Tough Little Workouts

Workouts designed to get you fit, fast

Archive for category The Workouts

How to Do Seated Oblique Twists with a Medicine Ball

Jul 24

Posted by Funkster in Hints and Tips, The Workouts | No Comments

The Russian Twist or seated oblique twist is an important abdominal exercise that strengthens various areas of the abdominals, specifically the rectus abdominis (six pack muscle), the internal obliques (cover the six pack muscle), and the external obliques (cover the internal obliques).

The abdominal muscles are one of the basic core muscles in the body, together with the trunk. Every movement performed by the body engages the core muscles, so it is always better when they are kept strong so you can live a stress free and painless free body. Strong internal and external oblique muscles prevent backache and can build strength and speed in competition-based events like sprinting and racquet sports.

How To Perform a Seated Oblique Twist Correctly

  • Sit on a mat or flat cushion on the floor for extra comfort. Performing on a hard surface puts strain on the back. Bend your knees and make sure that your feet remain on the floor.
  • With any abdominal exercise, it is important to pull in the abdominals so tense them to further work them and keep them stronger over the long term. Sit up at an angle of about 45 degrees.
  • Remember to breathe throughout the exercise. Breathing correctly allows you the concentration to perform the oblique exercises correctly. Exhale during the exercise and inhale when resting after the rep.
  • Grab hold of a medicine ball with handles (if possible). Aim to hold the medicine ball straight in front of the body.
  • Keep the abdominals tense throughout, and use your abdominals and the weight of the medicine ball to twist your torso to the right side to touch the floor.
  • Keep the abdominals tense, breathe correctly, and twist the medicine ball to the other side and the floor. That is one rep.
  • In order to build strong abdominals, especially the oblique muscles, the muscles need to become slightly stressed in order for tears to take place in the abdominal area. With the right protein rich foods, the muscles grow in strength, strip off fat, and you will achieve a toned sexy body.

Benefits of Seated Oblique Twists

  • This exercise tones the side abdominals which many people forget to train when they perform crunches. It will develop the enviable V side muscles as seen on athletes.
  • A stronger abdominal and core prevents backache.
  • It builds strength and speed in other areas; especially sprint work and racquet sports.

It is important to note that when any undertaking any bodyweight exercise like a seated oblique twist, rest days are important to refuel the muscles. Nutrition is also important, especially on training days. Always try to beat your target number of repetitions. For beginners, try to perform 5 to 10 repetitions. Sticking to the same number of reps will not build a strong body over the long term.

The body is designed to build in strength, so performing the correct exercises and fueling the body with protein rich foods like eggs, red meat, fish, and nuts/seeds will help your muscles to grow. Rest is essential. If the body ever feels overworked through training or even basic work, it can break down and become ill.

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Press-ups

Jul 20

Posted by Funkster in Hints and Tips, The Workouts | No Comments

Press-ups are the perfect bodyweight exercise. You do not need to join the gym to perform press-ups, although most people need an excuse not to workout. Press-ups use up to seventy percent of your bodyweight, so it is a perfect exercise in which to tone up, gain muscle mass, improve your resting metabolism, and burn off fat.

I can successfully perform around forty press-ups without a break. This is enough for a woman (or so I think) because it keeps my chest pert, as I hate uncomfortable bras. I used to attend boxing training, and I soon built up my upper-body strength. Press-ups will burn calories…and lots. It tones the upper body of the back, biceps, triceps, chest (perfect to tone the tits, girls), and abdomen. Remember to make sure that your back is straight while performing press-ups. If you are new to press-ups, perform them on your knees and make sure to lower your chest almost to the floor as one rep.

There are a variety of press-ups to try. I like to perform press-ups with my feet resting on a box. This is a tough exercise, but it works the abdomen perfectly. Try resting your feet on top of the other foot and perform fifteen press-ups before carrying out the workout on the other foot. This increases the amount of bodyweight that you lift during a press-up and will toughen the exercise.

Another way to strain the muscles through press-ups is to purchase a stability ball. Balance the feet on the ball, lower your chest to the floor in a press-ups, and then curl the feet in on the ball to work the hamstrings and abdomen. Try to work up to 10-12. I literally break out into a sweat just performing twelve of these bastards. Nevertheless, work through the pain barriers by training your mind with positive mantras like ‘no pain’ or ‘one more minute and its over’. Another great motivator is music. The right song makes me go further. Pendulum and Prodigy are fantastic to listen to during a hard bodyweight training sessions.

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100 Press-up Challenge

May 10

Posted by Funkster in Sports & Fitness, The Workouts | No Comments

Does anyone else want to try this with me? At the end of six weeks I should be able to perform 100 press-ups easily. At the moment, I feel comfortable doing just 30-40. I spotted this in Men’s Health – such a great magazine. I tried the juice fasting from either Men’s Fitness or Men’s Health.

Anyway week one is easy. Perform various sets before trying 13 press-ups. So I must perform 11 press-ups, then 12, then do two sets of 9 press-ups. Obviously rest in between each set, then try the 13. Not sure if it my flat or the laminate floor, but I found it incredibly hard. I’m not sure if this is because I’m still knackered from a four and a half hour bike ride yesterday where I covered almost 50 k on uneven terrain. Still got up Blackstone Edge though. Still got the old fitness.

It is useful to carry out this week one 3-4 times per week to build up the stamina in the biceps/triceps. I always find it easier to perform press-ups on a mat at the gym, or perhaps it the motivation of loads of fit men training around me that makes me want to work hard. I can do the diamond press-ups, but I struggle to do the clap press-up and throw the body off the floor and clap press-ups. I had a dream once that I could do them like Stallone in Rocky. Dreams are so great!

Anyway, weeks two-six get harder, but apparently doing the reps before the required set of press-ups builds arm strength. Mental strength is also required. The body often lets down the mind when pain creeps in – well I suppose it is normal, but if you choose to push through the pain, you can do with mental strength. Good luck! I’ll let you know how I get on.

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The Bodyweight Training Galore Workout

Apr 1

Posted by Funkster in The Workouts | No Comments

The whole point of this blog is to give informative articles about fitness, nutrition, and to design my own short tough workouts that build strength, tone the muscles, and burn off stubborn fat. Occasionally though, I feel I do have to go over the 30 minutes.

This workout took me around fifty minutes, and I’m feeling its positive effects today in two sore buttocks, a tight back, tender triceps, and aching abdominals.

The weights are optional for the squats, but weight are needed for the dead lift. Adding weights makes each exercise harder. Take a minute between each exercise if you need it. These moves draw out perspiration and require healthy lung power, so therefore the moves dry the throat easily.

Equipment Needed:

  • Mat
  • Stability ball
  • Weights 30-80kg
  • Skipping rope (optional)

The Workout:

Start off with 3-5 minutes of jump rope or jogging on the spot to warm the muscles.

  • Twenty normal press-ups, twenty squat thrusts, and twenty star jumps, without taking a break, followed by twenty sit-ups on the stability ball.
  • Nineteen weighted squats. Feet hip width apart, and try to squat down slowly rather than rush the move. Really work those buttock muscles. After several you will feel the ache. Nineteen sit-ups on the stability ball.
  • Eighteen dead lifts. Feet close together. Suck in the abdominals. Reach for the weight and pull up to stomach. Do not curl the back, rather stand up naturally. Follow the weight down keeping the back straight and bend the knees slightly until you feel a pull in the hamstring and buttock areas. Eighteen sit-ups on the stability ball.
  • Seventeen wide press-ups. Widen the hands as far as possible and perform seventeen. Straight onto seventeen squat thrusts, and seventeen star jumps, followed by seventeen sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Sixteen weighted squats, but widen the legs slightly. Sixteen sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Fifteen dead lifts followed by fifteen sit ups on stability ball.
  • Fourteen diamond shaped press-ups, followed by fourteen squat thrusts, fourteen star jumps, and fourteen sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Thirteen weighted squats feet closer together, followed by thirteen sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Twelve dead lifts, followed by twelve sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Eleven normal press-ups, followed by eleven squat thrusts, eleven star jumps, and eleven sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Ten weighted squats, feet wider, followed by ten sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Nine dead lifts, followed by nine sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Eight wide press-ups, followed by eight squat thrusts, eight star jumps, and eight sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Seven weighted squats, feet close together, followed by, you guessed it, seven sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Six dead lifts, followed by sit-ups on ball.
  • Five diamond shaped press-ups, followed by five squat thrusts, five star jumps, and five sit-ups on ball.
  • Four weighted squats, feet wider. Four sit-ups on stability ball.
  • Three dead lifts. Three sit-ups on ball.
  • Two normal press-ups, two squat thrusts, two star jumps, and two sit-ups on stability ball.
  • One weighted squat, feet closer, followed by one last sit-up on stability ball.

Try to perform the moves without taking a break before the sit-ups. Performing sit-ups on a stability ball works on core strength because it requires some effort to remain on the ball and perform the exercise. There are a wide array of activities to perform on a stability ball, more of which I’ll discuss another time.

Be sure to eat protein rich food 30-60 minutes after the workout. If you can, try to go from five to one without taking a break to really stress the muscles. The physical act of lifting the weight, even for only one rep still stresses the muscles, and will help then grow back stronger – with the right nutrition.

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