and down an inch
[15] Hold | Hold your lowest squat point.

Single-Leg Squat Complex on the Right

Do this twice through (numbers indicate seconds):

[30] Single Leg Squat | Start standing with your right foot on the exercise mat and your left foot on the towel. Sink down in a squat on the right side, bending the right knee and shifting your weight into the heel as you shift your hips back and down. Your left leg will stay straight as you slide it out to the side. Try to keep the weight of your torso over the right heel (don’t transfer weight into your left foot). To accomplish this, picture you’re sitting straight back into a chair on your right side; don’t let your hips shift out to the side with the left foot, press them back and down over the right heel. When you’ve reached your lowest squat on the right side, push through the right heel to stand back up, stopping with a soft, micro-bend in the right knee.
[15] Pulses | Hold the bottom of your squat and from there, pulse up an inch and down an inch by pressing up through your right heel. The non-target leg should slide a little across the floor as you pulse up and down on the right leg.
[15] Skate Non-Working Leg | Hold the bottom of your squat and keeping your bodyweight in the right heel, bend your left knee, sliding the left foot in towards the right and then extending the leg back out straight to the side. Keep your left foot light; just gingerly slide it across the floor, focusing on the isometric hold on your right, target side.

Lunge Complex on the Right

Do this twice through (numbers indicate seconds):

[30] Sliding Back Lunge | Start with your right foot on an exercise mat and the ball of your left foot planted on the floor a few inches behind. Keeping your bodyweight in the right heel, start to slide backwards into a deep lunge, bending the right knee as your hips slide back and down and your left foot glides straight back behind you. When you reach your lowest point, press through the right heel as you straight the right leg and rise back up. Don’t lock the knee out straight at the top; keep a soft micro-bend in it and then slide right back down into your next lunge. Back left heel should stay lifted the whole time.
[15] Pulses | From your lowest lunge point (right knee should be at a 90-degree bend if possible), pulse up an inch and down an inch by pushing up through your right heel. It’s a tiny straightening and bending of the right knee, not a dipping of the back knee.
[15] Back Knee Pulls | From your lowest lunge point (right knee should be at a 90-degree bend if possible), hinge forward at hips slightly so that the weight of your torso is over the right leg rather than completely upright. Keeping your bodyweight in your right heel and staying low on the right leg, bend your back left knee as you slide the left foot forward and then extend it back out behind you. Try not to transfer your bodyweight into the left foot as you do it—keep it light as it slides across the floor.

Finish with

[15] Long Jump Hold | Hold your lowest lunge point (right knee should be at a 90-degree bend if possible) and hinge forward with your torso until your chest hovers above your thigh. Extend your arms behind you. Hold the position.

Single-Leg Bear Complex on the Right

[45] Single-Leg Bear | Start in a plank position with your right foot on the slider and your left leg hovering in the air. Do a bear crunch with the right side, sliding your right knee in towards your elbow and then extending the leg back out in a plank while your left leg hovers. Torso stays in tabletop as you do this (you should feel your quad work).

Modify it. This one is a killer. To make it easier, hook your left foot over your right ankle as you do it. I personally alternate between the advanced version and this modified version throughout the 45 seconds.

[15] Single-Leg Bear Tabletop Hold | Stop the movement with your right knee bent at 90 degrees, knee hovering a couple inches off the floor, body in tabletop. Your left leg is hovering extending out straight behind you. Engage your core and close your eyes if needed–that right quad should be on fire holding this position after everything you just did!

[60] Forearm Plank

Repeat from Top on the Left

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WEARING | grip socks & leg warmers c/o ToeSox (see below for discount code) // Michi leggings (sold out but similar style HERE) // Fabletics tank (sold out but similar from Nike HERE) // bra c/o WITH

I’ve mentioned ToeSox on the blog a bunch because I’m obsessed with their thigh-high leg warmers and wear the grip socks while teaching megaformer classes all the time. In the most generous gesture, they’re offering you all 15% off any order with the code pumpsandiron. A portion of all sales using that code will be donated to The Massachusetts Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired, the charity my marathon fundraiser is benefiting. Amazing! So if you need an excuse to shop without the buyer’s remorse, here it is. 🙂

Thanks for your support!

I welcome all feedback, both positive and negative (as long as you’re not a dick about it haha). I want these videos to be helpful so let me know what you’d like to see from them moving forward if this one isn’t cutting it!

Any old workouts from the archives you’d like in video form? I plan to post new workout videos every Tuesday but I’m also happy to go back and make videos for workouts that I’ve already posted. If there are any that you found too confusing to follow via pictures, let me know in the comments!

Filed Under: Bodyweight, Butt, Household Objects, Lower Body, Video, Workouts

Full-Body HIIT Workout with Buy-In

August 3, 2015 by Nicole 5 Comments

*This blog post was originally published in 2015. It was updated in 2018 with a video*

Hello from Martha’s Vineyard! I had a fun weekend here with a bunch of my friends visiting, and now that they’ve all gone back to the city, I still have a few days on island to just relax with my family and catch up with my high school friends. I’m getting so nostalgic for the days in college when I’d get to spend the entire summer here! Gah what a life.

Full-Body HIIT Workout with Buy-In

Equipment I Used:

A 10-lb dumbbell (you could also use a medicine ball)
Gymboss Interval Timer
Exercise mat

Set a timer for 16 rounds of 45 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest. You’ll go through the following circuit of exercises four times (45 seconds of exercise 1, rest 15 seconds, 45 seconds of exercise 2, rest 15, etc., etc.) Before you can do the circuit, however, you’ve got a 2-minute “buy-in”: 60 seconds of burpees followed by a 60-second forearm plank. Think of it as a warm-up/pre-workout.

BUY IN

60 seconds of each

Burpees | Start standing, feet about shoulder-width apart. Squat down, bringing your hands to the ground by your feet and jump both feet back into a plank position. Quickly jump your feet back up by your hands and shift the weight into your feet, bring torso upright into a low squat position. From here, jump up, arms overhead. Land softly on your feet, sinking right back down into a squat and starting from the top.

Forearm Plank

INTERVAL CIRCUIT

Go through the four exercises four times: 45 seconds of work / 15 seconds of rest

Truck Drivers | Start by squatting down, weight in your heels, hips down and back, core engaged and chest open. Hold a dumbbell on the ends, palms facing in towards each other, and extend arms straight in front of you at chest height. You’re going to maintain this position the entire duration of the exercise. From here, you’re just going to rotate the weight in your hands, tipping one end up and then the other, as if your hand were on a steering wheel (hence the exercise name). Try not to bend the arms or let them drop below chest height as you rotate them back and forth.

Surfer Get-Ups | Start laying on your stomach with hands by your side. Squeeze your back and glutes to lift your chest and hands off the ground. Lower your hands back to the ground by your rib cage. From here, you’re going to explosively press up and jump into a low squat with one foot in front and the other staggered behind (think of a surfer jumping up on their board to catch a wave). From here, bring your hands back to the ground as you jump your feet back into plank lower your body to the ground with control. Repeat from the top, this time landing in low squat with your other foot in front.

Front Lunge with Torso Twist | Start standing holding a dumbbell in both hands at chest height, arms held straight in front of you. To make sure you have proper form, roll your shoulder cage back and down before you start the exercise. From there, lunge forward, stepping your right foot in front of you as you bend both knees to opposing 90-degree angles. Holding this low lunge, twist your torso to the right, keeping arms straight as you do. You want your whole upper half moving as one unit on this—imagine your waist is a wet towel that you’re wringing out as you twist. Reverse the sequence, twisting back to center and pushing off that front right foot to return back up to standing. Repeat, this time stepping forward on your left foot and twisting to the left. Continue alternating legs.

Twisted Push Up with Top Crunch | From the waist up, you’ll be in a push up position: hands on the ground a little wider than shoulder width apart, chest square to the ground. From the waist down, you’ll be in a side plank with the left foot stacked on top of the right. It’s important that the twist is from the waist; you want equal weight in both hands. From here, you’ll do a push up, engaging that right oblique to keep your body in a straight line as you lower the chest towards the ground and then press up, straightening your arms. At the top, crunch your top left knee in towards the left shoulder; set it back straight on top of the right foot; and go down into your next twisted push up.

Beginners: modify by doing this from your knees (still twist the low body, left knee stacked on top of right knee) and omit the top crunch. Alternate side each round: So the first time you get to this exercise, spend the entire 45 seconds on the right; the second time on the left. In total, you spend two intervals on each side.