Great Total Body exercise and ab toner!

We all are rushing around these days finding time to work out hard to come by or we feel too tried to workout. BUT there really is no excuse for not working out if your workout only take 20 minutes or less. This is done by combining exercises that work large muscle groups. As mentioned earlier, one of the best is the Burpee but surely there are other exercises that can have the same affect? Well, there are. The Inchworm is another great total body exercise that will work all the major muscle groups and help tone and strengthen your core.

The inchworm is done by starting out on your feet standing. Then you bend forward at the hips with your legs straight, as best you can, and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet, engage your core and slowly walk your hands out till you are in a push up or plank position. (Now, if you are wanting to make this move more advanced add a push up, refer to number 4 on the diagram.) Pause for a second in the plank position, make sure the hips and back are in line with with floor and that they are not sinking. Then walk your hands back towards your feet keeping your core engaged still. Then repeat this move 10-15 times.

Try to insert this exercise into your workout routine to add some spice and to make it more challenging. Hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Move Of The Week: The Plank Row

We are on our third exercise already! How exciting!  It looks like you all are enjoying the  Move Of The Week as much as we are. Anyways, to the point of the matter, the new move for this week is called the Plank Row.  Now, the reason this exercise is so great is because you are exercising and engaging your back muscles, your core and even your legs by holding plank. In addition to this, the move will also work on your core and arm stability because at one point you are only holding yourself up with one arm!

To start, get down on the floor in a plank/ push up position. Your core is tight (belly button is drawn into the spine), shoulders are active and your hips are level.  Now, slowly lift one hand off the ground and bring it to your shoulder to tap it and then slowly bring it back down.  You can also do this from a kneeling position if you are a beginner, progress to being on your toes, and then finally being on your toes, adding a pair of dumbbells to help add resistance is the final progression.  The final product of what this move should look like is in the picture below.

For some, this may be a new move, or for others they are advancing this exercise to make it more challenging.  Either way, you need to start the plank row in your regime at lower repetitions to get a good gage of how you are doing with it based on how your form looks and how your body responds to it. So, starting with about 10 reps total (5 on each side) and progress your reps from there.

Hope that you guys enjoy this exercise as much as we do and good luck with this week’s new move. Let us know what you think about it  and how you did! Have a great weeke eveeryone.

Committed to your health and fitness,

Justin and Angie LaPointe