fun, accessible workouts for women
A few months ago I put together a push up tutorial for beginners, followed by six bodyweight variations for you to try. I trust that you have been practicing morning, noon and night since then, and that you’re finally ready for the next installment….
A couple of weeks ago I gave you a push up tutorial, going through the basics of the standing, knee and toe push ups. Since then I’m sure you have been practicing nightly (right? RIGHT?) and will soon be ready to take on some more complex versions.
This week I’ve got six particularly fun push up variations for you to try. All will challenge you, some may try to break you. Don’t let them – you got this….
Push ups. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you know they’re good for you. Personally I think they’re an underrated exercise – a good push up works plenty of muscle groups, including the chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps and core. They’re a tough exercise, and not many people really do them well. But let me tell you a little secret – the best way to get better at push ups is to do more push ups!…
Kettlebells are one of my favourite pieces of fitness equipment. Compact, versatile and oh-so effective, I can’t remember life as a trainer before them. One of the things I love about them is that you can design a whole workout using only a couple of bells. This means that you can set yourself up in a space on the gym floor and not have to worry about fighting people for the cable machines or treadmills. Or – if you prefer to work out in the comfort of your own home – it means that for a small investment you’ve got yourself a mini gym!
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Getting away for the weekend can be good for the soul, but there’s no doubt that it can also put a dent in the most well-laid exercise plans. So what to do when you’re away from the comfort of home with a hankering for some calorie-burning? Well, the good news is that you don’t have to have a lot of space, equipment (or even shoes for that matter!) to fit in a cheeky workout.
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FACT: doing the same workout week after week can get boring. FACT: if you’re new to exercise figuring out ways to mix up your workout can be difficult. FACT: If you don’t have access to any equipment, it’s even more difficult. FACT: typing FACT makes me feel like I’m in some kind of election ad. FACT: I kind of like it.
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What a glorious weekend in Sydney it has been. The perfect weather for dog walking, a 12km City2Surf training run, a visit to my fave cafe in Surry Hills, kicking a footy in the park, visiting friends, napping, blogging, exploring Tamarama, more dog walking and a little bit of gelato from Gelato Messina thrown in there for good measure (because being perfect all of the time is no fun at all).
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Recently, a colleague asked for my thoughts on weight training. She’s thrown herself into an exercise regime, but the weights component is starting to bore her. She’s still using the program that was designed for her (and I use the word ‘designed’ loosely) when she signed up at the gym. You know the one – three sets on a chest press machine, followed by three sets on the rower, followed by snooooorrrrrrre.
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I get frustrated when I read ‘no equipment’ workouts that require you to have two trees spaced exactly 13.5 metres apart, a sturdy chair and two 2.25 kilo bags of rice… I feel like it’s false advertising. But I will admit that working your upper body can be difficult without any equipment, so this workout focuses on the lower body, with some upper, core and total body exercises thrown in for good measure. You can do it in your lounge room, on the balcony, by the side of the road, or wherever takes your fancy. It’ll be over and done with in under 30 minutes but trust me, go hard the whole time and you’ll burn big calories!
