On our third workout of the week we are going to do another full body strength and conditioning workout, aimed at exercising the upper body, lower body and core, as well as the heart and lungs.
Aim for 3-5 rounds of the circuit, and try to keep your rest periods between exercises as short as possible.
Day 3
Here is the video demonstration:
Here are the exercises:
Crawl and reach
From a standing position, reach down to the floor and crawl forward on your hands until your body is in a straight line. Then raise one arm at a time to the front and crawl back again. Stand up into an upright position. Repeat for 8-12 repetitions.
High kicks (easier) or alternating kick jumps (harder)
High kicks: Stand upright with your right foot one step to the back. Bring your left arm out to the front and try to kick your left hand with your right foot. Repeat for 15-20 reps.
Alternating kick jumps: This is the more intensive alternative to the high kicks exercises. From an upright standing position, raise your right leg up in front of you as high as you can, perform a slight jump with your left leg, and clap your hands together underneath your leg. Repeat with the the left leg. Repeat for 30-50 reps in total.
Prisoner squats
Stand shoulder width apart. Place your hands behind your head, and keep your elbows out as far as possible. Bend your knees and drive your hips back, while leaning forward. As you descend, try not to let your elbows come forward, but keep them out. Bend your knees about 90 degrees or until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then come back up.
Prone arm slides
Lie face down on the floor. Place your hands next to your head, about 10cm off the floor. With elbows bent and forearms parallel to the floor, drive your hands forward until your arm is straight, then bring your arms back again. Keep your head down. The challenge is to keep your forearms parallel to the floor at all times and extend your elbows fully (straight arms). Repeat for 12-2- reps
Side lunges
Stand upright with your feet together. Make a big step out to the side with your left foot. Push your hips back, like in a squat, and transfer your weight to your left leg. Bend your left knee and lower your body. Your right leg should remain fairly straight at the knee. Bend your knee about 90 degrees, or until your left thigh is parallel to the floor. You should feel as if you are doing a squat with your left leg. Do 12-20 reps. Then repeat with the right leg.
Side and front arm raises
Stand upright. You’ll need two 2-litre bottles of water for this or some dumbbells weighing 2-4kg for women or 4-6kg for men. With your hands by your hips, raise your arms out to the side until the arms are horizontal. Lower your arms again. Now raise your arms to the front. You can raise them all the way to the top. Lower them again and repeat for 10-15 reps each direction. If the weights are quite heavy, you can slightly bend your elbows to reduce the load on them.
Plank (easier) or Elbow to hand plank (harder)
Plank: Lie on the floor, resting on your elbows. Now lift your body slightly off the floor so that you are resting on your forearms and toes. Your body should be a perfectly straight line. Squeeze your buttock muscles (glutes) and your quads (front thigh muscles) as hard as you can for the entire duration of the hold. Try to hold for 20-60 seconds.
Elbow to hand plank: You can do this exercise if you can hold the plank for 60 seconds or longer. Assume a plank position. While resting on your elbows, transition from resting on your right elbow to coming up on your right hand, then come up to rest on your left hand too. Now descend onto your right elbow, then your left elbow. Follow the right-left-right-left pattern. Repeat for 10-15 reps, then change over to commence from the left arm (left-right-left-right) for 10-15 reps. The challenge is to keep yor hips as still as possible (no rocking) and maintain a perfect plank position at all times, keeping your glutes and quads contracted throughout.
