Girlwithnoname - Fitness at Home » weights

Forward Head and Rounded Shoulders

Girlwithnoname — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:21:01 +0000

Hey everyone. I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about a couple of physical syndromes that seem to be more prevalent in today’s society than ever: Forward Head Syndrome and Rounded Shoulders (also known as Kyphosis). My airplane ride a couple of weeks ago really got me focused on these physical issues and the more I remain aware of them the more I see them every where I go. Please watch this video, its an important one:

and oh, sorry, I had a mind-stall while I was recording and couldn’t remember the name of the back muscles in the middle of your back: those are your Trapezius muscles, and Rhomboids. So, yep, work your Latissimus Dorsi (sides of your back) and work your Traps and Rhomboids too, ok? Lots of Dumbbell, Barbell or Cable Rows and Reverse Flyes!! Lets get our shoulders back where they belong by strengthening the muscles that hold them back there. While you’re at it do some stretching for your chest so your chest muscles aren’t too tight and holding your shoulders forward. Stretching the front of your neck and strengthening the back of your neck can’t hurt either!!

Here’s today’s Workout Song of the Day… as usual I do my best to keep the song in line with the post. Anyone I’ve ever seen marching, in a parade or half-time at a football game or wherever, always seem to have great posture. Don’t they? Therefore, today’s song is called “The Marching Song” and its GREAT for cardio. It has a great driving beat to drive you forward!! Enjoy!

THE POINTED STICKS – The Marching Song

Don’t forget: if you love it, go get it. Just click on the Buy button on the player widget and it whisks you off to Amazon’s music area. Super easy!

That’s it for today gang!! Hope you have a great week planned. My computer is getting dissected again tomorrow so I have no idea when I’ll be back, but I hope its soon! Wish me luck!

Girlwithnoname

Blame The Computer

Girlwithnoname — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:20:05 +0000

Hey everyone… sorry I’ve been gone as long as I have… as you can read in the Title: you can BLAME THE COMPUTER!!! I’m traumatized really.

Plus I catch you all up on what I’ve been up to with workouts and how my forehead is healing since I banged into the barrier at the pool last week! D’oh!! I also touch on when is an appropriate time to be changing up an average weight-training routine… cuz I’m way overdue to change up my own.

Here’s today’s Workout Song of the Day. While I was running today it came on my mp3 player and while its not a hard driving beat or angst-ridden, its still a good running song for me, just because its so moody it takes my head to places unknown, which seems to have an effect on how hard I run. Plus the title is apropo for working out … if YOU think the minutes drag while you’re working out, they won’t drag as slowly with this awesome song playing! I’ve never met a Love and Rockets song I didn’t love.

LOVE AND ROCKETS – Haunted (When The Minutes Drag)

Don’t forget, if you love it too, you can go get it for yourself by clicking on the buy button on the player widget.

That’s it for today. I’m lucky I got this one out, no thanks to this fabulous (not) computer of mine.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Girlwithnoname

Lance Makes Us Sweat

Girlwithnoname — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:11:28 +0000

Hey everyone!!! A special treat today!!! Remember my guest post on HoneyandLance.com ?? Well, Lance has returned the honour by doing a guest post for all of us here at Girlwithnoname.com.

Lance, expert rower that he is, shares with us a couple of rather grueling sounding workouts that he uses to condition for his sport but that you can do around your home (and you don’t need to be a rower to benefit from these workouts, trust me). LOVE IT!!

Thanks Lance for what you are about to bestow upon us: the regret that we ever read this post or tried this workout!! HAHA!! Sounds killer to me and I can’t wait to try it. Any workout that makes me sweat profusely and wish I was dead is a GREAT workout in my books!!

Enjoy!

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Alright peeps, since I happen to be a sports coach and I still compete in my sport (rowing), I thought I’d share a couple of the more interesting workouts I do that’s simple to accomplish, a great workout, and, to stick with the theme of Girlwithnoname’s blog, stuff you can do either in or around the house.

Just to give a bit of background, we do a ton of cross training in rowing and I borrow liberally from different sports and training methods. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with crossfit style workouts for the variety…as anyone who trains regularly knows, it’s easy to get stale in your workouts, so trying new stuff is key.

Here’s an example of a workout I’ll do that’s quick, has a solid aerobic component, needs almost nothing in the way of equipment, and will actually hit you pretty hard if done correctly:

29’ total time (Each set has three exercises, rotate through each set three times before moving on, do as many good reps during work time as possible)

(:50 on/ :10 off) x 3 per set / :60 break between sets

Set 1 -

Crunches
Pushups
Burpies

:60 break

Set 2:

Leg lifts
Back extension on Swiss ball
Diamond pushups

:60 break

Set 3:

Scissors
Flutters
Mountain climbers

The workout takes exactly 29:00, hits most of your major core muscles with a few upper body muscle groups thrown in and will also hit you aerobically if you rip through the burpies and mountain climbers like you’re supposed to. All you need is a workout mat and a Swiss ball to make it happen, although you could get away with using neither and subbing an exercise for the back extensions. I did this workout in my garage once and I was freakin’ drenched in sweat when I was done. Want to keep your heart rate even more jacked? Try shortening the rest time between sets to :45 or even :30 seconds. Consider using this as a warmup before a run or bike ride.

Along the same lines, I’ve put my athletes through this workout and it was a killer. You need a standard 45# barbell, weights, and a box or some kind of sturdy object you can jump on. Look for around an 18” height on the jump.

:45 on deadlift followed immediately by :45 military press with same weight (eg 75#), then 30” rest

then box jumps for :60 make sure to compress at both ends of jump.

Do 6 times. Total time is 18:00

This workout will DESTROY you before you know it. Try it with lower weight the first time because those military presses get awfully heavy. Heart rate will get up there fast.

Enjoy! If you have any questions about the exercises, ask in comments and I’ll try my best to point you in the right direction.

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Hey guys, like Lance says, if you have any questions or something he’s describing is not clear, then just post a comment in the comments section. I’ve threatened him with bodily harm if he doesn’t come through with the explanations in a timely manner (although it does worry me a bit that he said he likes that sort of thing)!! HAHAHA

…and further to that, if anyone out there decides to give these a go, I’d love to hear what you thought of them after you’re done… is it something you’ll do again? If so, let me know in a month or two how its working out for you!

That’s it for today… hope you guys are having a great week and we’ll see ya soon!
Girlwithnoname

Rod Exposed!

Girlwithnoname — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:37:24 +0000

Hey Everyone!! Guess what? I managed to convince Rod to sit for me for a very short interview while we were languishing on the beach on this glorious sunny summer day here in Vancouver about how he got so damn buff!!! He likes to do split routines (3 days on, 1 day off, different muscle groups on different days) as opposed to me (I like to do full-body every day that I weight train but only weight train every 2nd day, with cardio only on non-weight-training days) and he gives us the goods on his own personal weight lifting routine.

Rod also reveals where HE learned about the fantastic Cottage Cheese Oatmeal Pancake Recipe he shared with me, that I got YOU all addicted to!! haha!!! So special props go out to a very special lady, but you’ll have to watch to find out who it is!

Enjoy:

and here’s our Workout Song of the Day for today. Seeing as we’re talking about lifting, lets share a great song for gettin’ heavy with it!

LIMBLIFTER – Screwed It Up (ooooo baby, SO FULL OF ANGST, perfect for throwing around some good ‘n heavy iron! enjoy!)

That’s it for today everyone!! I hope you Americans out there had a safe, happy & healthy 4th of July!!
see you soon!
Girlwithnoname

Cable Rows at Home with Fitness Band

Girlwithnoname — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:46:32 +0000

Hey everyone… During my weight lifting routine today I was doing cable rows using my fitness bands and realized “HEY! Maybe not everyone knows about this nifty little tool to help expand what you can use your fitness bands for. A simple thing called a Door Anchor can really add to your home workout, so I demo how to get ‘er done for you here.

and here’s today’s Workout Song of the Day! Surprise!! I’m posting an artist you may have actually HEARD of this time!! LOL!

PINK FLOYD – Run Like Hell (and you may have guessed by the song title alone, but this song is GREAT for Cardio, especially for running!!!)

Hump Day is Weights Day

Girlwithnoname — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:03:02 +0000

Hey everyone!! Happy Hump Day (and no… sadly, its not what it sounds like! HAHAHAAAA!!!…all it really means to me is that today was the day to sweat it out over my weight stack…alas).

Hope you are all having a fabulous Wednesday. Mine’s been rocking so far!! Very excited about many fun things coming up! But I digress…

Yesterday I did an endurance run with hills (yes, on those hills I showed you in the last video “Walking Tour of my Cardio Path“), and man, I tell ya, that one staircase in the middle of my run never fails to beat the living daylights out of me.

Today I did Day 2 of my new weightlifting program. I love it. I’ve got Muscle Pump today and am feeling hopeful for a case of DOMS tomorrow!! haha!!

Check it out!

And for you guys that are seeing me via RSS I have to apologize profusely, but my song of the day widget does not seem to be translating into my RSS feed properly, so if you want to hear the song of the day today … or any day for the foreseeable future (cuz technically, things progress slowly in my world), please come over to my blog to see my very cool widget (I promise its cool, but you have to come over to see it! ha!)…and on that note, if anyone out there knows how to fix this, I’m all over getting a helping hand from you… please comment or email me at the address in my contact section [see tabs above] and we can connect on Skype or something… and THANKS in advance for THAT!!!)

But anyway, here’s today’s Workout Song of the Day!!

ANTI-FLAG – The Press Corpse (another angst filled song that is totally great for Weight Training)

Also, please don’t forget to sign up for my Inner Circle Newsletter… I found a great article yesterday that I’m not planning to put on the blog, its JUST for my Inner Circle Loyals, so if you wanna see it, ya gotta sign up!! Its coming out later this evening.

Finally, here is a ROCKING article I’ve been tweeting about all day today… its an absolute MUST READ for ANYONE interested in stepping up their game in regards to good nutrition or fat loss. SERIOUSLY!! Tom Venuto fills us in on The Top Ten Weight Loss Foods That Help You Get Six Pack Abs. You guys know how I feel about Tom Venuto. Besides being a God in the Fitness Industry, he’s one of the guys responsible for my own journey to ripped!! Give it a read. You will be glad you did. I am.

oh, and PS, if you want to get Tom’s book (which you guys know I LOOOVE), click here Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, or click on the Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle book over on the sidebar.

Over ‘n out!! See you again very soon!!
xo to all!

Recovery is Different for Different Workouts

Girlwithnoname — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:22:27 +0000

Hey you guys… its a beautiful Thursday in Vancouver today. Wow!! Absolutely stunning!! I did cardio today again, even though I did it yesterday. Two days in a row of cardio. Did I get enough recovery time? Yes. You only need one day of recovery for most cardio workouts, but you do need a day of rest between weight lifting workouts (unless you are working completely different muscle groups). So no problem doing cardio two days in a row, but because most of my weight lifting routines work my full body (every muscle group), its not very often you’ll catch me doing a weight lifting routine two days in a row. Recovery IS IMPORTANT.. probably AS important as the workout itself.

Also, another appeal for you guys who signed up to my old mailing list and probably never received a darn thing!! You guys: Please sign up again, I’m using a more reliable service now and would hate for you to be left out inadvertently. If you haven’t signed up at all yet, please do so!! I talk about my plans for the list in the video.

…and continuing with my NEW FEATURE!!!! Today we have a special WARNING: So please take heed and DO NOT PLAY THIS SONG AT WORK OR AROUND CHILDREN… EXTREMELY explicit lyrics alert!!!!!)

Workout Song of the Day – PENNYWISE – F*&k Authority (yes, its got lots of swearing but WOW, its maybe the best song out there for Weight Training… absolutely CHOCK FULL of angst!! LOVE IT!!!)

Love it as much as I do? BUY IT!! LOL!!! add it to your collection and lets work out!!!

Working Out With The Injury Update

Girlwithnoname — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:17:50 +0000

Hey everyone. I promised to check back in with you guys about my finger injury and how it went with my weight lifting routine. There’s a small chance I may have broken something. I’m still waiting to see how time heals this wound! ha ha

Plus I also give a shout out to @MattsMedia from Twitter for giving me heck for what he called “the worst workout video ever”… LOL!! Hey Matt, cheat days are important, man!! Its all about adherence ya know!

and finally, I have a NEW FEATURE!!! I’m very excited about my new feature, and a special thanks goes out to @aliciasparks from Twitter for inspiring me to figure out how to make this work (and another thanks to @jarret for pointing me at the resource to make it work). After the video you’ll see what I’m talking about:

NEW FEATURE!!!!

As it happens the last song playing in the background as I signed off of my video today was one of my very FAVOURITE workout songs, so I thought “How fitting” and decided to make it my inaugural song. Check it out. If you like it, you can click thru and buy it for your own collection.

Workout Song of the Day – AND ONE – Panzermensch
(awesome for Cardio because the driving beat makes me want to run faster, but this song also has just enough angst in it for lifting too – I don’t know German but the angst comes from the tone of his voice for me)

Working Out with an Injury?

Girlwithnoname — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:59:09 +0000

Hey gang!! Well, my cheat day was a roaring success … too much so perhaps!! I catch you up on just how much ‘off the program’ misbehaviour I got up to… and admit to the fact that I came home with what is sometimes referred to as a “UPI” (unidentified party injury)… however, this is not “unidentified”… I know full well how I did it!! Now the question remains: how am I going to work out with this injury?

Thankfully its not a larger injury (cuz it very well could have been). But stay tuned, I’ll let you know how it goes over the next few healing days.

cheers!

Pushups vs. Chest Press

Girlwithnoname — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:56:31 +0000

Hi everyone. A little catch up on what I’ve been up to. Plus, I’ve got a very big cheat night coming to me tonight that I’m very excited about so just letting you know what mischief I plan to get up to with my night of over consumption and debauchery!!!

Also, I’ve been working on my Pushup form since my last post about Pushups. Its not easy with the revisions you guys gave me. And now you’ve got me thinking about my Chest Press form. Am I doing it right? I need your input again. Check it out and let me know.

Here’s the video with the Chest Press demo:

Here’s the original post in case you want to see everything I was up to that day:
Chest Press 35lb Dumbbell Demo

So, what do you think everyone? Lemme have it. What am I doing wrong? What am I doing right? Should I give up working out altogether? LOL!! (please don’t say THAT, cuz it ain’t gonna happen!). But definitely post comments in my comments section so everyone can see it. I’ve got nothing to hide (even though maybe I should have? hahaha) But I’m sure everyone else watching & reading would like to know what you’ve got to say too!!

Also, one other thing!! I’ve experienced a minor meltdown of my mailing list service… if you can consider a full loss of my contacts as ‘minor’… sigh… I don’t think it ever actually sent out anything that I intended to send out either. Anyway, I’ve joined a very reputable service now and have a new opt-in box for my occasional newsletter over on the sidebar (at the top). So, if you’d already joined, I apologize for asking this, but please re-join so you don’t miss any of the fun stuff I’m planning to send out over the next few months. For anyone who hasn’t yet joined: good lord, what are you waiting for? Sign up!! A FREE bonus fitness report from my favourite guy Mike Geary coming your way immediately as a special thank you for your understanding.

THANKS!!