The Active Habitat

Best Full Body Circuit Training

Source: Nike 2015 Campaign

After a long holiday season and gaining those extra pounds, it is hard to return to the gym. So when we want to get the most out of a workout, we do a full body circuit. It targets all muscles groups, gets our heart racing, fires up that metabolism and it is quick and painless. Well no workouts is painless, but hey! beauty is pain. Right??

Perform each exercise 10 times before moving on to the next. After all exercise is completed, rest as long as you need and repeat for two more time (3 sets total).

1. Step-up to lunge with bicep curl (10 each leg)- See Here

2. Bench dips- See Here

3. Front squat to push press- See Here

4. Push-ups

5. Dead-lift with a bent over barbell row- See Here

6. Sit-ups

Reminder: Use lighter weight because of the high volume of exercise. Also, some of the moves are advance, so if you’re a beginner to lifting remove the second part of the combo exercises. For instance remove the pressing from the front squat to push press combo.

Five Tips to Grow Muscles Faster

Resistance Training Training Tips

Coming from experience it can be difficult to see progress from all the hard work you put in the gym. Once I made those newbie gains, I found it difficult to build more muscles. Even when I felt I was putting in the time. So after months not seeing any new improvements, I begin to do research and incorporating some advise.

Tired of not seeing muscle growth even after hours spent at the gym? Here are 5 pointers to improve lifting and see grow muscles faster

1. Power of Muscle Mind Connection – Focus on the primary mover when performing an exercise. The primary mover is the muscle primarily responsible for making the movement. This is a bit challenging in the beginning, but as you begin to know which muscle you’re targeting (do the research) the more you can connect and contract with that muscle. I like to visualize the muscle and movement before starting any exercise.

2. Focusing on the Negatives can be Good Things – While is important to focus on concentric contraction, the movement that shortens the muscles, it is equally effective to focus on the eccentric contraction, movement that lengthens the muscle. The eccentric contraction is known in the gym as the negative. Read HERE to explain the importance. A method on diverting the attention to the negative lift, for example a shoulder press, quickly lift the weight up and lower the weight in 4 to 6 seconds till returning to initial point and repeating for 6 to 12 reps.

3. Hey! Slow Down Buddy – Often when speeding thru your exercises, we forget that its all about quality and not quantity. You’ll be more effective if you slow down, focus on the muscle, hold the contraction, and releasing with the same control. Even if this means less reps. If it is done right, those few quality reps will leave you more sore then if you just speed thru 20 reps.

4. Your Biggest Competitor – Don’t forget the importance of challenging your muscle. While there is safety to consider, you need to progressively change the frequency, volume, weight, reps, sets and/or mode of exercise. Keeping your muscles guessing will fire up those muscles.

5. Muscles Made in the Kitchen, Sculpted at the Gym – Sometime it can just be about evaluating your diet. I’m I eating enough protein or carbs to build muscle? Am I eating too much or too little? Do I need to clean up my diet? Sometime it is looking at our diet that can make all the difference.

-Danni

The Three Top HITT Cardio Workouts

Cardio Exercises

Now that our half marathon training has ended we have shifted our focus back to gaining muscles and doing HITT cardio workouts. HITT cardio is high intensity interval training, which incorporates intervals of low intensity, dropping the heart rate. Followed by intervals of high intensity, increasing the heart rate. This is different then our marathon training, which was mainly long steady state cardio that kept our heart rate at a moderate rate for long period of time.

While both types of cardio have their benefits, for us busy gals HITT cardio can be more beneficial, because:

Time Saver: HITT cardio allows us burn more calories in a shorter time and since our time is valuable this is huge plus.
Increases your Metabolic Rate: Since we are sitting down all day we want to keep our metabolism in high gear to burn more fat after our workout.
Keeps our Muscle: We want to persevere our hard earned muscles while burning the most amount of calories.
Can Be Done Anywhere: Since HITT cardio doesn’t require equipment or a track, it can be done just about anywhere.

Three types of the top HITT cardio session to keep things interesting:

Minute Walk-Jog-Sprint: Start by walking for a minute (level 1-5). jog for a minute (level 6-10), and then sprint for a minute (level 11-15). By setting short one-minute goals, it makes the time go by a lot faster.
Music or Commercial: Make a playlist of your favorite songs to exercise to. Then during the chorus, begin to sprint (or do burpees) and rest or walk during the verses. At the end of the song, when chorus is on repeat, you’ll be toasted. Also if you are watching a show while on the treadmill/stairmill, increase the speed during commercial breaks.
Make Into A Workout: Like the HITT workout we shared earlier on our blog here. Find 3-5 exercises that get the heart rate up and complete 10-15 reps back-to-back. Then rest for 30-60 seconds between every round. Continue for 5 to 10 sets or for the duration of time.

A Runner’s Leg Workout for the Gym

Exercises Leg Exercises Resistance Training

Building the leg muscles helps entire body efficiently work together, build joint strength for stability, allows faster recover, and overall muscular strength. Which can overall leads to becoming a better runner and reduce the stress that running puts on the body. So here is a runner’s leg workout that we will be using leading up to the women Nike half marathon.

We have found what works for us in preparing for a running event is a combination of long runs, high intensity interval (HITT) runs, and a solid leg workout.

Because the focus is on endurance rather then strength, its best use moderate weight, higher repetitions and a 30-60 seconds rest time between sets. For warm-up use use a dynamic warm-up like this one on Greatist. Then begin:

Barbell Squats: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
Barbell Lunges: 4 sets of 15 reps per leg
Good Mornings: 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Dumbbell Step-Ups: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Single Leg Deadlifts: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Finish the workout with a tri-set: No weights, 3 sets and no rest between exercise:
Skater Lunges– 10 reps
Jump Squats– 20 reps
Calf Raises-20 reps

20 Minute Bikini HITT Workout

Cardio Circuit Training Exercises

Summer time calls for beach days, pool parties and vacations, a quick workout before we throw on the bikini will make us feel good and look even better! Here’s a bikini HITT workout, that is quick, high intense, and can be done just about anywhere.

First a warm-up to prevent injury, For 5 minutes do these light exercise and stretch for 2 minutes:
Jumping Jacks
Arm Circles
Lateral Bounds

Perform all the exercise back-to-back for a total of 5 sets or however many sets you can perform in 20 minutes:
Push-ups or Knee Push-ups for 10 reps
Mountain Climbers for 20 reps each leg
Burpees for 10 reps or Front to Back Lunges for 10 reps each leg
Jump Squats of 10 reps
Plank to Elbow for 10 reps
Rest till heart rate goes down and begin again.

If it starts to become too easy, increase the total sets or speed up the workout. And always remember to have fun with the workout so add music or find a location with a great view. Just enjoy the fact that it’s summer!

IMG 0616 2 - 20 Minute Bikini HITT Workout

Easy Toning Arm Workout Routine

Arm Exercises Exercises Resistance Training

While some people will find it pointless to designate a workout for arms, we and like many others, were not blessed with arms that were lean and define. So when we started assigning one day for arm workouts, they drastically changed. Here is a toning arm workout to build that is great to achieve long and define muscles.

And if you don’t feel the need to focus on just arms, then these exercises can be great to incorporate to any workout.

Super-set #1:
Triceps Kickbacks– 2 warm-up sets* and 3 work-sets* of 10-12 reps
One Handed Dumbbell Curl- 2 warm-up sets and 3 work-sets of 10-12 repsSuper-set #2:
Standing Barbell Curls– 4 sets of 8 reps close grip and 8 reps wide grip*
Lying Down Skull Crushers– 4 sets of 10-12 repsSuper-set #3:
Triceps Press-downs– 3 sets of twenty-ones*
Rope Hammer Curl– 3 sets of twenty-onesSuper-set #4:
Zottman Bicep Curls– 3 Sets of 8 reps
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Extension– 3 sets of 8 reps

*Explanation on Terms:
Warm-up sets: To prepare the target muscle group and the joints in order to avoid injury. It is best to progressively increase the weight to your normal work-set.
Work-sets: The sets where the targeted muscle works to exhaustion by the last rep.
Twenty-Ones: Best explain here
Close Grip: Keeping your arms shoulder length focusing on the inner head of the bicep
Wide Grip: Keeping your arms further from shoulder length (hand placement away) focusing on the outer head of the bicep

Tips to Build Those Glutes

Exercises Glutes Exercises Resistance Training

For most women the two most important areas are glutes and abs. While abs are made in the kitchen, glutes can be cooked up at the gym. It just takes time, heavy weights, and a good glute workout and you will see the glutes grow. Here are tips to build glutes and a great workout to build those.

Tips to Getting Those Buns to Grow:

Foot placement is important: A great way to put emphasis on the glutes and not the quads, especially for compound movements, is to stand wide with toes pointed outwards and drive thru the heels.
Slow and squeeze: To get the most out of any workout, try to slow down and focus on the “mind-muscle connection.” Also don’t forget to squeeze and hold the contraction after each rep.
Burn those buns: Always thrive to burn the glutes out at the end of each set. If it’s not heavy enough do some extra reps or partial reps (shorter range motion) between each rep.
Don’t forget the hips: Adding hip abduction exercises are important because it helps build hip strength for stabilization and control.

Build Those Glutes Workout:

Wide Stance Barbell Squats- 5 sets of 10-12 reps (See Here)
Smith Single-Leg Split Lunge- 4 sets of 10-12 reps for each leg (See Here)
Plie Squats- 4 sets of 10-15 reps (See Here)
Cable Kickback- 3 sets of 10 reps for each leg (See Here)
Cable Hip Adduction- 4 sets of 10-15 reps for each leg (See Here)
Barbell Hip Trust- 3 sets of 10-15 rep (See Here)

Tired of not seeing muscle growth even after hours spent at the gym? Here are 5 pointers to improve lifting and see grow muscles faster

While both types of cardio have their benefits, for us busy gals HITT cardio can be more beneficial, because:

Three types of the top HITT cardio session to keep things interesting:

Summer time calls for beach days, pool parties and vacations, a quick workout before we throw on the bikini will make us feel good and look even better! Here’s a bikini HITT workout, that is quick, high intense, and can be done just about anywhere.

For most women the two most important areas are glutes and abs. While abs are made in the kitchen, glutes can be cooked up at the gym. It just takes time, heavy weights, and a good glute workout and you will see the glutes grow. Here are tips to build glutes and a great workout to build those.

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