July Strength Challenge - It is for YOU - sign up

[liv]

It is JULY. Perfect month for challenge. Pledge your minutes and get going.

New to the challenge? Don't worry. It is not very complicated. Jump in.

This will be the place to report your weightlifting and strength training and earn your monthly prize.

No special equipment is required. You can use what you have like water bottles, cans or just gravity - it all works well. You do not need any experience either. Just take the plunge. It is easier than you think. See the end of the post for suggestions of exercises to include in your routine. Start small if you are a beginner. You can always build up later.


Rules of the challenge

1. Pledge the amount of minutes you will strength train in July
2. You will have to work to strengthen all parts of the body (lower, upper, core).
3. To be eligible for the challenge you have to share with others what your typical weekly workout schedule will look like. Exercises can be lifting weights, using gym machines, exercise balls, push ups, squats or doing yoga/pilates exercise for strength and flexibility. No equipment requirement though.
4. You have to schedule recovery/rest days.
5. Log in at least twice a week to report your minutes. Copy the whole list and add your minutes.
   
6. There will be a prize at the end of the month

Websites to help you put together a routine
The Major/Basic Muscle Groups of body & their Exercises/Workouts
Dumbbell Exercises Complete with Animated Diagrams
Dumbbell Exercises | Dumbbell Workouts | Dumbbell Muscle Menu
http://www.trainwithmeonline.com/dum...&equipment=yes
Free Resistance Training Exercises
Weight Training, Exercise Instruction & Kinesiology
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...s-workout.html
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...ut-videos.html
http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com...exercises.html
10 minutes pilates sculpting (I started with this YouTube video - I used water bottles - it is a great starter arm exercise)
Dumbbell Exercises from Sparkpeople on YouTube - It is 20 minutes and a good one to start with
I want Six Pack Abs, Core Exercises - lots of core exercises.

If you do not have weights check yoga and pilates or flexibility and strength exercises that uses gravity. A resistance band can be handy to and easy to store.

Examples of weight free exercises
squats
lunges
push ups
sit ups
crunches
dips
How To Exercise Your Thighs Without Weights (Sports & Fitness: Tone Your Legs)
The No Weight Workout - Exercise
Sandeep's Fitness Page - A Simple Home Workout (Without Weights)
Exercise Classics - No Weights Required!
Plank Pose
I want Six Pack Abs, Core Exercises

You can use exercise videos - yoga, pilates, strength, callanetics

Other interesting web pages
Lies in the gym
Women's Weight Training
Fit Zone: Exercises|Workouts - MSN Health & Fitness (very cool - shows what exercises to do for what muscle )

Icon you can use for your signature:



Example of routine:
Upper body: Push-ups, chair dips, planks (will do three times)
Core: Planks, crunches (normal and reverse) (will do three times same day as lower body)
Lower body: Squats, lunges, jumps (will do three times a week -alternating with upper body)

[chinadoll]

OK, I am in but since DH is coming home and we will be entertaining/traveling/etc I will post a more modest amount for July. I will shoot for 600 minutes. It will include my weight training, wall sits, and push ups minutes.

[cafe_et_creme]

Id like to sign up, I have a kettlebell which im sure works out all areas, and i will aim to do 500 minutes in July.

[chinadoll]

cafe, I just started using the kettle bell myself. They are perfect for this challenge.

[cafe_et_creme]

yes they do give you a good workout! ive been doing this one
kettlebell fatloss workout
It takes me about 30mins, and i try to do it 4 times a week. It really pushes me to my limit, and makes me sweat!

[Alexa]

I'm in for 500. This is roughly 300 mins strength - which will be 1 hr long workout per week, plus nearly daily body weight only exercise for kickboxing (some in class, some at home).

The other 200 is stretching, which is good to be able to include in a challenge. I'll keep separate tallies in my journal but add them up for this thread.

My week in very in flux at the mo but includes:

- 4 kickboxing sessions, typically three classes, one at home
- floor exercises (abs, pushups, squats) in classes and at home
- at least 1 hour long weights sessions, uppper and lower together. I'm considering making this a bodypump class, they've worked great for me before.

Thanks I promise to do better than last month!

[Pretty Lady]

I'm in for 480 minutes this month. 3 days of Richard Simmons Tone & Sweat video which is 40 mins. I hope this is okay

[ldyj]

I'm a little nervous 'cause I hate weight training - but it's just because I hate it that I'm gonna give it a go! I commit to 280 minutes this month. 15 minutes a day, 6 days a week. I'm going to mix it up, sometimes at the gym, sometimes with free weights at home and sometimes with bands. But I'll be doing upper body 3x a week, lower body 3x a week and core each day. Whew! I'm already exhausted just posting my schedule!

[cafe_et_creme]

I did 30 mins with my kettlebell this morning 30/500

[neutronnorman]

Well, Lovely Liv, you asked for it! I'm signing up!

My workouts tend to change in volume, frequency and intensity.
I'll start this way, though I vary which exercises I'll do during the week. Here are some that I frequentley employ.

Monday and Thursday: Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps.

Chest: Bench Press, incline dumbell flys at 60 degree angle, dips.
Shoulders: Military Presses, dumbel side lateral raises, front barbell raises, bent over lateral raises.
Triceps: Skull crushers, french curls, push downs, (regular, reverse grip, rope), kick backs, Iron Teardrop giant sets.

Tuesday and Friday: Legs, Back, Biceps, forearms, calves

Legs: Squats superset with dumbell pullovers, leg extension, leg curl, lunges.
Back: lat pulldowns ( regular grip, reverse grip, close grip, etc.), Chin ups or pullups (assisted), Stiff-leg or Bulgarian deadlifts, Barbell or dumbell shrugs, dumbell or barbell rows.
Biceps: EZ-bar Curls, Incline Curls, Standing Barbell Curls, concentration curls, preacher curls, Iron Teardrop Barbell giant set, hammer curls, reverse grip curl.
Forearms: Wrist curl, Reverse grip curls, and those silly hand grip thinggies that are springs with a plastic handle, 2 sets to failure (about 70 reps)
Calves: Standing calf raise, seated calf raise, donkey calf raises.

Abs: I'm registered on the July ab challenege.

Training duration per day: 40-70 minutes.
Rep range: 3-25, depending how I feel (squats, sometimes up to 50-60 depending on load. For example,if I have a 75 lb barbell over my shoulder, then I'll crank out about 50-60 reps.)

I do supersets and giant sets. For a shoulder giant set, I might do military presses, followed immediatley by lateral raises and finished with bent over or front raises. The last time I did this (Monday, June 29 th.) my shoulder were so pumped that the fabric on my tee shirt rubbing on my shoulder was producing a lot of discomfort. I used a 95 lb bar bell for military presses for 8 reps, 36.6 lb dumbells for lateral raises for 10 reps and a 50 lb barbell for front raises for 9 reps. I did three giant sets total for shoulders.

Finally, after working out a body part, I practice fascia stretching so I can stretch the high tension fascia fibers so my muscles can have some volume in space to grow.

Put me in for 840 minutes this month.