Sharing a combination row and strength workout that you can do at home or take to your next gym workout. Our favorite rower for our home gym is here!

Hi friends! Happy Monday! How’s the morning going so far? I hope you had a great weekend. We finished decorating (just need the tree!), had an amazing dinner at Vivace, and got together with some friends. It’s also been rainy here and lovely. I hope you had a great weekend, too!

For today’s post, I wanted to pay a tribute to a fitness tool that we’ve added to our home gym and that we absolutely LOVE: the Aviron! (<— that it my affiliate link and they’re having a Black Friday promo right now! It’s their only sale so far this entire year.) You can check out my full review of Aviron here. Since we added it to our routine, it’s been so amazing to have for at-home rowing workouts, especially since we can stream Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and play games. I watched half of Les Miserables while getting in an excellent cardio workout.

My all-time favorite way to use the rower is for combo strength and cardio. I’ll do sprints or drills on the rower and alternate with total body strength training moves. It’s also amazing that you can use the seat almost like a Pilates reformer; I’ll often use it for sliding side lunges and pikes.

Here’s a workout that I’ve been enjoying lately! Give this at whirl at home or at your next gym session. As always, talk with a doctor before making any fitness or nutrition changes. Modify as needed and honor your body.

Row and strength combo workout

You’ll complete three rounds of each circuit, separating each circuit with a rowing drill that will increase your heart rate and give you an awesome sweat.

The exercises:

Rowing warmup 5-7 minutes

Take this time to set up proper form, focus on your breath, and get your mindset in the game for a great workout. Play a song that will pump you up!

Circuit 1:

Biceps curl to overhead press x 10

Starting Position: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells by your sides.

Biceps Curl: Curl the weights toward your shoulders, keeping elbows close to your body.

Overhead Press: Press the weights overhead, fully extending your arms.

Return: Lower the weights back to shoulder height, then down to the starting position.

Repetition: Complete 10 controlled curls and presses.

Goblet squat x 12

Hold a Dumbbell: Hold a dumbbell close to your chest with both hands.

Feet Placement: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.

Squat Down: Lowe

Sharing some exciting exercises you can do with the cable machine.

Hi friends! How’s the day going? So happy you liked the chicken salad recipe!

So for today, let’s talk about this thing.

A long time ago, I wrote this post about the fairly intimidating cable machine. It kind of looks like a torture device. I also shared some of my favorite cable machine exercises.

I’ve found that it’s so easy to get into a gym routine and use the same tools for the same things. In order for me to really switch things up, I have to make a conscious effort. Today, per reader India’s request (thank you, India!) I thought I’d share some of the more unique uses for the cable machine.

Exciting Cable Machine Exercises

What Is A Cable Machine?

First of all, let’s go over the cable machine and what it is. It’s a piece of equipment (pic above) that you’ll see in almost every gym. The great thing about the cable machine is that it has adjustable pulleys so that you can target your entire body and do a variety of exercises. Pretty much any *traditional* strength training exercise can be done using the cable machine.

Are Cable Machines Effective

YES! You can adjust the resistance to make the exercise more challenging. With cable machines, you’re able to smoothly work through the fun range of motion for an exercise. I find that using this type of resistance encourages you to use your core to help stabilize. Make sure that you breathe as you brace your core and work through cable machine movements.

How To Use a Cable Machine

You’ll need to adjust the cable position, depending on the type of movement you plan to do. Overhead movements, like overhead triceps extensions and lat pulldowns, require the pulleys to be higher. Chest presses and flies require a mid-point setup. Deadlifts, biceps curls, and upright seated cable rows require a low setup.

Something to keep in mind: when you pull the prong out of the pulley system to slide it up or down, you’ll notice that the stack of weights for resistance will also move. An easy way to prevent this is to put your hand ON TOP of the stack of weights before adjusting the cable pulley. Keep your fingers away from the stack of weights. If it drops down, it can pinch your finger(s). If you need help with pulley setup, ask a trainer at your gym or studio and they will show you how to use it safely.

Here are some favorite exercises! I tried to choose exciting ones outside of the usual biceps curls, cable crossover,

Compound:

Squat and row

Source

Make sure to keep your weight in your heels

Sharing a total body TRX workout plan for beginners. As always, talk with a doctor before making any fitness changes and modify as needed!

Hi friends! How’s the day going? I hope you’re enjoying the morning so far! Resharing this updated post for my friends who may have missed it. <3

For today’s post, I’m sharing a TRX workout plan for beginners! As you guys know, I’m a huge fan of the TRX suspension trainer and it’s been a staple in my workout routine for years. What is the TRX? TRX stands for Total Body Resistance Exercise and was developed by Navy SEAL Randy Hetrick. He was deployed and wanted to create something that he could easily use for resistance training. He created the first prototype for the TRX using a jiu-jitsu belt! You can read more about his fascinating story and journey here.

TRX suspension training uses gravity for resistance, which means that you’re using your own body weight. However, your distance from the anchor point of the TRX can make an exercise easier or exponentially more challenging. You also may find that the TRX enables you to find more range of motion, support, or resistance for your workout; depending on your fitness level and body position.

The TRX is also super lightweight and portable, so it’s an awesome home workout tool or travel workout companion. 🙂 Many gyms have them, but they’re an inexpensive home gym option, too. 

Use can use the TRX system to train your entire body, and it’s easy to modify or advance, depending on your personal level. This style of training helps to improve strength and endurance, and is generally a safe and effective tool to use. Today, I’m sharing a TRX workout plan that’s designed for beginners, but keep in mind that a simple shift if your position can make this harder for my advanced friends out there.

TRX Workout Plan for Beginners

This workout is a circuit-based workout, meaning that you’ll go down the list of exercises. You’ll complete 12-15 reps of the first exercise, move onto the second, then the third, etc. until you reach the end of the circuit. You’ll rest for 60-90 seconds and complete the circuit 1-2 more times through.

What makes this a beginner workout?

Typically for beginners, I’ll start with lower weights and higher rep exercises

Sharing some workouts you can do with kids and my tips for working out with kiddos at home.

Hi friends! How are ya? I hope you’re having a lovely morning so far! WELCOME TO FIT TEAM to all of the friends who signed up this past week! We are so so pumped to have you and I can’t wait to hear your feedback on the workouts. If you missed the details, check it out here – enrollment closes this Sunday. What are you even waiting for??

For today’s post, I’m sharing some workouts that you can do with kids. Until COVID hit, I very rarely worked out with the kids around. I was typically teaching classes and doing my own thing at the gym while they were at school. (Over the weekend, I’d take an off day and then hit up some type of class.) When the world shut down and we were home for months, they definitely started to see me work out. I realized that by having them around, I was setting an example for them in multiple ways. They were able to see that I prioritized moving my body each day, they were able to see that my workouts affected my mood and well-being (I feel great and energized after a workout), and sometimes, they’d even join in the fun.

15 workouts you can do with kids

It’s important for me to lead by example that moving your body is a good thing. It’s fun, and it helps to keep you healthy and active for the long haul. There are so many benefits to working out with kids: it can help moms squeeze in exercise time while keeping the kids busy, it can tire them out for naptime or bedtime, it’s a fun and different way to bond with the kids, and it’s a great way to teach the importance of health and fitness at a young age.

In today’s post, I’m sharing some of my favorite workouts to do with kids both outdoors and at home! If you have any resources your kids love, please spread the word in the comments section.

Indoor scavenger hunt

This is one that Liv’s PE teacher sent while the kids were home from school. He really did an awesome job of choosing YouTube workouts for the kids that kept them engaged and enjoying themselves. We’ve come back to this one and similar ones a few times.

Cosmic Yoga

Cosmic Yoga is just a treasure. If you haven’t tried this yet with your kids, the workouts are so creative and fun. It’s a nice way to introduce yoga at a young age, and each video has a the

 Sharing 20 of the best babywearing exercises if you’re looking to work out with your baby close by. Check out the full list and form tutorials here!

Hi friends! How are ya? I hope you’re having a great morning so far! I’m off to get some work stuff done (new Fit Team workouts go out next week) and then spend the rest of the day swimming with the crew. I hope you have a wonderful day.

For today’s post, I’m chatting about babywearing! It’s funny because I feel like those days were a LIFETIME ago, but I have so many friends who are currently pregnant or have new babies. (It allows me to soak up some baby snuggles without debating our “two and through” rule.”) When the girls were itty bitty, babywearing saved me. It enabled me to get things done around the house, cook meals, and also enjoy keeping them close and happy at the same time.

As you guys know, babywearing is holding your baby close to you using a carrier. It’s a clever way to go hands-free while you get some chores done, run errands, or even doing some exercises. Working out with a carrier is a great way to get your body moving and burn some calories, and the repetitive movements can also help calm a fussy baby. I still have the “mom sway” all these years later, and I hope it never goes away. 🙂 Today, I’m sharing a roundup of the best babywearing exercises that my friends out there can do without compromising bonding time with your babies.

The 10 Best Babywearing Exercises

(What do you think about my baby model? lolol)

Squat to calf raise

Make sure your feet are underneath your shoulders (hip width or slightly wider is good) and toes slightly turned out. Focus on sitting back, while keeping your chest lifted and a tight core. Inhale to lower, exhale to rise. Make sure that your knees go towards your toes, but not far past your toes. Sink your hips as low as your flexibility allows, exhale to rise, coming up onto your toes. Lower down, squat and repeat. This exercise will also increase your heart rate.

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