Home Gym Workout

Recently I had Branda Polk and our good friend Michelle over for a workout in our make-shift home gym in the garage. I've known Branda for a long time now and she's a fab trainer and friend. Michelle and I met through her, really hit it off and we get to train together about once a month via one of Branda's tough concoctions!

Now to put our workout together. We had some parameters and a few limitations. They both wanted to work on the TRX, so we had to include that. We only had 1 hour total. There were 3 of us. Michelle does not have kettlebell experience yet. It was blazing hot. My space is small and my equipment limited. How to get in the most work, expose them to the TRX and keep us all moving? Hmmm...

Not fancy, but it works!

I penciled out a workout that would be sure to include every major muscle group. I was excited so it turned out to be 12 different exercises! Then I arranged the exercises into 4 mini-circuits. Each mini-circuit would have 3 exercises, one for upper body, one for lower body and one for core. Since there were 3 of us, we would do stations for time. This means we each started out on one of the three exercises, worked for a set amount of time, then rotated until we'd done each exercise twice. We did this for each one of the circuits. Allowing for transition, it timed out for about a 48 minute workout. Not bad.

Equipment included the TRX, the ValSlides, the 20 pound soft-sided medicine ball, an upright roman chair for leg raises, kettlebells and dumbbells and the GymBoss.

The TRX Suspension Training System is a unique system that can be used anywhere, but we keep it hanging from a beam in our garage. We have a rubber mat underneath for foot traction and you can easily get a full body workout with it alone. Now I'm rethinking the word easily I just put in that sentence because it's challenging, but you know what I mean. For this workout we concentrated on inverted rows, atomic push-ups, side plank and balance lunges using the TRX.

Look at that wall that needs to be painted. I'm calling the builder.

Oh wait, he is the builder.

I love our 20 pound soft-sided medicine ball by Dynamax. It's huge! We used it for slams, which really works your core and arms, not to mention it is a great stress reliever! We found this big one at MuscleDriver USA. For a smaller version that is more practical check out my GFWK Amazon Store.

The ValSlides are too cool. Let me tell you guys, they are not just for girls. One of the last times I used them I was sore for days. You can use them in all sorts of ways under your feet or under your hands. This is one type of unstable surface training that works. They are one of the most inexpensive things you can add to your equipment and they are totally portable. For this we used them to do a lateral type lunge with a punch. While one leg works to keep from sliding, you slide the other leg back at an angle and throw a punch! I've also used them under my feet for all types of squats and lunges, mountain climbers and walking with my arms in plank. Under your hands you can do a run (like a bear crawl), extended plank, and other core work. Crazy fun!

Since Michelle had not used kettlebells before, I adapted a few moves I've learned from Anthony Diluglio of Art of Strength from my Providence DVD. We held a kettlebell goblet style for squats. We also did single-arm overhead presses, but sitting on the floor with legs stretched out wide. You should try this. It totally takes your lower body out of the equation so you can't use it for assistance. Really tough. Then we used them for tactical lunges. These are reverse lunges in which you pass the kettlebell under your bent knee to the other hand each time you lunge. This lunge is challenging not only for balance but also because you have to go deep if your arms are short in comparison to your torso. Not that mine are, I'm just saying...

Jimmy got the upright roman chair for Father's Day. It includes bars for pull-ups, dips and padding on the back so you can do leg raises. It's really been a helpful, compact piece of equipment to have around. We found it at Dick's Sporting Goods.

We got in a great, fun workout with three people literally in a double garage. Oh, I forgot to mention that until you've used the TRX a few times it's tricky to get your feet in it right for certain moves when you're on a timer. So we brought Jimmy out to be the atomic push-up helper boy. He even made us all protein shakes afterwards. Gotta love that guy.

What type of workouts do you do at home? What equipment do you use? Would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

This post uses affiliate links with the exception of the link to Branda Polk. Branda is a personal trainer and friend. Please see my disclosure statement.

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5 Minute Fitness

"Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?" (There's Something About Mary)

For some reason I am hearing more and more about 5 minute circuits, 3 minute arms, 6 minute abs, 10 minute workouts, 4 minute fat loss, etc. It's starting to sound like hype, like the latest ab gadget everyone wants in January each year, that you can only get on TV for 3 payments of $19.95 - but wait! Call now...

If you could assign a number of minutes to body parts to make the fat go away what would your assignment look like? I'd look a little like this: 8 minute arms, 5 minute chest, 30 minute abs, 20 minute glutes, 20 minute thighs and 0 minute calves. (Only because my calves are 14-15 inches no matter what I weigh!).

This language of only taking minutes to workout is powerful because it plays on our emotions. We tend to hope there is an easy, quick answer to losing fat and chiseling our abs. Let's face it, for most of us, the weight crept up, something happened to suddenly make us aware of it and we want to get it off, and fast! I tend to think dropping weight fast is not ideal, but the good news is an effective workout can literally take only minutes. Our real assignment is to separate the junk workouts from the real ones.

That's tricky because unfortunately the language is being used by both sides - the ineffective, hype products as well as some reputable, successful approaches. The key is going to be intensity. The most obvious tell-tale sign of a poor program is if someone is telling you that you can get trim and chiseled in 5 easy minutes a day. Run the other direction.

Signs that a 3-10 minute workout is legitimate might be if it is:

• one part of a comprehensive program
• interval training
• timed circuit training
• a quick, add-on workout to a structured program
• a high intensity finisher to a resistance training workout

What do I mean by comprehensive program? I believe a comprehensive program for fat loss is a detailed, structured training plan that includes various methods of resistance training, specific metabolic work, interval training, additional conditioning and cardio if needed, nutrition guidelines and a maintenance plan.

Here are some examples of short workouts that make sense:

Interval training: 30 seconds hard work followed by 30 seconds recovery for 10 rounds (10 minutes).

Circuit training: 6 bodyweight exercises, performed consecutively for 30 seconds each, followed by 30 seconds rest for a total of 3 rounds (10 minutes)

Timed supersets: 2 exercises alternated and performed for a pre-determined number of reps to accomplish as many sets as possible in 5 minutes.

Quick workout: a 5-10 minute full body workout encouraging extra workout time for those needing to increase daily activity overall.

Finisher: Kettlebell snatches alternating sides every 10 reps for a total of 5 minutes without stopping.

You can probably think of many more examples. Keep your head clear, don't fall for what seems to be an easy way out. Look for legitimate programs that appropriately acknowledge the work it takes to achieve fat loss. Remember to look for signs of intensity and examine programs closely before commiting!

If you'd like to check out my previous post on choosing a workout, click here.

Bodyweight Workouts

As I walk into the gym, I notice people on the cardio equipment, others on the machines and others in the free weight area. It's less often that I notice people doing bodyweight exercises, even in the warm-up/stretching area. Maybe it's because you don't have to go to the gym to do bodyweight exercises, but I still find it interesting. Of course a person's goal should determine how they train and bodyweight workouts aren't always the answer to that, but there is some thought out there that until we master bodyweight exercises, maybe we shouldn't be adding an external load with weights. That makes a lot of sense. Why not be able to crank out a serious number of push-ups anywhere before obsessing over how much you can bench press at the gym? A few benefits to bodyweight workouts are:

• They can be done anywhere, anytime
• They require little to no additional equipment
• It's a great way to master your form before adding external load
• They can be grouped into circuits for serious fat-burning workouts

Examples of bodyweight exercises are squats, lunges, step-ups, various jumps, push-ups, pull-ups, inverted rows, plank, crunches, bear crawls. The variations are many and the possibilities are endless. If you're short on time, you can't get to the gym, you need some variety, you want to do cardio but can't tolerate another hour on a machine, or you just want a good, solid, fat-burning workout that you can do anytime, anywhere, try a bodyweight circuit workout.

Choose two leg exercises and two upper body exercises and one ab exercise. Determine the order of your exercises, how many reps you will do of each one, how long you will rest between circuits and how long your total workout will be. You will want to alternate your lower and upper body exercises so one is resting while the other is working and put your ab exercise last. You're now ready to get started. Here's an example:

Squat, 8 reps

Pull-up or inverted row, 8 reps

Lunge, 8 reps each leg

Push-up, 8 reps

Side plank, 30 seconds each side

Rest 30 seconds

Repeat circuit as many times as possible for 20 minutes.

You can choose from multiple variations of these basic exercises. All you'd need for this workout is some space and a bar (the swingset in the backyard would suffice). Keep the intensity high but don't compromise your form. If pull-ups or inverted rows are too challenging at first and you have an exercise tube, you can use it by wrapping it around a steady object and using it for standing rows.

Try a bodyweight circuit workout! Make up your own or try Turbulence Training Bodyweight Workouts.

This post contains an affiliate link. Please see my disclosure statement.