Strength Two Ways

Functional fitness at its finest!

Team! 
Strength day today! This workout combines two classic functional movements that target upper and lower body strength and challenges your foundation of core stability with minimal equipment. 
Enjoy!
-Carla

The beauty of functional movement is that it recruits multiple muscle groups with the help of the nervous system to accomplish a movement or a specific task. The ascending/descending repetition scheme adds another layer of complexity and, together, promote a high level of intensity and subsequent physical adaptation.

Warm Up

3 Rounds: Perform each movement in sequence until you complete 3 rounds of the group of 3 movements.

• 10 Air Squat 

• 10 Plank Jacks

• 10 Push-ups (easy option)  

Movement Practice

Watch the video link, practice the dumbbell front squat and select your workout weight. Select a moderately heavy weight where you can do 5-7 repetitions before needing to rest. For the strict push-up, watch the video link and make note of the mechanics. Select a stable box or bench to elevate your hands where you can perform 7-10 repetitions before needing rest. Avoid doing push-ups from your knees for optimal core engagement. Maintain strict form, but at an elevation, if you are unable to do strict push-ups from the floor.

Expect to break up the larger movement sets into smaller sets! Chip away at the larger sets to complete the repetition scheme exactly as written.

Workout  

How To: Perform 18 dumbbell front squats, then 2 push-ups. Then 16 dumbbell front squats then 4 push-ups… and so on until you complete the repetition scheme.

For Time

• 18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2

  Dumbbell Front Squats

• 2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18

  Strict Push-up

Cool-Down

15-minute upper and lower body deep stretch