Exercises I Want to Improve On

Before I get to today’s post I just want to share with you all some exciting news! I now have a spreadshirt shop where you can purchase a SWEET tank!! These are longer fitted tanks and I have created two designs. One says “Sweat. Everyday” on the front with a dumbbell logo. On the back of the shirt in smaller font it says “onefitfoodie.com”  The other tank says “No, I don’t run, I lift weights” With a pink stick figure lifting a barbell. They are under $30 a piece and you will look incredible rocking this tank in the gym! ENJOY!

Just like anyone who trains regularly in the gym, there are certain exercises that love; I mean that I really love and wish I could do everyday.  On the flipside, there are also those certain exercises that I loathe. I have more of a ‘love/hate’ relationship with those ones. They are usually very effective, but not my favorite to perform. The reason I don’t ‘love’ these exercises to be honest is because they are most likely my weak link. I either lack strength in this specific area of my body or put simply-it is just hard! Why do I perform exercises that I do not fully enjoy? It is because I like to balance out my training and get a bit uncomfortable  We all have weaknesses and my suggestion would be to perform those exercises that you dislike or focus on your weak link in the beginning of your workout. Focus on it and it and maybe it will not be your weak link for long!


Today I wanted to go through some exercises that I have been doing lately-some that I LOVE and some that I do not love so much. Either way, I have been doing them and working hard on them ro increase weight, work on form or simply just to push myself. 


Barbell Glute Bridges 
I have been performing HEAVY barbell glute bridges once a week on my leg dominant day. My legs respond very quickly to training and right now, I am extremely pleased where they are for my show. They have always been very enjoyable for me to train and like I said, because they respond very quickly, I actually have decreased how much I work them (in the weight lifting department) so my body stays as symmetrical as possible. In general, the key (for me) when it comes to lower body/glute training is a combination of heavy lifting and more explosive HIIT such as incline sprints, plyometrics and body weight exercises. I always have 1 heavy lifting day for the lower body and one day that is intense sprints and plyo work. Of course kettlebell swings also play a role in sculpting a great posterior as well! 

The barbell glute bridge is by far my favorite glute exercise as of late. The key is FORM. Many people will read this post and then load up the bar and try to attempt this exercise with atrocious form. I am not saying that you will. But what I find especially since working in a gym is that people see something or hear about something and take no time to progress or learn to active the proper muscles. I will say that without learning how to activate the glutes, this exercise is pretty useless. My suggestion would be to start with no weight at all, or a light body bar if you are brand new to the barbell glute bridge exercise.


Lie on your back with your feet flat and knees up toward the ceiling. Rest your arms by your side and simply bridge your hips toward the ceiling squeezing your glutes. You should not feel anything in your lower back. If you do, you could be arching your back too much. Try to decrease your arch by flattening the back and focusing on the GLUTES. Always visualize the muscles you are working. 

**You may need a friend or workout buddy to help you place the bar on and off your hips if you are lifting heavy. 
If you want to read more about the barbell glute bridge, I suggest taking a look at Kellie Davis’ blog post HERE


Speaking of Kellie…do you want to see some strong glutes? 

Yeah…So Ladies–enough with the ‘getting bulky’ myth. Kellie is incredibly strong, has some of the best looking glutes in the industry and lifts more than any male I know. 


The Barbell Front Squat
I love this exercise 234823 times more than the back squat. This is not to say that I never perform back squats, however I certainly spend more time working on my front squat rather than my back squat. I like it for a number of reasons. First of all, because the weight is anteriorly placed, it forces you to engage the core and all of the muscles of the upper back.  When performing back squats, it is easy to mess with form as well as lift too heavy putting excessive loading on the lumbar spine.  Because of the front squat, I have greatly increased my flexibility as well as feel as though it is a complete full body exercise. Personally, I am able to get way deeper with the front squat, keep a straight spine and push through my heels to come up.


The front squat hits the quads a bit more due to the placement of the barbell. The front squat can teach the body the proper movement and form that the body is supposed to go through rather than with the back squat where more than likely, halfway through the knees will start to cave, the weight will distribute to the wrong places (toes) and the low back will be under too much pressure. 


Another reason I love the front squat is because the way that you must hold the bar (anteriorly, engaging the upper body muscles) strengthens the base of other important ‘big rock’ exercises such as the bench, presses, overhead squats etc. When getting stronger with the front squat, this will translate to getting stronger with other important and effective exercises as well.


You will certainly not be able to lift as much weight with the front squat than with the back squat because if you do, the spine will compress. This means that you need a whole lot of upper body strength to increase in weight. This is a reason that I am greatly working on increasing my front squat. A HUGE goal of mine is to strengthen my upper body and front squats greatly help toward my goal.  
Here is some inspiration for you all!



Single Arm Plank Back Row
Some of you have maybe never heard of this exercise, but let me say that after this, you will all want to give it a try! It looks easy, but trust me, keeping 100% good form while performing this exercise is no joke! Now, it is called a ‘back row’ but the deceiving part of it is that it certainly puts more pressure on the stabilizer which in this case is the opposite shoulder.


To set yourself up for this exercise, you are in an elevated position with your upper body-by placing one hand on a plyo box or bench. You will be rowing with one arm, meaning your other arm is holding your entire body up while in this elevated plank position. HELLO SHOULDER STABILIZERS! The goal of the exercise is to keep the hips square to the ground, butt down-in one straight line with your spine and to not let your shoulder completely shrug into itself on the arm that is holding you up. You will quickly find that the dumbbell or kettlebell you chose to perform the actual row may not be as heavy as you would do for a 1 arm supported row; reason being you have a lot of other muscles and body parts to pay attention to. This exercise is KILLER. You will feel this in your entire body and can lead to amazing gains for your upper back and shoulders. 


This is a great video that explains the exercise and demonstrates as well!

Source


TRX High Plank Pike’s
I am pretty much in love with the TRX these days. Ever since my certification, I cannot get enough of it! I love learning and progressing with new exercises and I find that it is by far one of the most versatile tools in the gym! One such exercise that I can do, but I certainly want to improve on is the pike exercise. I ‘feel’ this exercise more than most abdominal exercises that I perform because you really have to stay 100% in the zone and focused to make sure there is no lagging in the low back. I work on these when I am doing core work and each time try to either perform more sets/reps or simply slow down the motion to make it a bit more challenging. 


Here is the exercise!

Source

Want know more about the TRX? Click here! 
Slide Board Lateral Slides
Recently at the gym that I work at we got a power slideboard. I was extremely excited for this new piece of equipment because I had heard great things about it as well as lots of fun exercises that are effective, challenging and fun! I was ready to take this on and introduce it and incorporate it into to my clients and into my workouts! There are many exercises that you can perform on the slide board including slider mountain climbers, slider planks, slider reverse or lateral lunges and the notorious lateral slides (which to me is the hardest!) 


The slide board comes with a set of booties that you must wear in order to perform the exercises. It literally feels like you are on skating rink! The lateral slide exercise is amazing because it challenges your balance, coordination, speed, agility and it FIRES the glutes and inner/outer thighs, quads, hamstrings, calves, and core, making your lower body more explosive and agile when performing athletic activities I have been performing the lateral slides on my heavy leg day, super setting a set of 30-40 seconds with either trap bar deadlifts or TRX split squats. The slide exercise is an explosive movement that if done properly shouldn’t last longer than about 40 seconds. It is extremely anaerobic and will fire those fast twitch fibers. 


This is a GREAT video that explains the exact form as well as a great demonstration of hte lateral slides. If you have one in your gym, give it a try!

Source


Push Ups
Ah push ups. The simplest exercise, yet one of the toughest to conquer. Most people I know do not enjoy push ups and this goes for myself as well. Regardless of my thoughts on the push up-there is no denying that it is one of the most powerful upper body exercises, works the core and can be absolutely anywhere. Not to mention there are hundreds of variations of push ups you can do to improve. 


Push ups seem easy and when I look around I see maybe 40% of people doing them correctly. You would think that getting in a plank position and pushing yourself up would be easy. Not so much so! Push ups are difficult because they force you to stabilize your entire body from head to toe. If you have any sort of muscle weakness, core instability, core or back weakness, the push up will greatly suffer causing your body to use other muscles and areas of the body which could cause injury or muscular imbalances. I truly believe that every single person should incorporate some form of push ups in their training. 


When I have a client perform a push up, I pay very close attention to their body position as they lower and push themselves up. Right away I can see if there is a lagging in the body, meaning first their head comes up and then their body follows. The body should all go down in ONE straight motion and the same goes for the way up. If there is any sort of lagging (which generally happens in the core) this just means that we have to work on some core strength!


progression with the push up just like any other exercise is KEY to teaching the body proper position and thus gaining strength in the given areas. This progression is essential as it forces the body to adapt.  


If you are looking to improve on your push up, suck up your ego and get off the ground. Bring yourself to the smith machine (this is the only time I will use the smith machine) and perform some incline push ups. I will always bring my clients over to perform incline push ups in order to improve their floor push ups.  You can ‘click’ the smith machine bar into a hook that you feel is appropriate and the reason I like using this machine is because as my client gets stronger, I lower the bar closer to the ground so they can see their progressions as well. If they can perform some solid push ups on an incline, soon enough they will be taking that new found strength and proper positioning and KILL it on the ground!

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Are there any exercises that you have been working toward improving?