Uses: Conditioning

1. No progression. If you’ve been doing the same weight for the same number of reps over and over again, you can’t expect to get anywhere. In order to see continued results you need to progress your workouts. Increasing the weight, upping the reps, and reducing rest intervals are just a few of the ways you can progress your routine.

2. Not enough variety. I see this one all the time with new clients. They’ve been on the exact same program doing the exact same things over and over again. Regardless of how great a program is, the fact is it is only great for as long as you continue seeing results. In order to keep your body moving in the right direction, you need to switch things up and challenge your body in new ways. If you been performing endurance training, switch to interval training. If you’ve been performing high rep resistance training, switch to low reps.

3. You’re not working hard enough. Remember the progress you made in the beginning? That was relatively easy to come by because your body wasn’t used to exercising. Unfortunately, to see continued results you must work hard. It’s easy to get comfortable and complacent, but you have to keep in mind that you need to provide a stimulus to the body that will force it to adapt. No more going through the motions. You need to work hard. If not, it’s a simple case of “been there, done that.”

Uses: Glute Strengthening

The Exercises:

1. Reverse Lunge

2. Push-Ups

3. V-Ups

The Ladder:

Note: Perform each round continuously without any rest between.

Round 1

Reverse Lunge x 1 rep each side
Push-Ups x 1 rep
V-Ups x 1 rep

Round 2

Reverse Lunge x 2 reps each side
Push-Ups x 2 reps
V-Ups x 1 rep

Round 3: 3 reps

Round 4: 4 reps

Continue to 10 reps for each exercise to complete the ladder.

Uses: Plyometric/Conditioning

1. Swiss Ball Pike

Start facedown on the swiss ball and roll yourself out until just your feet are on the ball. Keeping the legs as straight as possible, pull the feet toward hands and return back to the starting position.

2. Prone Jack Knife

Start facedown on the swiss ball and roll yourself out until just your feet are on the ball. Pull the knees toward the chest and return back to the starting position.

3. Push-Ups from Swiss Ball

Start facedown on the swiss ball and roll yourself out until just your feet are on the ball. From this position, lower yourself toward the floor and push yourself back up to the starting position. To make the exercise easier, walk yourself back until your knees are resting on the ball.

4. Swiss Ball Push-Up

Start with your hands on the outsides of ball with the arms extended. Lower yourself down to the ball and press yourself back up to the starting position.

5. Plank Push-Up from Swiss Ball

Start facedown on the swiss ball and roll yourself out until just your feet are on the ball. Drop down to your elbows one arm at a time and press back up to your hands. Alternate on each repetition.

6. Supine Hip Extension w/Leg Curl

Lay down face up with your legs extended and feet on the ball. Lift the hips up off the floor and, keep the hips high, pull the ball in underneath the body. While keeping the hips elevated, push the ball back out until the legs are fulling extended then lower your hips back to the floor.

7. Forward Ball Roll

Start on your knees with a swiss ball in front of you. Place your wrists on the ball. Slowly push the ball forward while extending your arms and allowing the hips to drop toward the floor. Pull the ball back in to the starting position.

Uses: Core strengthening

1. Throw out the Dumbbell Curls and Triceps Kickbacks

Ok, you don’t have to completely get rid of them. Just de-emphasize them…a lot. If your focus is on body composition you should spend the majority of your time squatting, pressing, and pulling. These movements provide the most bang for your buck (ie. calorie burn) and for the upper body exercises such as push-ups and pull-ups, you get plenty of arm work.

2. Push a little weight around

Don’t be intimidated by heavier weights. If you want to build a little muscle and tone your body you have to provide enough stimulus to force an adaptation. Using light weights for a lot of repetitions will only get you so far. Increase the intensity of your workouts by adding more resistance to your movements.

3. Clean up the diet

No matter how many compound exercises you do or how much weight you push around, you’re only going to get that “toned” look if your body composition changes (ie. you lose body fat). For this to happen you will have to make some adjustments to your diet. Calories are the number one factor in changing body composition followed by ample protein intake. Once you diet is in working order the previous two tips will work wonders for your body. For a more detailed look at nutritional needs for body composition changes, check out my Nutrition for Weight Loss and Dietary Requirements Prioritized posts.

Uses: Conditioning/Core strengthening

Tip: For better activation of the glues, your weight should primarily be distributed to the heels of the feet on each exercise. Keeping the weight on the balls of the feet will shift the emphasis of the exercise to the quads and that’s not what we’re looking for.

1. Squat

2. Reverse Lunge

3. Hip Bridge (Standard or Single Leg)