Style -- 2 days ago
With Christmas dinner looming on the horizon, and the threat of endless festive parties ready to eat and drink your carefully-honed summer beach body away, it’s more important than ever to keep on top of your fitness. To ensure that, by the time summer 2018 rolls around, you’re still looking trim, we turned to Toby Huntington-Whiteley, Max Lowery and Matt Roberts – masters in their field of personal fitness – for the best exercises, tips and techniques to keep you ticking over this winter.
Toby Huntington-Whiteley
Dumbbell Clean to Press – “This exercise is perfect if you are short of time and still want to work your whole body. It works multiple muscles and is great for both your power and strength. In addition, this exercise is an excellent fat burner by increasing heart and metabolic rate.”
1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
2. Bend your knees slightly pushing your hips back whilst keeping a neutral spine and lowering the dumbbells just below your knees.
3. In one smooth movement drive your hips explosively forward, engaging your glutes and legs. By shrugging your shoulders and bending your elbows you can bring the weights to your shoulders.
4. Once you are stood up with the dumbbells on your shoulders, slightly dip your hips back and then drive up to standing. Using this momentum press your arms straight above your head.
5. Slowly lower the dumbbells back to your shoulders and then to your hips. Then repeat the sequence.
Push-up to Renegade Row – “I love this exercise it hits your shoulder, chest, back and core. I put this at the end of my upperbody workouts as a finisher, alongside a cardio exercise like mountain climbers or burpees. Putting a finisher at the end of your workout is a great way to maximise the calories you burn and increase your metabolic rate.”
1. With two dumbbells come into a push up position with your hands gripping the dumbbells on the floor.
2. With your core engaged lower yourself to the ground and push back up.
3. At the top of the push up, keeping your core tight, pull one dumbbell to your waist and slowly lower it back down and then repeat on the other side. Then repeat the sequence.
Max Lowery
The Classic Burpee – “One of the most effective exercises you can do for full body muscle activation and cardiovascular intensity. I like to do 5 rounds of 20 Burpees with a 1:1 work to rest ratio. So, if it takes me 30 seconds to do 20 burpees, I will get a 30 second break!”
1. in a standing position, then jump into the air.,
2. As you land on your feet, move your hands towards the floor and hurl your legs back so you are in a press- up/plank position, making sure your back isn’t sagging towards the floor.,
3. Jump straight out of that position by bringing your feet back under your hips and then extending your legs and your torso upward, leaping into the air in one movement. Repeat this movement as fast as possible.
The Hollow Hold – “This is my go to exercise to build functional abdominal strength. The hollow body position is fundamental to a gymnasts training, and gymnasts have THE strongest cores of any sport. As with all exercises, quality is key. Once you can do 5 sets of 60s with your legs as low as possible you can start to add weight in your hands and between your feet.”
1.Start at on your back, placing your hands behind your head and bringing your knees in towards your chest.
2. Lift your chest off the floor using your abdominal muscles, and extend your legs straight up towards the ceiling or sky. Lock your knees and point your toes.
3. Keeping your chest lifted off the floor using your abs, lower your straight legs down towards the floor, making sure your lower back does not arch. (The lower your legs go the harder your abdominals have
to work; if your abs aren’t strong enough, your back will want to take the strain.)
4. Find the angle in which you can hold this pose without your lower back arching, all the time lifting your chest off the floor to create the hollow body position.
Matt Roberts
“First of all, congratulations are in order for getting that summer body locked and loaded for the beach in 2017! The question now is how do you maintain that body over the colder winter months and throughout the Christmas festivities?”
“The answer: think high intensity. Nothing will help keep the winter weight away and leave that summer body intact like including a circuit like the one below to your exercise program – here are three different programs, depending on your level of fitness.”
For a beginner level
Four rounds of:
- 250m row
- X10 single arm Db presses
- X10 BW squats
- 60sec rest between rounds
For an intermediate level
Four rounds of:
- 400m rowing machine
- X10 press ups
- X10 DB Squats
- 30secs rest between rounds
For an advanced level:
Four rounds of:
- 500m rowing machine
- X10 burpees (chest to ground)
- X10 Db Squat thrusters
- For time (complete as fast as possible)
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