Power & Conditioning

Power and conditioning day is my favourite gym day, but it wasn’t always like that. Up until probably a year ago (I exercise daily for about 2 years now), I wasn’t too keen on variations of jumps, medicine ball throw’s and press ups. Now I understand that I didn’t like it, because I couldn’t properly jump, I felt like an idiot attempting to even do it and in general just wanted to keep lifting a bar forever and ever.

Now I understand how important conditioning is and how satisfying it gets once your body is strong enough to carry out exercises correctly. I still can’t do a repetition of three round press ups, usually the first one is kind of ok ish, and then the next two I use my knees. That’s fine, because when I became a daily gym goer there was loads of things I couldn’t do at all. Even 5 press ups was Everest to me. Progress is everything and conditioning is there to help you.

So after targeting separate muscle groups during a week, on Fridays we find some space at the gym, grab a medicine ball (8 kg) and do a variation of exercises:

• Squat jumps – squat as you would usually, but instead of coming back to stand up position jump up as high as you can. Land softly on your feet putting toes first 
• Medicine ball chops – hold a medicine ball with straight arms, hold it to the side and move (chop) the ball up and down 12 times keeping the rest of your body still. Repeat for other side – good for arms and core
• Box jumps – grab a gym bench and do 12 jumps. Remember to get into the right position when jumping and use your arms to support your jumping power 
• Medicine ball throws- in the air or to your partner. Do 12 of them, the power you use to push the medicine ball away will increase your arms strength
• Kettlebell swing – keep your legs wide enough to swing between them, push through your bum and hips 
• 10 press ups – if you can’t do a full press up, do knee press ups

So this gets you really sweaty, especially when you do it as circuit without a rest. We usually do three rounds with a couple minutes breaks between each round. Trust me, you will be sore the next day, but it’s worth it. After a short rest we do an abs conditioning workout which you can find on our Workouts page.

That’s it! Don’t forget to stretch, it minimises achiness the next day. Happy sweating!

-Justina

 

 

Our Leg Workout – Try it Yourself!

Don’t  be one of those people who neglect your legs, not only will you end up looking a bit top heavy but it can also be bad for your joints and back as it’s your legs that take the weight of the rest of your body, therefore they need to be strong to support you.

“Abs are made in the kitchen”

Abs is a curse for most of us, because we all know the golden rule: abs are made in the kitchen. I could not agree more and yet I love a good abs workout, even though I know that this belly area is one of the toughest areas to sculpt. But hey, what challenges you the most, is always worth it?

“But lifting weights = massive muscles, and I only want to lose fat”

The following post has been written by Dom Burt, one of our society members. Please contact us on Facebook if you’d like to become a guest blogger.

Having female friends (and a mother who knows EVERYTHING) that workout in the gruelling bid to better their physique, a common misconception I seem to come across is the belief that by doing weight training/ compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, military press) you will become a <5% body-fat vascular female super body builder which, to the average Jo-anne, is undesirable, unachievable and unrealistic.

Sprint Training (40 minutes) Targets: Legs, glutes and abs

Sprinting is one of the best ways to lose fat and build muscle quickly as well as improve your heart health among other health benefits.