TRX

As I said in my first fitness post, my fitness outlook and regimen changed March of 2012 when I met Meriah and started training with her. Even though I have changed a ton of my practices (including in the kitchen) if I had to pin point one thing in the gym that was a huge game changer for me, it would be TRX. I had never even seen one of these before and I would have never guessed that ropes with stirrups could be a complete body workout! I would attribute any definition that I have in my core, arms and back to TRX. TRX forces you to lift your own body weight and your form is essential. I could do countless posts with tons of exercises that you can do with TRX but here are 4 exercises to start you off.

So to start I think the most elementary in an Inclined Squat. Stand at an angle on your heels and drop your booty as if your sitting below chair level. Then pull yourself up with your arms and squeeze your glutes as you stand. For more of a challenge, try this but making it a squat jump.

 

 

The next one is the V, T, Y, I - The easiest way to describe this is that your body will be making each of these letters to count as 1 rep. Start with your feet flat on the ground (arms in front of you), still with your body at an diagonal angle and push your arms down towards your body outside of your thighs so that your arms form a downwards V.

 

This picture above is what I refer to as "start position" for VTYI

 

Then lean back into the starting slanted position and pull your body up by stretching your arms outwards on either side so that your body forms a T shape. 

Then lean back into starting position and raise your arms up and pull your body up so that your standing straight up and your arms form the shape of a Y

Lastly, return to starting position and then pull your body to a stand but have your arms positioned straight up in the air so that your body forms an I

 

The third and fourth exercises are for your core. The third exercise is a Reverse Crunch. Place your feet into the handles/stirrups and you raise your legs in the air so that your body is in a plank or wheelbarrow position. Then curl your knees into your chest while simultaneously tucking your chest and neck into your core and repeat 20x.

 

 

The 4th exercise is the Pike. Start with your feet in the handles again and resume the wheelbarrow position. Then keeping your legs straight, lift your butt into the air as high as possible. Once you reach as high as your body will let you, drop your legs back into wheel barrow position and repeat 20 times. A tip here for proper form is to lift your head so that your back doesn't round down too much.

If you don't see this in your gym, ask someone that works there because normally this is something that only trainers bring out for specific client training sessions. Give it a try and let me know what you think! You can't see it in these pictures but these ropes look like a hanging harness and it has to be attached to a high stabilized bar.  I will post more TRX workouts in the future because the options are ENDLESS and the results are amazing!

Deadlifts

The 30 day squat challenge that I posted is everywhere and social media has really taken off with showing the amazing results. An update/next step to that would be a dead lift challenge. There is a debate as to whether squats or dead lifts are better but honestly they both make for amazing results and I think they should be done in tandem. There is no way I would know what a dead lift was if it wasn't for having a trainer. Deadlifts are most known for targeting and lifting your glutes/butt/ass/cheeks but this exercise actually strengthens 6 other areas: hamstrings, upper back, lower back, shoulders, quads, and abs. There are two major types of dead lifts that I do- regular Deadlifts and Romanian Deadlifts. If you don't already do these you should try to incorporate them in every workout you do.

For Regular dead lifts or "stiff leg deadlifts" you can use a dumbbell or separate hand weights. When women are doing high reps with weights, they're limited with how much they can increase the weight but deadlifts are definitely an exercise where you can challenge yourself and really increase the weight. In these pictures I only used 20 lb weights for higher reps but when I use a dumbbell I lift a lot more.

 

Staring in a standing position hold the weights, lean forward and have the weights follow your legs down to your shins while keeping your legs as straight as possible. Then lift back up, squeezing your glutes and repeat for the appropriate amount of reps to the weight you are lifting

Looking at this picture, my knees should honestly be less bent but my legs were so tight when I did this and I should have stretched out more before working out 

For Romanian Deadlifts, start in the same starting position but as you start to bring the weight down to your shins, bend your knees. For this type of deadlift, you should be going closer to the floor and stick your butt out more. Once again continue this for as many reps relative to the weight you are lifting

 

Both exercises are really simple but the results are unreal. For me, having bad knees - deadlifts are less painful than squats but like I said before you should really be doing both instead of one over the other

Get Your Circuit On

Those that know me really well, know I've always made time for the gym and fitness. To be honest, I've always struggled with my weight and had to put a huge effort in the gym to maintain as well as watch what I eat. I saw my first nutritionist when I was a junior in high school and I have had trainers throughout my whole life. It's no secret that rent/life in New York City is anything but cheap and people are forced to pick and choose where to spend and save their money. Having a trainer is a huge financial commitment but I am a firm believer that it's a great investment. I met my last trainer a year ago at NYSC and she changed my outlook on fitness and my workout approach completely. Like many New Yorkers, I struggle to find the time while juggling work and a social life. Meriah trained me in a way that I was able to workout for a shorter amount of time with less cardio and more weights. Most girls get in the gym and immediately hop on the treadmill (this was me for yearssss) but weight-loss results happen much quicker when you're lifting or doing floor exercises. I was of the mindset that I just wanted to be skinny but after a few months in of training with Meriah, I started to get definition in my arms and back and it definitely changed my view and fitness goals.

We would do 30 minute circuit training sessions and the results happened fairly quickly (but not overnight). Circuit training is great because you take 3 different exercises ex: pull ups, push ups, and kettlebell swings - and do each exercise for 20 reps and then do the whole circuit 3 times. You should be working so fast that the cardio is included. A typical workout should have 3-5 different circuits which means you do between 9-15 different exercises. Circuit training also allows you to plan your workouts prior to going into the gym so that if you're training by yourself you can be purpose driven. When I workout by myself I always write workouts down on the notepad in my phone so I have a routine that I'm following and I don't give myself an excuse to leave.

Summary of the story is, if you're struggling the way I have with making time for working out before or after work, I seriously recommend adjusting your finances to invest in a trainer. It's a guarantee that they will push you harder than yourself and not only that but having someone else depend on you to be on time and for their finances really holds you accountable to get your @$$ to the gym and do it consistently. It's important when finding your trainer that you can find a certain synergy. Since I met Meriah last March, I have probably only missed a handful of days at the gym. She gave me exercises that I could do in a hotel room when traveling for work and taught me the power of giving your body natural energy from working out when you feel run down and exhausted (so much of it is mind over matter).

To bring the story to current day- Meriah ended up moving to Costa Rica for the last 3 months where she participated in 2 amazing Yoga training programs. She is moving to Denmark on Sunday but will occasionally be guest blogging about health and fitness on my blog :) Meriah set me up with my current trainer who I am also really lucky to have! Her name is Nadine and she is actually training to run in the Olympics for Haiti.

 

Here are some of the results I've had - cut me a break on the picture quality and my hair, it was taken at 6am!

 

Here is an awesome picture of Meriah showing off her yoga strength in Costa Rica