Overtime

(This is part two of the at home workout. To see part one click this.) 

Now that you have your upper-body home workout down we can get into the lower-body. This workout will follow the same formatting as the previous one so that way it is easy to remember and easy to do. With this workout I will include exercises important to your speed, agility, and jumping ability. This workout will focus on your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and your calves. Do this workout the day after your upper-body workout and then reap the benefits of a full-body workout. Now let’s get into the workout:

Bodyweight Squat

The bodyweight squat will incorporate a majority of muscles in your lower-body. Primarily what I chose this exercise to focus on is the glutes, quads, and hamstrings. These muscles are important for speed development, agility, and jumping ability.

5 Reps

Burpees

The burpee is an explosive movement that will incorporate your quads, glues, and calves. This exercise is important for explosion power development that leads to increased speed and jumping height and distance.

5 Reps

Vertical Jump

The vertical jump incorporates a majority of the leg muscles so it is very important to do. This movement develops your jumping ability which is advantageous for your skill in athletics.

5 Reps

Bridge

The bridge is a great lower-body exercise that incorporates your hips muscles, glutes, and hamstrings. This exercise also has the hidden benefit of incorporating your abs as well!

5 Reps

Follow the guidelines I established in Part One of the at home workout and in no time you’ll have a full-body workout you can do at home to achieve your goals.

No time to go to the gym and train? Want to do some extra reps to get even better? Well then this 15 minute workout I do in the morning is the workout for you! This workout is purely upper-body so in a later post I will include a separate lower-body home workout. This upper-body workout consists of four variations of pushups. You will do these four variations for five minutes straight doing five reps of each before your switch to the other variation and taking a two and a half minute break after each set. There will be two sets total totaling 10 minutes of working out and then five minutes of rest to complete the workout. Now let’s get right into the workout:

Wide Stance Pushup

Your first variation of pushups will be the wide stance pushup. The wide stance pushup will incorporate mainly the chest and shoulders but will also include your triceps.

5 reps

Normal Pushup

The next variation of pushup you will immediately get into is the normal pushup. The normal pushup incorporates the chest, triceps, and shoulders equally.

5 reps

Diamond Pushup

Following the normal pushup you will get into the diamond pushup. The diamond pushup primarily works on your triceps.

5 reps

Pike Stance Pushup

Finally you will do a pike stance pushup. This variation of pushup primarily incorporates the shoulders.

5 reps

After your pike stance pushup you go right back into the wide stance pushup and repeat the cycle until five minutes are up. Follow the time schedule I included above to complete the entire workout. Now with this workout you have a good at home upper-body workout that you can get stronger with everyday.

All great workouts and pregame start with a great playlist so below I have attached three of my personal playlists I listen to the most for my workouts and for my pregame warmups. I have catered to a majority of audiences for you guys featuring playlists of Dance (Sophomore Static), Rap (I Don’t Get Tired), and then Rock (DUSK 2 DAWN). Having a good playlist to listen to is important because it gets your mind in the right place to compete and to achieve your goals. It’s easy to get after it in competition when you’re already pumped so these playlist will get you there. Most importantly, when you listen to music before you compete or workout visualize yourself in the moment of competing and picture yourself doing what you would like to do. It is proven that visualization before competing is advantageous to an athlete because it triggers a reaction in your brain that brings positivity and trust in yourself so that you genuinely believe you can do anything.

https://play.spotify.com/user/1235826278/playlist/01PLQY9NXVUWPvrazgZnf5

https://play.spotify.com/user/1235826278/playlist/2mSonFUxG4sJU3iJ13OjwQ

The Arnold Classic was this weekend which for those of you who don’t know is a competition of the world’s strongest men and they do a variety of things to prove their strength and who the strongest man in the world is.

https://youtu.be/I5bMH4Qeepw

The crazy thing that happened this weekend though is that a power lifter by the name of Ray Williams set a squat record by squatting 1,053 lbs! The squat is an important lift to develop speed and lower body strength and should be integrated in your workouts. This is just a man who you should model yourself after and get after your goals and one rep max!

As an athlete arguably the most important muscle you can train is your core or your abs. Your core is connected to many other muscles and it a foundation for balance, and more athletic movements. Below I will list three great exercises to strengthen your core so that you have an edge on the competition and perform elite.

1. Weighted Sit-up

The weighted sit-up is a nice exercise for your core because not only does it keep the muscle contracted by being in a sit-up position but it is also weighted or resisted so it activates the muscle even more and makes it harder to complete the movement. Shoot for 50 reps with a weight that challenges you but allows you to complete all 50.

2. Weighted Cable Crunch

The weighted cable crunch works your abs a lot. In order to perform it you will grab a rope at the pull machine and lower so that when you kneel it is just slightly above your head. Then from there you just pull down until you hit your legs. With this exercise you have freedom of weight to add what you please to challenge yourself.

3.  Planks

Planks are a great way to involve not only your abs but also lots of other muscles as well. Being in an elevated pushup position makes it harder on your core and allows you to incorporate multiple muscles into one bodyweight exercise.

So you’re trying to slim down for something? Well often time to cut weight or to just feel better about their goals athletes incorporate fat burners into their diet. Fat burners are supplements that essentially heat you up or work internally to make you sweat more and initiate the fat burning process quicker and more effectively. Below I will list a couple easy to use fat burners that you can look into.

Caffeine:

Caffeine acts as a fat burner because it’s a stimulant. Caffeine has been known to slightly up your metabolism and cause it to work better. Chemically it binds to your fat receptors and helps break down fats.

Green Tea Extract:

Green tea aids fat loss by boosting the number of calories you burn in a day. That’s why you hear of people going on a green tea diet and losing all this weight! You can take it 30 mins prior to training or just whenever in your day.

Have you ever noticed how we always hear about what celebrities are doing for their workouts and more importantly their nutrition? We always do and that is because we want to be like them. What we need to understand is that in order to keep their jobs these celebrities who do these strict dieting and training regimens is that they have to be strict about it.

Much like a celebrity an athlete should train like it’s their job and that they have to do it. With this mindset it puts you into the zone of committing to something and sticking with it. Results come within time and  you must stick to your regimens to succeed. The celebrities we hear about for their insane transitions are those who are putting in hours a day in the gym and carefully thought out meals that may not always be the best but they show results. Try to be like your favorite celebrity and be strict on what you do so that way instead of hearing about them you hear people talking about you.

It seems like many of the students here at UW-Whitewater are coming down with some form of sickness so once again that means that flu season is upon us. During this time it is important to take care of your body. Below I will list three must implement things to supplement into your diet to keep you healthy during this flu season. It’s important to stay healthy and not get sick as that could sidetrack your progress as an athlete.

1. Water

No surprise here but water is my number one choice. Water is so essential and I am willing to bet all of us can drink more water in a day. Water flushes out toxins and regulates your body to keep it healthy so it is essential. As a general rule of thumb, you don’t have to pay attention to drinking so many eight ounce glasses a day like you’ve heard before; instead, sip on water throughout the day to keep regulated and to not burn yourself out too quick. Pay attention to your urine color as well as it should be clear throughout the day and if it becomes yellow you must start drinking more water again.

2. Vitamin D

Vitamin D is essential for cold and flu season because our easiest source of vitamin D comes from the sun which isn’t always out during flu season. If the sun isn’t out then you can feel free to run to the nearest drugstore to pick up either a multivitamin that includes  vitamin D or just vitamin D supplements if you’re very deficient in it. Regular use of Vitamin D is advised instead of just using it on a case by case basis.

3. Immune Boosters

A quick and easy way to help boost your immune system to fight off a virus is to buy an immune system booster. These come in easy to swallow pills or other forms that help strengthen the immune system to combat viruses.

So what’s the deal on protein? We hear about it all the time as athletes and we are always told to consume more because it’s important to our bodies. But why is it so important? Well I looked into it and this is what I interpret from looking into it.

Protein is important to our bodies because it is a building block for muscle. It’s common knowledge that as we workout our bodies are depleted of protein and become fatigued so that is why we supplement protein into our diet. Protein replenishes these muscles and helps combat the fatigue you get from a workout. Something interesting about athletes though is that we often eat way too many carbs because we think that carbs are the most important thing to us because they supplement our energy which is partially true but in reality all these carbs we are eating is causing a protein deficiency in our bodies. We already burnt our protein reserves so we need to replenish them and often times we really don’t, we only partially replenish them.

A basic rule of thumb that we athletes can do is to consume protein with each meal. It doesn’t have to be a lot every meal but just incorporate it with every meal or snack you have. What I like to do is consume a protein shake right away in the morning, after practice, and then just before I go to bed that way my body has the protein it needs to function and heal properly. Protein is very important so I encourage you to be conscious about it and take it into consideration the next time you eat.

In whatever sport you’ll play getting stronger is a key to be competitive and to get better. Here is a list for four exercises that will become the base for your strength gains.

1. The One Arm Cable Row 

The One Arm Cable Row

The one arm cable row is important for an athlete because it will target the bicep, back, obliques, and your core. The core is essential to being athletic and being explosive because it is a huge muscle that attaches to many other muscles. In practicality with sports, the core lets you maintain balance to keep upright, and helps aid in your push and pull movements. The one arm cable row is an exercise that keeps you in an athletic position and helps with your grip strength, and posture.

Rep Range: 3 sets, 8-10 reps per arm, 2 minute rest between each set

2. Sled Push

The Sled Push

The sled push is important for an athlete because it teaches pure explosion and incorporates almost the entire body. The sled push targets your quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, chest, arms, and core. What’s important about the sled push is that it puts you into the athletic stance already and then from there it will teach mechanics of running and is excellent for conditioning.

Rep Range: 6-8 (40 yards) sets, 7-12 second sprint

3. Medicine Ball Toss

The Medicine Ball Toss

The medicine ball toss, or the med. ball toss is one of my personal favorites. The med. ball toss is a beast of an exercise that targets your quads, glutes, shoulder, and triceps. This exercise is great for lower body power and puts you into the position to propel your knees, hips, and ankles upward.

Rep Range: 4-5 sets, 8 throws, 90 seconds rest between sets

4. Burpees

The Burpee

The burpee will target your quads, glutes, hamstrings, chest, shoulders, triceps, and core. The reason I chose this exercise is because it can be done anywhere and you don’t need any equipment to do it. It incorporates many muscle groups and the resistance from your body weight will aid in the strength building from this exercise. This is a very explosive exercise so it is great for your strength and should be incorporated into your routine.

Rep Range: 5 sets, 15 reps, with 90 seconds between sets