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According to Alex Fell and Ruben Belliard, former Marines and founders of Warrior Fitness Boot Camp in New York City, “women are often very apprehensive to try intimidating exercises, thinking they will fail. Almost every time, our female clients surprise themselves turning a ‘cannot’ into ‘can do’!”
Alex and Ruben have listed their five favorite exercise moves that usually make women cringe, and why you should take a second look!
#1.The Pull Up:
•Why it’s Great for Women: Why should women do chin ups and/or pull ups? They are effective for building nice toned muscles, burning calories and fat. According to Alex, “pull-ups improve your overall fitness through a combination of upper body strength and core stabilization.”
· Make it Work for You: Women are often apprehensive to even attempt a pull up or chin up but as we tell our bootcampers you have to try. They are not impossible, they are possibly one of the BEST upper body exercises for women and if you have the willpower to push yourself you’ll feel like the toughest woman in the room.
· First off, what’s the difference between a pull up and a chin up?
o Pull up: Palms are turned away from you and often times a wide grip (wider than shoulder width) is used. The back muscles (lats and tapezius muscles) are pushed to the max, but the biceps and shoulders are used as well.
o Chin-up: Palms are turned towards you and grip is shoulder width apart. The arms (more specifically the biceps) are the muscles that are hit the hardest. But don’t worry your back and shoulders will still be worked. Chin ups are a bit easier than Pull-up.
According to Alex, “I can almost assure you that if you’ve never tried either one, the chances you’ll be able to do 1 chin up or more is slim… but that’s OK.” There are a few options you have to get better at doing chin-ups. At the gym you can use an assisted-pull up machine or as Alex also notes, the easiest and cheapest alternative is the buddy system – have your workout partner hold your legs or knees as you do a pull-up, only giving you as much help as you need.
#2. Elbow to Knee Exercise (aka Bicycle Crunch):
•Why it’s Great for Women: It’s one of the most effective abdominal exercises that target the rectus abdominis (i.e., the 'six pack') and the obliques (the waist).
•Make it Work for You: The key to making the bicycle crunch work for you is to use perfect form. Concentrate on perfect execution of the movement, getting a good contraction and feeling the abs throughout the movement.
•Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground. For this exercise, you will need to put your hands beside your head. Be careful, not to strain your neck as you perform it. Now lift your shoulders into the crunch position.
•Bring knees up to where they are perpendicular to the floor, with your lower legs parallel to the floor (Your legs will form a 90 degree angle at the knee). This will be your starting position.
•Now simultaneously, slowly go through a cycle pedal motion kicking forward with the right leg and bringing in the knee of the left leg. Bring your right elbow close to your left knee by crunching to the side, as you breathe out.
•Go back to the initial position as you breathe in.
•Crunch to the opposite side as you cycle your legs and bring closer your left elbow to your right knee and exhale.
•Continue alternating in this manner until all of the recommended repetitions for each side have been completed.
#3. Lunges:
· Why it’s Great for Women The lunge exercise is one of the very best exercises for your legs and butt. Lunges are one of the best functional exercises and multi joint movement you can do. They work your body in multiple planes of motion like activities of daily living and can strengthen the muscles or your lower body while your improve your stabilization and balance.
· Make it Work for You: Lunges are very safe and effective for almost everybody and require little or no equipment to get a great workout. Start with both legs together, then take a step forward about 2 to 3 feet with one foot. Before you lunge, make sure your torso is straight. Bend the knees and lower the body down until the back knee is a few inches from the floor. At the bottom of the movement, the front thigh should be parallel to the floor and the back knee should point toward the floor. Keep the weight evenly distributed between both legs and step back with your front foot driving through your heel.
o Static lunges are great, but adding variety to your workouts will help you engage the glutes, hips and thighs in different ways and add a whole new dimension to your training. Below are just a few examples of lunge variations:
§ Sliding Lunges: Using a paper plate under the back foot helps you engage more quads and work on balance and stability
§ Side Lunge: The side lunge emphasizes the inner thighs along with the hips and glutes
§ Sliding Side Lunges: Adding a paper plate to the traditional side lunge creates more challenge for the inner thighs
§ Split Squats: Elevating the back leg makes the traditional lunge more advanced and puts more emphasis on the quad of the back leg
§ Low Lunges: This move offers a tight, small move that really challenges the glutes and thighs of the front leg while engaging the core
#4 Side Straddle Hops (Jumping Jacks).
•Why it’s Great for Women: This is a great way to warm your body up before you start your work out because it incorporates the entire body. •Make it Work for You: For the multi-tasking women this is a great workout. It can serve two purposes of both warming up and also providing you with many benefits of aerobic exercises. This exercise involves numerous parts of the body such as back, calves, shoulders and thighs.
•Jumping jacks are a great way of shedding that extra weight. This exercise burns calories and fat at a higher rate in comparison to other exercises. Since it involves different muscles of the body, they are going to be worked effectively leading to fat burning and eventually, weight loss.
•To perform a jumping jack start by standing up straight with you’re hands down by your side and facing forward. Then jump and simultaneously fling out your arms and legs so that when you land your feet are spread about shoulder width apart and your hands are reaching up to the sky. Then jump again to return to the start position.
#5. Push-ups
•Why it’s Great for Women: Pushups, like pull ups, are compound movements using almost all the muscles of your body. People often do not realize that pushups can give them a full body workout. Pushups exercise almost all the parts of your body from your hands and fingers, triceps, biceps, forearms, shoulders, lower and upper back, traps, abs, hamstrings, glutes, quads, calf, and finally even your feet.
•Make it Work for You: You can start this exercise on your knees but eventually you will be able to do them without your knees. Once you are comfortable with regular pushups, you can progress to other types of pushups such as inclined, clapping, diamond, and wide pushups. Incorporating variations in this exercise, not only helps to break the monotony of following the same regimen over a long duration, but also helps to focus more on particular areas of the body where you want to build up or exercise more. Further, all these different types are simple variations which can be conveniently done anywhere, anytime.
•Position yourself face down on the floor, balancing on your toes/knees and hands. Your hands should be wider than shoulders, body in a straight line from head to toe. Don't sag in the middle and don't stick your butt up in the air. Slowly bend your arms and lower your body to the floor, stopping when your elbows are at 90 degrees. Exhale and push back up. Variations include incline, decline, wall pushups, or for masochists, one-armed pushups. Do this move 2-3 non-consecutive days a week and add a rep each time you do the exercise.
About Alex Fell & Ruben Belliard, Founders of Warrior Fitness Boot Camp
Alex Fell and Ruben Belliard were roommates in the Marine Corps. Together, in May 2008 they opened Warrior Fitness Boot Camp.
Alex served in the United States Marine Corps from 1996-2003. While enlisted, Alex was a forward observer with the infantry and was a member of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Demonstration Team. In 2004, he was honorably discharged from service with the rank of Sergeant. Alex holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from The City College of New York (CUNY). He is also an American Council on Exercise Certified Group Fitness Instructor.
Ruben served in the United States Marine Corps from 1997-2004. Ruben held various positions within the Combat Arms field and was an instructor at The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia. During his time in the U.S. Marines, he was involved in the Kosovo conflict and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was honorably discharged from active duty in the U.S. Marines in 2004 with the rank of Sergeant. Ruben is an American Council on Exercise Certified Group Fitness Instructor.
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