THE NO COFFEE WORKOUT
When there is no coffee in the house and you don’t want to walk or drive to the store, do my Lucky 700 metabolic conditioning work out. Make it even easier by sleeping in your work out clothes so you can roll out of bed and just go for it. The night before fill up your water bottle, preferably 33 ounces. Afterward you will have more energy and can go savor your coffee knowing you earned it by getting your day started on the good foot.
Here is the circuit:
- Squat press:Hold dumbbells on either side of your body palm facing your thigh. Stand tall and erect with your back to the seat of a metal folding office chair placed on a yoga mat to keep it from scooting around. Sit down on the chair, as you stand do a bicep hammer curl up, at the very top when you are standing press up with your palms still facing each other. When standing pull up the knee caps to engage the quadriceps. Vacuum in the belly button to the spine and fully extend the elbows. Repeat till you reach 20 counts.
2. 20 jumping jacks: Pull up the arches of your feet. Micro bend your knees and slightly rotate thigh bones out. Draw in the abdominal muscles all while simultaneously arcing the arms up for a satisfying clap overhead. If your knees feel tender adjust feet and hip positioning till you get the right fit for you. We are all very anatomically different and need to take care of ourselves by paying attention to where our sweet spots are in an exercise.
3.Band Pull Apart: take a physio band loop that is about three to four feet long, you could use therabands, surgical tubing or plain elastic or a bungee cord with the hooks cut off. Hold the band out palms facing the floor with fingers curled around the band at mid-upper arm height. Try one slow extension of the band and if it feels secure and safe, speed up. Draw the shoulder blades toward the spine, keep the shoulder blades down and as your fists thumb side in meet and stretch out. It is like jumping jacks for your arms and hopefully you will feel a pump in the upper trapezius, the muscle between your shoulder blades. Repeat 20x
4. Knees over toes one foot on chair seat lunges. Face side of chair seat. Step back about two – three feet. If the chair back is on your left rest your left hand on it and step your right foot up to the chair seat. Hinge at the ankle, knee and hip till knees extend beyond toes. The rear leg remains planted and straight and there will be a lengthening in the Achilles tendon but if it is too intense articulate to the ball of the rear foot. In the right hand hold a dumbbell. Repeat the lunge 10 x then switch to other side. My version uses a metal folding office chair but the movement and form are the same. Experiment with all three versions and choose the best for you.
5. Standing tricep overhead extensions with kettlebell:
Stand with feet slightly wider than hip distance apart. Grasp both sides of kettlebell handle. Hinge at the elbows so the kettlebell rests on the upper back. Straighten the elbows and raise the kettlebell to the ceiling. Keep the stomach firm and the glutes and quads engaged. This move will strengthen the triceps and open the upper side body too.
6. Scissor jumps 20
Keep the legs fairly straight. Stand up right. Scissor the legs back and forth while staying on the ball of the foot.
7. Rear deltoid straight arm kick backs:
Hold your dumbbells at the outside of your thigh move your straight arm back while drawing your shoulder blades towards the spine. Feet are slightly wider than hip-distance apart and the whole body is tall and extended. Keep the arches of the feet up and the rest of the foot rooted.
Do five sets and you will have done 700 moves. Keep the weights of light or medium weight and take a one- a two-minute break between sets for water sipping. I feel awake and alert by the end of five circuits but not so blown out I need to collapse in a heap on the floor. This can be chased by 15 minutes of yoga and coffee.
