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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Power Girl

That title means something different to you than it does to my husband. It makes him think of Superman's extremely busty cousin, but it makes me think of lifting weights.

Even though I seemingly only speak of running lately, I'm still lifting. While it isn't the powerlifting I did early last year, I'm still pushing it pretty heavy, in my opinion.

I typically do my lifting days as follows:
Day 1: Quads/Hamstrings
Day 2: Chest/triceps
Day 3: Back/biceps
Day 4: Shoulders/Calves/Abs

Today however, we did a glute day, which is not our typical pumping iron type day. For those of you who work out at home, you could do this one in your living room. You remember my last post about glutes, right? Speaking of getting hurt, I wrote a post a few weeks ago about something that happened to Ingrid yesterday. All you people who laughed...you're next.

Today Ingrid had a page she ripped out of a magazine for glutes, so we did it. One thing about us is that we don't care how stupid we look in the gym (which is good, because we often look like idiots). For example:

"Carving Curl"
  •  Lie facedown on floor with head on folded arms, squeezing a 1-pound dumbbell or rolled-up towel behind bent left knee, foot flexed. Tuck pelvis to flatten out low back.
  • Lift bent left leg a few inches off floor; lower. Do 20 reps.
  • Switch sides, repeat.
This one isn't too bad. It is one of those things though where after you do a few you feel like you're going to cramp up.


"Bend & Extend"
  • Stand in front of chair, bend over and place left hand on seat, right forearm atop chair back; tuck pelvis and extend left leg behind you, foot flexed.
  • Pulse left leg 10 times (lift and lower by 1 inch).
  • Keeping left leg lifted, bend knee and then extend 10 times; then trace 5 clockwise and 5 counterclockwise circles with leg.
  • Hold leg lift for 5 counts. Switch sides; repeat.
Awkward, but whatever.



"Swaying Bridge"
  • Lie faceup on floor with knees bent, feet flexed with heels on floor and arms by sides; step heels out so legs are slightly wider than shoulder-width.
  • Lift hips so body forms a line from rib cage to knees (bra line stays on floor). Lower. Do 10 reps.
  • With hips lifted, sway hips from left to right as you squeeze glutes. Do 20 reps, alternating sides.
  • With hips lifted, do 20 pulses.
When we did this one we were glad Josh wasn't around to make fun of us. It wasn't pretty.


"Slimming Swirl"

  • Stand with heels together, toes out, holding chair back with right hand. Lift heels (still touching) off floor; bend knees 90 degrees out to sides.
  • Maintaining pliĆ©, tuck pelvis as you squeeze glutes and then arch your back slightly. Do 10 reps.
  • Draw 10 clockwise circles with hips, squeezing glutes to tuck position at 12 o'clock. Do 10 counterclockwise circles; finish with 10 more tucks.
This one was really awkward. Especially since everyone decided to crowd us at this very moment.

"Cross Your Legs"
  • Start on floor on all fours.
  • Lift bent left knee to hip level so that it's pointing slightly out to side as hips stay even. (Tuck pelvis under so that your back is not overextended.) Do 20 pulses, lifting and lowering left leg 1 inch.
  • Next, cross left knee behind right knee and then lift if out to left side at hip level. Do 10 reps.
  • Do 20 pulses, foot flexed. Switch sides; repeat.
I can only imagine how pretty this was. By this point I stopped even looking in the mirror in fear of what I'd see.

"Door Hinge"
  • Standing, bend at hips to rest right forearm on chair back, and squeeze a rolled-up towel behind left knee, foot flexed; place left hand on hip
  • Tuck pelvis, lift left knee out to side; bring knee in toward chest and then behind you. Do 10 reps.
  • With knee behind you, do 20 press-back pulses: Bring left leg toward right 1 inch, then back again. Switch sides; repeat.
Here is about where it got really funny. Instead of being called the door hinge, it should be called the dog peeing on a hydrant. 


"Clamshell"
  • Lie on right side and bend knees 45 degrees so they are in front of you; lift feet 12 inches off floor.
  • With heels together, raise left knee so it points up (clamshell position); lower knee. Do 10 reps.
  • Return to clamshell; keeping left knee raised, extend and then bend left leg 20 times. Return to clamshell, do 10 pulses (lift and lower left knee by 1 inch). Switch sides; repeat.
This is where all dignity is lost. If you're laying on the floor at the gym doing anything called a "clamshell" you're done. Self respect is gone. 


"Second Position Pulse"
  • Stand with feet wide, toes turned out, left hand holding chair back for support, right hand on hip.
  • Bend knees 90 degrees out to sides and, maintaining squat, open legs wider by pressing knees back 1 inch; then bring them back. Do 10 presses.
  • Lift toes off floor in squat position; do 10 more presses.
  • Finish with 10 presses on toes with heels lifted.
This was hard. Felt a lot of burn here. Much less humiliating by the way.

"Fly Trap"
  • Stand with right hand on chair back for support.
  • Hinge forward at hips, lifting left arm in front of you and left leg behind you (body parallel to floor).
  • Side bend to left at waist, bringing left elbow to left hip and bending left knee. Extend. Do 10 reps.
  • From elbow-to-hip curl position, do 20 pulses, lifting and lowering bent left leg by 1 inch. Hold final rep for 5 counts. Switch sides; repeat.
I have a feeling we did this one wrong.

Source for all photos and workout descriptions.

We also did 45 mins of wogging on the treadmill. My goal jar is getting lots of dollars in it.

Do you purposely do a glute day?

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