Helping you reach your fitness goals

It feels like forever and I’m sure people will approach their return with cautious optimism, not to say excitement!

At Elevate we can’t wait to use the studio again. It’s a brand new facility, so it will be great going back into it and starting up again. We’ll be opening properly from August 3 and in the meantime we are running free classes and PT sessions throughout July. All are welcome, so come down and join us. It’s a really great opportunity to see what we offer, our shiny new equipment and state-of-the-art facilities and get a real sweat on as well. Just head over to the website and book a time that suits you: www.elevatefitnessuk.com

If you’d prefer one-on-one training, we’re also offering free PT taster sessions for any new clients in July.

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.

The session I’ve put together this week is a good representative of the kind of classes we offer at Elevate. It’s a mix of kettlebell and bodyweight exercises, which should give you a good bit of variety and work a large range of muscles.

Warm Up

You’ll know our usual warm up techniques by now, but if not you can see them in the accompanying picture to get yourself ready.

20/20 Circuit

Keeping timings simple we are going to be working for 20 seconds and then resting for 20 seconds.

We’re going to do this all the way through eight different exercises, then at the end will rest for 60 seconds before starting all over again. Aim to complete four to six rounds of this 20/20 circuit. These workouts can be completed using a kettlebell, dumbbell, rucksack or anything of the like, you may just have to modify some of the technique depending on the object used.

Clean and Press Right

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and a kettlebell on the floor in front of you. Hinge at the hips, bending your knees slightly, to reach down and grab the kettlebell with your right hand. From the floor pull the kettlebell up, driving your hips forwards and straightening your back. As the kettlebell gets around your bellybutton, pull it back and move your hand under it so the bell rests against the back of your wrist. That’s the clean.

To start the press, the kettlebell should be just below shoulder height and your elbow should be tucked in to your chest. Push the kettlebell straight up above your head until your arm is straight and hold briefly.

To complete the full move, lower it back to the rack position. Finally, reverse the clean movement and take the kettlebell down to swing between your legs.

It’s a lot to master in one exercise, so take your time and make sure you are doing everything right, otherwise you’ll hurt yourself.

Jump Lunges

This is an advance on your standard lunges, to really work your legs. Like the other exercises, its key is the transition you make and the form you hold. Standing straight, step forward and lower the back knee as close to the ground as you can then. Keep your shoulders back and stay staring forward. Once you’ve lowered the knee as far as you can, jump up, using your arms to propel you if needed. In the air, quickly switch the position of your feet so when you come down you’re lunging with the opposite leg. Try to land as softly as you can, hold the lunge briefly and repeat the jumping from leg to leg.

Clean and Press Left

Repeat from above, with your left hand.

Swing

Hip dominant movement, which mean hips do the biggest bend not the knees. So holding on to the kettlebell and hinging at the hips (pushing that bum back, maintaining a strong spinal posture) and keeping the knees soft (not bent and not straight) as the kettlebell lowers, you’ll use the hip hinge powerfully to power the kettlebell up and forward. Keep the arms relaxed and you should find after repeated swing motions that the bell will swing between your legs and up in front in a pendulum-like motion.

High Pull Right

The set-up and movement is very similar to the Clean and Press. So stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and a kettlebell on the floor in front of you. Hinge at the hips, bending your knees slightly, to reach down and grab the kettlebell with your right hand. Again from the floor pulling the kettlebell up, driving your hips forwards and straightening your back. The difference now is instead of racking the kettlebell in from the upward motion, you’re going to keep pulling the kettlebell up and back high towards your shoulder, keeping your elbow high and above your wrist. Bring it as high as you can then as gravity starts to pull the kettlebell back down follow the same motion in reverse.

Burpee

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.

As you land, repeat the movements and keep going for the full time period.

High Pull Left

Repeat the High Pull with your left hand.

Window Wipers

Lying on the floor facing upwards, we’re going to raise our legs up so the soles of our feet are facing the sky and place your arms out level with our shoulders. From here the aim is to lower our legs down to our side as low as we can under control and then bring them back up and over to the opposite side. The motion of this side to side motion is very much like your window wipers of your car hence the name. Doing this exercise with straight legs can be very tough, so to make this easier you can bend your legs as you descend if needed.

Power Finisher

Now after that circuit you’re going to be tired and under some amount of fatigue. So this part of the workout is all about working our maximal power under fatigue. Really focus on maximising your power and effort and less on the speed in which you do this. The aim is to do five-eight repetitions of maximal height squat jumps then go into a plank as your active rest, holding this for 45-60 seconds and then repeating for a total of eight rounds.

5-8 Maximal Height Squat Jumps

Squat jumps, standing feet hip width apart and using your arms to assist the work from the legs. Swing those arms back as you squat down (try to go no lower than hip joint parallel to the knee joint) and jump up as high as you can. Reset and repeat five-eight times. Remember its maximal height not maximal speed.

Keep the quality high and don’t rush through them, focus on jumping like your life depended on it.

45-60 Seconds Plank (on hands)

Get down on the floor and hold your body in a press-up position...and keep it there for 45-60 seconds if you can. Hands should be flat to the ground, legs straight and toes pushed into the floor to hold your position.

Warm down

Has that power finisher done the job? Good work on getting through it, hopefully you managed to focus on getting the most out of it. As usual, take some time to recover, drink as much fluid as you can and stretch out all the muscles you’ve used. Until next week!

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