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Home Workouts (Coronavirus Quarantine)

We know that it can be overwhelming trying to change your routine overnight, or even over the course of a week. To save you the time and effort of looking through the site, here are some at-home workouts for you with notes about them to help you pick the right one. Most of them require absolutely no equipment whatsoever. 

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Let’s Talk About Strength

I’m glad I’m not alone in this “strength revolution.” I totally just made that phrase up, but it’s true that more people (females are more so who I’m focusing on) are striving towards strength rather than being skinny. I find this to be so exciting and I am HAPPY it’s finally here. Yes, there are certainly those who just want to attain that Victoria’s Secret model-esque body, but I think we are slowly straying away from that. We are moving towards being healthy and fit with strong bodies as the portrayal of sexy bodies.

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Can I get a hoo-rah?! Of course, I didn’t always strength train. When I did sports, we would do some weight room stuff, but it was rare. Moving forward from that when I went to the gym, I would only do elliptical and maybe some weights. That slowly increased more and more to where lifting became more important than “cardio.” I honestly do not know how I could ever go to another way of working out that didn’t involve lifting. It feels so good and you see progress each week in muscle development and strength. Who could let go of that?

Although most females still focus just on yoga and running (which is fine!), it is definitely broadening to where there is some sort of strength routine once a week, which is excellent! I know I don’t like to skip lifting more than one or two days a week, but that’s just me. I have goals for this year such as squatting 200lbs, bench 100lbs, and so forth. And that’s all focused on strength.

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In our culture, females are taught to shy away from protruding muscles or muscular strength. Like that’s the “manly” thing to do and not suited for the female gender. Well that’s plain wrong and stupid. Sorry, I had to say it. I’m proud of the muscles in my back and those times my quads are showing their muscles. It shows strength, discipline, health. What’s sexier than being healthy?

Some quad action

Some quad action

So women (and men) in the world, don’t shy away from your strength. Muscles are sexy! Being a stick is no longer the cool thing to do. Take the power into your hands and lift! I promise you will feel liberated from the cardio machines if you through some lifting and machines in there. And you can start small. Start with a few exercises and watch your love for lifting develop. If you’re not sure how to start, feel free to email me at alana.ppowell@gmail.com or leave a comment below. You won’t regret it! Embrace strength and stay hungry and fit!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Cuties

Cuties

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Where Did My Arms Go?

It’s the third week in January and I haven’t focused on my arms in the gym once. Add that to the fact that we haven’t really really worked out since mid-November-ish and it’s been months since I’ve touched my arms. Now, are arms a body part that I enjoy working out? Not entirely, and I don’t think that they need the same amount of focus that other body parts need.. but should anything be neglected? Of course not, so it almost had to be done. With a recent chest-back workout that left me sore and somewhat sore shoulders, I knew I would have to be very careful and not cheat with any motions. Considering they’re one of my weakest body parts, due to neglect and injuries, it wasn’t awful. Here’s how it went.

Working Out

Working Out (Photo credit: Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums)

6:22Warm up superset: chinups 6-7 reps/tricep dips 8-9... 90 degrees on all my reps, no full range of motion but hitting my contractions right
6:28main superset 1: iso incline pinky offset curls/incline iso cross-body extensions… alternating a 30 and 45 degree incline, 4 sets of increasing weight and decreasing reps, to failure
6:43main superset 2: ez bar preacher curl/horserope cable tricep push downs4 sets increasing weight and decreasing reps, to failure
6:53main superset 3: iso seated hammer curls/seated overhead dbell extensions: 4 sets of increasing weight and decreasing reps on the curls while decreasing weight and increasing reps with extensions, to failure
7:07main superset 4: standing iso reverse curls/flat ez bar skullcrushers4 sets of increasing weight and decreasing reps with a drop set for the last set of skullcrushers, to failure
7:23 – (Running a little long, realize cardio is out of the question) main superset 5: cable iso lowering achilles curl/cable no grip iso tricep kickback4 sets of maintaining weight at 1-2 setting until failure
7:37tricep cool down: over the top horserope cable presses... 4 sets of increasing weight and decreasing reps with a drop set at the end, until failure
7:44bicep cool down: arm curl machine, bilateral… 4 sets until failure with decreasing weight and increasing reps
7:49finished, 4 minutes of boxing on the bag with gloves to finish up, maintain some discipline and get the heart rate up a little bit
English: an exercise of triceps

English: an exercise of triceps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Overall, it was good enough and since I never feel like I get a good arm workout, I wasn’t at all disappointed that I felt like I didn’t get a good arm workout. Try to work opposing muscle groups sometimes to really reach great contractions and full stretches during your “rest” periods. Supersets are a great way to keep you moving, shorten your workout, and push yourself harder. Just be careful committing to one when the gym is busy because you might have your equipment or machine taken, no questions asked.

 

At the gym for an hour and a half, pretty long for just arm strength training but sometimes you need to take it slowly when you’re getting just back into your routines so you don’t get hurt. Especially when working on one of your weaknesses. Also, remember that there are many ways to grip a dumbbell when working biceps, neutral/thumb offset/pinky offset. It could be a little detail you can adjust this week and work some different muscles. That’s the tip of the post!
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