Strength, Cardio and Endurance Exercises for the working week
A lot of training programmes focus on either building muscle or improving performance. But most of my clients are simply looking for a balance of strength, mobility, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular fitness. They have a limited time to devote to exercise in their working week. So here are three workouts to balance your week:
Monday: Strength Exercises:
Deadlifts: The deadlift is the king of exercises for the posterior chain, the muscles that run down the back side of your body from traps to calves. The deadlift will create power, stability, and explosiveness in your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. This is a taxing, full-body movement. Form is crucial on the deadlift, as with any loaded movement. Remember to keep a neutral spine from neck to lower back, allow a little bend in the ankles and knees, use your hips, and engage your lats for a tight grip.
Dumbbell bench press was chosen over traditional barbell bench presses because of the safety of the exercise. With a barbell, your shoulders are locked in place, and if you don’t have the stabilizing muscles required for the exercise, injury will occur rather quickly. We are trading off a small amount of extra muscular activation for a huge increase in safety.
Standing bent over rows can be done with a barbell or dumbbells. This exercise will challenge your stability, every muscle in your back, and activate your arms quite well. While doing this exercise, keep a neutral spine, push your hips back, and have a small bend at the knees. Form is everything; don’t use momentum to lift the weight.
Squats or Bulgarian split squats will challenge your single-leg strength and stability, while creating less stress on the knee than traditional forward lunges.
Standing shoulder presses require a high amount of core activation, and will challenge your shoulders immensely. Make sure you have the mobility to comfortably lift weight above your head before you proceed with this exercise.
Farmers walks will challenge your whole body, use weights
Wednesday: Cardio and Mobility (30-40 minutes)
HIIT - 50secs on, 10 secs off x 3-4 sets
Jumping jacks
Jump squats
Kettlebell thrusts
Mountain climbers
Press-ups to plank
Renegade rows
Plank
Mobility: repeat x2
Horse stance: 20sec hold
Downward dog: 20sec hold
Cat and camel: 20 reps
Cobra: 20sec hold
Deep squat: 30sec hold
Deep lunge with side twist: 15sec hold each side
Pigeon pose: 20sec hold each leg
Friday: Muscular Endurance (35-40 minutes)
Push ups: 4 sets, stop 2 reps before muscle failure
Pull ups: 4 sets, stop 1 rep before muscle failure
Bear crawl: 3 sets, as far as possible
Hollow holds: 4 x max hold for time
Hip bridges: 4 x 20 reps
Bodyweight squats: 3 x 25 reps
Lateral lunges: 3 x 5 reps each side
Side Plank 3x1 min
V-Sits 3x20 reps