Health and Fitness: There’s no equipment needed

At Elevate we are easing our way back into things, to make sure we get things right for all our customers. We’ll be opening properly from August, but right now, we are running free outdoor classes for anyone who wants to train with us, with 2 a day every day of the week. These are for up to 6 people, socially distanced, with individual equipment for everybody that is thoroughly cleaned afterwards.

From the 25th, when we’re allowed in the studio itself, we’ll be training in there. Its been great training in a group again, we’ve loved having our regulars back and also seeing lots of new faces, so if you would like to join us you can book a class at www.elevatefitnessuk.com

During July, we’re also offering free PT Taster sessions for any new clients. It can be daunting finding a new Personal Trainer, so we thought we’d give people the chance to try us out for no cost, to see how we can help them reach their fitness goals. If you’d be interested in having a chat about the options, just email us on [email protected] and we can arrange a session.

In the meantime, I’ve done another home workout for you. We’ve had some great feedback on these so hopefully you’ve found them beneficial during lockdown. We don’t plan to stop them yet, so let us know what you’d like to see in them to help you train at home.

We’re going to split this one up into two sections, the first is a mobility circuit and then the second is a bodyweight workout, so no equipment needed.

Warm Up

You’ll know our usual warm up techniques by now.

Mobility Circuit

This is a quick fire circuit, it works a range of muscles but more importantly is a great movement and mobility workout. We’ve got 6 exercises and we’re going to do 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off for each one. Do one of each exercise before moving into the other and once you’ve done all 6 that’s a full round. Rest for a minute between rounds and aim for 3 rounds total.

A-frame into hip drop

Start in a high plank position (see technique for last exercise). Push down through your hands, lifting your hips and bum towards the ceiling and lengthening through your back. Try to keep heels on the floor and look back between your knees. Once you have held this for a couple of seconds start to drop your hips towards the floor and straighten your arms, lifting your chest in air. Again hold for a couple of seconds while staying relaxed, then push back up into starting position and repeat. This has got a lot going on, so take your time working through smooth movements of each stage.

Backwards Lunge (with arm raise)

From a standing start, step backwards with 1 leg and lift both arms in the air. Lower your hips until both knees are bent at a 90degree angle, also rotating the lifted arms over the opposite shoulder to the leg you stepped back on. To maintain the right shape, don’t let your front knee go out past your toes and keep your back knee down towards the floor. Once your knee has gone as low as it can, bring yourself up to a standing position and swap legs. Keep your upper body nice and upright throughout, looking forward and staying strong through the trunk as you do the rotations.

Reach Overs

Begin lying on your back, knees up, feet flat on the floor, arms out to your side. Pushing into your heels, squeeze your glutes, raising your hips and chest as high as you can. Bring one arm straight up and then roll over to the opposite shoulder, pointing the hand towards the floor on that side. Hold for a second then return to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side.

Step Throughs

Again starting in a high plank position, bring one foot up next to your hand and pull your chest up into the air while dropping your hips down towards the floor. Hold briefly then return to starting position but this time you are going to push your bum back towards your heels before repeating the whole 
movement on the opposite side.

Kosak Squats (side lunges)

Start with feet wider than shoulder width apart and take a big step to the side. Shift your bottom back and down, tilting slightly forward from your hips. Keep your weight through your heels at all time and just work to a range of movement that is comfortable for you. At the bottom of the movement, drive back up to starting position and repeat on the opposite side.

High plank with alternating taps

Start as you would at the top of a press up, pushing down into the floor with your hands and bracing through your trunk to keep as stable as possible, this is the high plank. Once stable, alternate bringing your hands across your chest to touch the opposite shoulder. Make sure your 
movements are controlled and you have minimal movement through your trunk.

Bodyweight workout

So once we’ve done that, we’re going to finish off with a bodyweight workout. Jam packed with exercises. There is 4 in total and what we’re going to do is start on 30 reps of each, before moving down to 20 reps and then finally 10, as quickly as possible. Enjoy!!!

We’ll be doing:

Press ups

Start in either a full press up position or on your knees if you need to. Bend at the elbows and bring your chest as low as you can. Keep your hips and weight forward and make sure your head goes forward, ahead of your hands. If you’re a beginner then go down slow and up fast and if you’re more confident go down and up as fast as you can.

Air Squats

Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, squat in a smooth movement. As you bring your hips down, make sure you sit back into your heels and keep your chest as upright as possible.

Try to get your thighs parallel to the floor, or as far down as you can go. Once you hit the bottom, bring your hips back up to a standing position and repeat.

Burpees

From a standing position, put your hands on the floor and jump your feet back so you come to a press up position. Then bring your chest to the floor as far as you can, before pushing up with your arms, jumping to your feet right through to as high as you can - the hands should be pushed into the air as a full jump. Land and repeat.

Alternating Lunges

From a standing start, step forward with 1 leg and lower your hips until both knees are bent at a 90degree angle. To maintain the right shape, don’t let your front knee go out past your toes and keep your back knee down towards the floor. Once your knee has gone as low as it can, bring yourself up to a standing position and swap legs. Keep your upper body nice and upright throughout, looking forward and staying strong through the trunk.

So that’s 30 press ups, 30 air squats, 30 burpees and 30 lunges, then 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 and a final round of 10 of each. All as quick as you can!

Warm down

I think that’s a really good workout and a good mix of high intensity and decent body workout, at a real pace as well. I bet you are feeling it now! Good work getting it done, now you can stretch out, relax and take on some water.

For more workouts like this, join us at one of our free classes at www.elevatefitnessuk.com