Full Body Workout.. in a hurry!

Motivation for your Monday Fitness:
Full Body Workout in a Hurry

I'm really excited about today's Motivation for your Monday Fitness topic.  During the holidays our schedules are crazy.  So it's harder for us to squeeze in workouts.  This morning, Bob and Caroline Scott of the Louisville Athletic Club gave us some tips for a quick workout that will target our whole body and get us in and out of the gym in a hurry.

"This definitely is the busiest time of year for most folks, and many days squeezing in a workout may be the last thing on our minds.  However, it's important to stay consistent with your healthy lifestyle, because with busy schedules, a lot of times, comes added stress.  And we all know what stress can do to us!  So, a good tip for shortening workouts but still getting the same results is to perform compound exercises.  Compound exercises are those that involve two or more joints in motion.  Doing a workout in this manner not only gives you a great strength workout, but also causes your heart rate to increase giving you a great cardio workout as well!  Bob's going to give us a specific workout using just a pair of dumbbells, so you can do this at the gym or at home!"  - Caroline Scott

"The first exercise is a basic squat with shoulder press.  Simply squat down, holding the dumbbells up by your shoulders.  As you stand up, push powerfully through your heels as you extend your arms, bringing the weights together above your head.  Next is the side lunge with a bicep curl.  Holding dumbbells down by your sides, lunge out to the side.  And as you do that, curl your hands up toward your shoulders working the biceps. Return to the starting position and then repeat on the other side.  Finally, do some plank rows.  Get into the plank position (This link breaks it down correctly) with dumbbells in your hands. Pull up one arm, bending at the elbow and pulling your elbow back toward the ceiling.  Repeat while alternating arms.  You could make this more advanced by adding a push up in between.  Try doing 3-4 rounds of 10-12 reps per exercise." - Bob Scott

For more great health and fitness tips, check out Caroline's Blog