14 Days of Fat Burning – Strengthening
For today’s fat burning challenge, do 15 reps of each of the five moves below. Repeat three times!
Curtsy Squat With Cross Punch
How to do it:
- Rest dumbbells on your hips as you place your left foot behind you. Instead of stepping directly back, the left foot should move diagonally back, with the back knee bending down directly outside the right foot.
- Fire up the core muscles as you squat down with the right leg, feeling the emphasis on your right glute (weight placed firmly in the right heel) as the left foot lightly supports you.
- As you return to standing, bring the left foot forward, landing with a wide stance.
- Punch the right hand across your body, toward the left wall, allowing your right foot to rotate as your torso twists to the left, engaging your right glute.
- Repeat on other side
Beginners:
- Remember, it’s best to master the form of the exercise before adding the resistance challenge of dumbbells.
Advanced:
- Keep the majority of your weight in the front foot, especially the heel, and use the back foot mainly for balance.
Rear Dip Lunge With Tricep Kickback
How to do it:
- Holding a dumbbell in each hand, step your left foot directly behind you, taking a wide stance, and bend your legs, lowering your torso down into a lunge. Be sure and maintain that core stability to prevent injury.
- While in lunge position, keep your shoulders over your hips, back knee slightly bent, front knee in alignment with your front toes, shoulders back and down.
- Feel your weight in your right (front) heel as you push yourself to standing.
- As you return to standing, do a tricep kickback: Reach your arms back behind you and extend, feeling a squeeze in the tricep.
- Repeat on other side
Beginners:
- Practice the lunge and tricep kickback movements separately and without weights at first.
Advanced:
- When you come to standing, use your core muscles to lift the back leg off the floor and extend it behind you, squeezing the glutes as you perform the tricep kickback.
Side Lunge With Bicep Curl
How to do it:
- Stand with dumbbells in each hand in hammerhead position, with palms facing each other.
- Step out to the right side, with a wide stance. Bend the right leg and lower your hips down as you keep the left leg straight out to the side, feeling a slight stretch in the left inner thigh.
- Pressing off the right foot, keeping your core engaged, push yourself back up to standing.
- As you return to standing, curl the weights up toward your shoulders, squeezing the muscles on the front of the arms for a bicep curl.
- Repeat on other leg
Beginners:
- Only take a stance that’s comfortable for you – a wide side lunge can be challenging when you’re just starting out.
Advanced:
- Add a balance to the end of the move: As you push yourself back to standing from the lunge and go into the bicep curl, lift the extended foot up off the floor, pulling in your lower abdominals to maintain your balance.
As you get more comfortable, extend the length of the balance and perform some bicep curls in the balance position.
Bridge With Weights On Hips
How to do it:
- Lie on your back with knees bent.
- Hold a light to medium weight on the crease between the leg and the hips.
- Lift your hips off the floor. Lift your right leg off the floor and then lift and lower the hips 15 times.
- Repeat with your left leg off the fl oor.
Tips:
- In the bridge keep your thighs, hips, and ribs in a straight line.
- Keep your abdominal muscles pulled in.
- If the exercise is too diffi cult, do it with both feet on the floor.
Burpee
How to do it:
- Squat down to rest both hands on the floor, similar to the Mountain Climber move. But instead of lunging one leg back behind you, jump both legs at the same time into a plank position.
- Return to standing, and reach up to the sky.
Beginners:
- Even though this is a dynamic, full-body movement that challenges both the legs and arms, focus on engaging the core throughout the exercise. Remember to use your lower abdominals to pull in the knees as you jump your legs forward again.
- Make sure you’re initiating the move from the core as you lift your hips up and hop both legs back to standing position
Advanced:
- For an additional challenge, add some propulsion: When you return to the standing position at the end of each Burpee, jump up in the air.
You can also try adding a double push-up, performing two push-ups consecutively before jumping your legs back to standing.
