This week’s workout of the week is part of the strength cycle of the programming. In this cycle, we focus on improving stability, muscular strength, and muscular endurance throughout the body. Wednesday’s workout starts with the focus on the upper body, then total body, and finishes with a lower body strength effort.
This workout starts with one of the more challenging lifts, in my opionion, the military press- a strict over the head press that is a more effective muscle builder than the bench press and provides a more practical application to the sports that we do and general life. The military press targets the shoulders and triceps, but also requires core and leg strength to stabilize the weights.
I incorporated the barbell Curtis P without the push press to work the total body and focus on core stabilization during squat cleans and lunges. The Curtis P (without pushpress) is a hanging squat clean followed by 2 alternating lunges. The key here is keeping your elbows up and parallel to the floor, encouraging core strength and balance.
Single leg box squats are also a favorite exercise of mine. This movement focuses on increasing eccentric strength and, when done correctly, will strengthen muscles and joints in a way that will prevent injury as well as improve athletic performance. The two keys to making this exercise work for you is to make sure the knee does not move beyond the toes when squatting down and up and to prevent knee of the supporting leg move inward- make sure it tracks straight over the foot staying well aligned between hip and ankle.
Lastly, we end the workout with Jane Fonda, a set of hip exercises that work to strengthen and stabilize your hips, core, and pelvis.
Wednesday- UTL
Warm up
10-1
Swings, Spider-Man push ups, walking lunges
6 rounds
4x military press
Rope climb or 3/5 pull ups
Up/down dog
6 rounds
5x Curtis p w/o push press
4x SBGU
Instep plus
6 rounds
10x single leg box squats (weighted with kettle bell)
10x hippity hops
5x burpees
Jane
