Holiday Exercise

Holiday Exercise Guide

How to perform the exercises from the 15min. Holiday Workout.

Dumb Bell (DB) Pull over

Start

Finish

• 1. Begin laying on a ball with your upper back and head supported, abs and butt braced and holding your body in a straight line. Grasp one dumbbell (DB) in both hands.
• 2. Keeping your abs tight, slowly lower the DB as far as you can WITHOUT letting your low-back arch or move. Pull the DB up and over your head. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

ShellC

Start

Finish

This is the real “Butt Blaster”. Forget the dumb machine at your local gym, do something that works your low-back, abs, butt, and hamstring all at once.

• 1: Lay on your back with your legs on top of a relatively small ball (somewhere between mid ankle and mid-calf – the higher you go, the easier it is).
• 2: Squeeze your ass and use it to push yourself up until you are in a straight line, then pull the ball in to you while raising your hips.
• 3: Straighten your knee, then lower your hips under control. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Alternating Overhead Press

Start

Finish

• 1: Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and hold just above your shoulders. Tighten your abs and butt, and ensure that you have good posture.
• 2: With NO other movement in your body – keep good posture + tight abs & butt, press the weight overhead. Slowly return it to the start and repeat for the desired number of reps.

Alternating Lunge

Start

Finish

• 1: Stand with your feet together and pointed straight ahead, abs tight, and chest up. Step out approx. 2 feet in front of your body, landing on the heel.
• 2: Quickly, slow yourself down and push, from the heel, back to standing. Be sure that your hips stay pointed straight ahead during the entire exercise. There should be NO rotation of the hips of knees, and the chest should stay up.

Bent Over Dumbbell (DB) Row

Start

Finish

A great exercise for your arms, back, shoulders, forearms, hips and abs.

• 1: Grasp two (2) DB’s (dumbbells), and bend over as far as you can while keeping a flat/slightly arched low-back (bend at the hips and knees to get low). Let your arms hang.
• 2: Tighten your abs, and begin pulling the DB’s toward the bottom of your rib-cage. Be sure to squeeze your shoulder-blades all the way BACK & DOWN.
• Pause. Lower DB’s under control, and repeat for desired number of repetitions.

Over Head DB Squat

Start

Finish

This an excellent and under-utilized exercise that increases total body strength, flexibility, and coordination. It is also an excellent fat-loss tool (lots of muscle worked = lots of fat burned), plus a great teaching tool to progress to more advanced lifts.

• 1: Grasp two LIGHT dumbbells (5-10lbs would be a good starting point), and stand with your feet shoulder width apart or a little more. Raise on DB overhead, and keep the other by your side. Brace your abs and begin squatting with your HIPS.
• 2: Carefully squat down as far as you can with good form (hips leading, chest up, no rotation and arm straight up in air). Squeeze your butt and return to standing. Ensure that your knees are pointed in exactly the same direction as your 2nd toe – DO NOT let your knees collapse in at all. Pause. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions – one set is all reps done on EACH side.

Alternating DB Bench Press

Start

Finish

• 1: Lay on your back on an exercise ball with two (2) dumbbells (DB) in your hands. Raise your hips and brace your abs so that your body is in a straight line – you should feel a lot of tension in your butt.
• 2: Pull your elbows in, and push the DB’s straight up. This is the START position. Pause, and lower one of them until it is a few inches above your chest/shoulders – NOT touching or resting on your body. Keeping yourself centered on the ball, and elbows pulled-in, with your abs tight, push it back up. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions on each side.

Romanian Dead Lift

Start

Finish

This is a fantastic exercise for your “posterior chain” – in English, that is all of the muscles on the back side of your body. From your shoulders all the way to your heels – that’s a lot of muscle stimulated (forearms, arms, shoulders, upper back, middle back, lower back, abs, butt, hamstrings, and calfs).

• 1: Standing with good posture holding a barbell or dumbbells. Bend AT THE HIP (not by rounding your back – look at the model!). The knees should also bend slightly (20°). Go as far as you can by bending at the hip AND keeping an arch in your low-back, and your chest-up. Hopefully you are flexible enough to go a little below your knees (it’s ok if you can’t do that yet).
• 2: Keeping your abs tight, squeeze your butt and return to standing.

Dumbbell (DB) Swing

This is a dynamic exercise that still photos will not do justice for, so here is a youtube video of some doing a kettle bell swing. It IS the exact same thing, kettle bells are essentially funny shaped dumbbells with slightly different handles. Click here for the video.