How did your muscles respond to the beach body weight exercises?
A little bit of delayed onset of muscle soreness is exactly what's intended when incorporating resistance exercises into our programme. It is this muscle soreness that indicates our muscles have been appropriately overloaded.
The muscle then responds and repairs itself to become stronger, and changes in composition. This change in composition is exactly what we want as it creates a leaner, more toned muscle that has the added benefit of raising our resting metabolic rate 24 hours a day - you'll even be burning more calories when you are asleep.
Muscle is the engine that burns fat. So the more lean muscle we can form the better.
This week's programme includes further body weight exercise progressions. We are going to advance our beach exercise drills and also incorporate park exercises.
Friday: Bodyweight practice day at the park, a five-minute warm up walking at 5/10 effort level.
1. Stationary lunges: Complete12-20 repetitions and then change legs. Complete three sets of this (12-20 repetitions three times): see photo 1.
2. Walking lunges: Complete 12-20 walking lunges, rest 30 seconds and repeat this twice again: see photo 2.
3. Step-ups on to bench: The bench must not come up any higher than your knees. Complete 12-20 step-ups with one leg leading. Then rest 30 seconds and do the same with the other leg leading. Repeat this twice more: see photo 3.
4. Press-ups on grass: Complete three sets of 12-20 repetitions with 20 seconds rest between each set: look at week five programme for technique. Now go for a fast 25- to 35-minute walk at 8/10 effort level.
Saturday: A fast 30-minute walk in the morning at 8/10 effort level on flat terrain. Another fast 30-minute walk later in the afternoon at 8/10 effort level.
Sunday: Back to the beach to introduce family and friends to the programme (but at a far reduced effort level as they will not have completed the programme as you have to date). Complete zig-zags for 30 minutes. Remember from last week, this is walking from the soft sand to the hard sand on an angle for 30 minutes at 8/10 effort level. Complete squats for 20 to 30 repetitions, rest 20 seconds and complete three more times. Complete press-ups for 12 to 20 repetitions, rest 20 seconds and complete twice more. Now power walk at 8/10 on the hard sand back to where you started.
Monday: Long distance walk: 70 to 85 minutes at 5/10 effort level. This time try to make it on undulating terrain with lots of hills, as last week it was on flat terrain.
Tuesday: Rest day (these should by now include some form of activity).
Wednesday: Fast 20-minute walk to the park. Complete the exercises we did on Friday at the park. Fast 20-minute walk back home.
Thursday: Time to go back to the stair case. From next week onwards we are going to be performing specific interval durations on the staircase, so this is our final chance to make certain we are climbing the case correctly.
Maintain a strong mid region, keep your shoulder blades back and ensure your arms are pumping to help the legs out. Complete six repeats of a 150- to 200-step staircase.
Work at 7/10 effort level so you can focus on technique. Walk for a fast 20 minutes after completing this.
• Gary Dawkins is the owner of Creative Conditioning results guaranteed personal training, in Dunedin. resultsguaranteed@creativeconditioning.co.nz