I can’t tell you how exciting it is to have so many women fired up to get fit, healthy and SHINE for SUMMER!! The Energy from this “Shine in 49” Contest is certainly contagious! It really shows us how Energy is transferable! Another NON-tangible that is so vital to a successful fitness program is your mind.
As you workout you must not only strengthen your skeletal muscles but also “MIND MUSCLE”.
Engaging your BRAIN into your workouts will accelerate your results BIG time– When you are lifting LEARN and KNOW what muscles you are working. Here are some mental cues that will help you as you work your legs today:
Squats– Butt muscles- engage glutes (BUTT) by looking up, lowering slowly sticking your butt out and back and you start coming up think “squeeze but as you press through heels
Calf raises– Calf muscles- use a FULL range of motion, when you are at the TOP of your TIPPIE toes hold and SQUEEZE for a count before lowering. As you go through your reps “look” at your claf. I look at my right calf for 5 reps then at my left. If you have a non-dominant leg focus on that one–make it CONTRACT!
Lunges– BUTT muscles- focus on using your FRONT leg for the movement- let all the weight be lifted with your FRONT leg using your back leg only for assitance and balance. As you lower down STRETCH your glute by leaning forward slightly (chest to knee)
Dead lifts– Hamstring muscles- LOWER the weight slowly, hamstrings respond to the ECCENTRIC motion, the stretching. Challenge yourself to keep great posture and your lumbar curve as you lower the weight slowly- You may not be able to go down far at first, but in time you’ll be to the floor!
Leg curls– Hamstring muscles- again focus on lowering slowly (eccentric)- also keep toes straight and flexex (don’t allow yourself to cheat by putting your toes out)
Leg Extensions– QUADS- Don’t use too big of a Range of Motion- keep the motion within a 4Odegree angle- raise weight up and PAUSE Squeezing (flexing) quads for a count then lowering. Keep your feet flexed but it’s okay to put toes out slightly to give extra attention to VMO. Finish your set with 5 extra short reps with toes out focused on your VMO Entirely- it’s OKAY to touch it even to give yourself more mental focus!
Day #5- REPEAT the same workout as TUESDAY’s workout
1- Lower Body LIFTING & 2-ABS!
| LOWER BODY- Circuit- do all exercises lower body in the order as listed; repeat the circuit 3 times. #1 then immediately #2 then immediately #3 etc…then the entire series again for 3 rounds | DATE | ||||
| #1-Squats or smithsquats or hack squat machine | lbs. | ||||
| 3 sets x15 reps | reps. | ||||
| #2-Calf raises | lbs. | ||||
| 3×10 | reps. | ||||
| #3-Stationary lunges or smith machine lunges | lbs. | ||||
| 3X10 | reps. | ||||
| #4-Dumbbell Dead lifts | lbs. | ||||
| 3×15 | reps. | ||||
| #5- Leg curlmachine or Ball Leg Curls | lbs. | ||||
| 3×10 | reps. | ||||
| #6-Leg extension machine or Laying side leg lifts | lbs. | ||||
| 3×15 | reps. | ||||
| ABS–CPTME….SIMPLE 7 for 7 | |||||
| Passive Abs | reps. | ||||
| Sit ups- hands on hammies | reps. | ||||
| Vacuumes!! 10- 10 seconds daily | reps. | ||||
| Knee ups- roman chair are best | reps. | ||||
| Traditional AB crunch | reps. | ||||
| Ball Crunches | reps. | ||||
| Cats/Dogs | reps. | ||||
| Other | reps. |
I also need still need to take my measurements and stats…I must do that today!!!
Keep on SHINING!! and use your MIND MUSCLES!! They need practice and exercise too!!
Love ya,
Michelle
It’s amazing how much you don’t notice on your own body untill you actually see pictures and your measurements on a peice of paper in front of you. This contest is just what I needed to motivate me. Thank you for the great workouts.
All I can say after todays workout is ouch! But as they say, PAIN is weakness leaving the body! Took my before pics last night; stats and weight isn’t bad but boy the pictures are…now I understand what skinny fat is. Looking forward to the next 6 weeks and the changes it will bring in me.
I hear ya, I had my hubby take my pictures last night and they were not very encouraging! Made me hit the legs extra hard today!
Glad you took the pictures…I know it’s hard to do!
You will see some nice new muscles by the end of 6 weeks!! bye, Bye, skinny fat!!
Yay Day 5 down!! had to do a little switch-a-roo this week. Since it was my birthday yesterday, I skipped the gym and took a nice long 5.5 nature walk in one of our beautiful tropical valleys with my daughter. But no excuses today I made up for yesterdays upper body workout…WHEW!!! So maybe I’ll take tomorrow’s optional cardio day and do legs, since got cardio in yesterday =) Feeling great and on the ball!! Plus I got approached by a gal in the gym asking if I could show her a few things, and shared about BuffMother! and the Shine in 49. I felt like I ‘passed it forward,’ and hoping she takes the minute to check it out like I did!
As a treat for a job well done this week, bday present to myself was a massage and pedicure! It’s a head to toe, in and out, mind and body HEALTHY & SEXY time!! Got my pics and stats done…lookin forward to seeing major transformation. PLUS to help along the way my awesome friends got me bday presents in support of my journey, it included a SmartShake, FatLoss Monitor and a Garmin sport watch w/wireless sync to help me along the way =)
thanks Michelle – I followed the lower body routine – today, Sat it’s feeling sore, but I’m loving it. I had to only do 2 rounds because I started feeling dizzy on the last part of the 2nd round. Quick question – am I correct that you got to do a set of abs inbetween each exercise for each round? I can picture my legs being even stronger than it is. Did my measurements, still got to post them and yet to do the pictures (not looking forward to that…)
The mind is definitely important. It’s the difference between quitting and pushing through a workout. Convincing yourself that it’s worth it not to quit takes work.