Workout ideas Archives | GroupXFitnessTips.com

Posted on January 11, 2017 January 15, 2017

Resistance Band Back Workouts for Group Fitness Instructors

I am obsessed with using the resistance band for chest, arms, legs and back workouts. Resistance bands are compact enough to fit in a purse or suitcase, so I can easily get a workout anywhere while simultaneously prepping for my next group fitness class. It’s so easy to modify each resistance band exercise, so that participants with a wide variety of fitness levels can all get a good workout using the same piece of equipment. I know I’m gushing, but seriously, resistance bands are AH-MAZ-ING.

Resistance bands will help you target every muscle group, so you can get a full body strength workout when you want it. And, as you know, strength training is mission critical for those looking to lose weight or get healthy. Strength training helps you burn more calories long after your workout is over, and is great for strong bones and a better mood.

Here are four resistance band back workouts that you can incorporate into a full-body or upper body strength plan.

Back Workouts #1: Upright Row

Wrap the resistance band around your feet so that the band comes out on the outer sides of your feet. Then, either grab the handles or “choke up” on the band by grabbing lower to make it harder resistance. From there, pull the bands back towards your sides as you squeeze your shoulder blades together.

Back Workouts #2: Reverse Fly

Either sitting or standing, grab the band in both hands firmly and extend your arms out in front of you, at shoulder height, with elbows slightly bent. Then, bring your hands away from each other again squeezing your shoulder blades together. Feel free to bring your hands all the way back until they’re about an inch in front of your shoulders. You can adjust your grip to increase the resistance of the band. The closer you have your hands together, the harder the exercise will be.

Back Workouts #3: Lat Pull-down

Either sitting or standing, grab the band in one hand, holding it secure so that it doesn’t slip around in your hand. Then, grab the handle using the other hand. You want the band already pretty taunt, so feel free to choke up if the band has too much slack.

From there, with both palms facing the wall in front of you, you’re going to extend the arm holding the band above your head, so that the wrist, elbow and shoulder are all in a straight line, without locking out your arm. The other arm comes over head in the same position, then you bend at the elbow to bring your arm down toward the floor. You should feel the back muscle under the armpit working to bring your arm down by your side. You’ll bring your elbow down below shoulder height, with your wrist staying wide and slightly higher than your elbow.

Back Workouts #4: Bent-over Row

Bring your chest towards the ground until your chest is parallel to the floor, knees slightly bend. Place the resistance band under your feet, then grab either the handles or “choke up” to grab the band itself. Then, pull the band up toward the ceiling and back down, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you do it. If this doesn’t feel challenging, bring your hands closer to the ground and grab the band there. That will increase the resistance and intensity of the exercise.

For more exercise ideas, check out the workout routines and playlists page.

Posted on December 7, 2016 December 4, 2016

A Back and Chest Stability Ball Workout

Have I mentioned I love the stability ball? 🙂 There’s something about that giant bouncy ball that makes me feel like a kid again. Unfortunately for us Group X instructors, there’s a limited supply of stability balls in our studios. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t get creative in order to incorporate it into our class workout.

What I’ve found works well is to ask the Group X class to partner up, and each pair take one stability ball. Then, we’ll do the same workout twice through, and folks can do the exercises once on the stability ball and once on the floor (while their partner uses the ball).

Here’s a back and chest workout you can do on the stability ball.

The incline push-up

First, you’ll lead the class through push-ups. Participants can try to do this one on their knees, but it usually requires you to be on your toes based on the height of the ball. Place your feet squarely on the floor, and then put your hands on the top of the stability ball. I like to slightly angle my hands in order to face my fingers away from each other, because it tends to be easier on my wrist. From there, the class will lower and lift in push-ups.

Reverse Fly

The incline push-up transitions nicely into the reverse fly. Instruct participants to rest their lower abs on the ball, so that their belly button is roughly at the top of the ball and their legs are extended out behind them. Then, grab a dumbbell in each hand. Without moving your back, bring your slightly bent arms out to the side in a “fly” position. The elbows will be bent and maybe an inch or so higher than wrists. Palms are facing down towards the floor.

Push-ups with Legs on Stability Ball

For a more challenging push-up, you can also put your legs on the stability ball. As you move the stability ball closer to your toes, the push-up gets harder. From there, keep your body in a plank position as you lower your chest to the floor.

Alternating Rows

If you opt to do the push-ups with the ball under your calves, it’s easy to transition into alternating rows. Grab the dumbbells and maintain your plank. Then, lift one arm at a time towards your chest. Keep your elbow tight to your body, as you lift your elbow towards the floor. Abs stay tight and hips stay low to the ground.

Chest Press on the Stability Ball

If you’d like a non-push-up option, you can also instruct participants to lay face up on the stability ball, so that their shoulders and head are resting on the ball. You’ll want to be in a plank position from your knees to your head, with your ankles right under your knees. Press your hips toward the ceiling the whole time. Then, press your arms up and down as you continue to press your hips toward the ceiling.

Shoulder Workout with a Stability Ball

The chest press is a nice workout to combine with shoulders. You can go right into a shoulder exercise, keeping your arms straight, and moving at the shoulder joint to lower your hands towards the floor overhead. Make sure your participants are not moving at the elbow joint.

This is a great workout to try with the stability ball. You can provide these as options for participants, or include each exercise throughout the entire class.

For more push-up options without the stability ball, check out the three types of push-ups Part 1 and Part 2.

Posted on November 30, 2016 November 27, 2016

Abdominal Exercises for the Stability Ball (Part II)

Many people come to strength classes expecting to work their core. Traditionally, group fitness classes have ended with roughly 10 minutes of abdominal exercises. If all Group X classes end with ab workouts, it can start to feel repetitive, so it’s important to keep adding new exercises to the mix. On Monday, I shared four core and ab workouts to try with the stability ball. Today, I’m sharing four more challenging options to add a punch of variety to your next Group X class.

Abdominal Exercises #1: Knee Tucks

Ask participants to come into a plank position with their feet and calves on the stability ball. So, hands are on the floor and feet are on the ball. Then, bring your knees into your chest while trying to keep your hips as low and static as possible. Shoot your legs back out into a plank position, and that’s one knee tuck.

If folks don’t want to do this on the stability ball, they can also do slow mountain climbers on the floor.

Abdominal Exercises #2: Upside Down V

This next exercise is super challenging. I have not taught this one in a Group X class yet, but I have done it in another class targeting advanced athletes. Come back to that plank position, with hands on the floor and feet on the ball. Then, participants will lift their hips up in a “pike” position. It will feel like you’re folding yourself up into a taco, with your ankles coming towards your head and hips in the air. Back, arms and legs are all straight. Then, come back into a plank position.

If participants want modifications, they can always stick to the Knee Tucks, or ditch the stability ball and do planks and mountain climbers.

Abdominal Exercises #3: Crunches

This one’s a standard exercise, but adding the stability ball brings its own set of challenges. Have participants sit on the stability ball, then roll out until their lower back and hips are resting on the ball. Knees right over ankles, and hands behind the head.

You’ll crunch towards the ceiling, engaging your core as you try to keep your balance centered on the stability ball.

Abdominal Exercises #4: Twist

After the crunches, you can seamlessly transition to the Twist, but I’ll warn you these are challenging. Participants will lift one leg off the ground, and bring their knee towards their chest while twisting their upper body towards that leg. One note in this exercise is to think about bringing your shoulder to your knee, instead of your elbow, to really get your chest lifted and twisting.

I’ll be honest, these are challenging for me. What you don’t see in the image below is that I had to do a handful of outtakes because I kept rolling off the ball. But, I’ll still teach this exercise in class, because it’s nice to have options that participants can’t fully master immediately, so that they have something to work towards.

The above options will add some fresh variety to the abdominal exercises you already teach in your classes.

For more ideas, check out the workout routines page.

Posted on November 28, 2016 November 27, 2016

Stability Ball Ab Workouts for Group Fitness Classes (Part 1)

Group fitness participants regularly request ab workouts, but it can get boring to do the same crunches and sit-ups each class. One of my favorite ways to add variation is to do ab workouts using equipment that’s normally collecting dust in the corner. We rarely use stability balls, because they take up a lot of room during class and most gyms only offer a limited supply. If you choose to teach ab workouts and you’re using a limited supply of stability balls, you can ask participants to pair up, or incorporate stations.

Here are four stability ball ab workouts and tips on how to cue each one.

Stability Ball Ab Workouts #1: The Rainbow

Ask your group fitness members to lay on their back and place the ball between their calves and ankles. Depending on the size of the individual, the ball may take up more or less space between their legs. And if participants want to modify, they can also put the ball lower between their knees for a shorter “lever”.

Then, participants will keep their legs straight as they lower their feet towards the floor. At the same time, lower your hands towards the floor. After, raise the feet and arms back towards the ceiling, and grab the ball. Then, everyone will do the reverse, holding the ball as it lowers towards the floor and bringing feet towards the ground.

Stability Ball Ab Workouts #2: Sit-ups w/ the Stability Ball

You can easily transition participants from The Rainbow into this next exercise. Ask participants to hold the ball in their hands, lying flat on the ground. Notice that the ball is directly over their shoulders. Then, members will sit straight up, and hold the ball over their shoulders once more. From there, they’ll come back down to the floor.

As participants improve, their goal is to keep their legs on the ground the whole time, arms and backs straight.

Stability Ball Lower Back Workouts #1: Modified Superman

It’s important to keep in mind that we always want to balance our exercises. If we do a lot of abdominal work, we’ll want to turn over and exercise our lower backs, as well. These next two exercises are not “ab workouts”, but they will help balance out our core by strengthening our lower backs.

Have participants lower themselves onto the ball so that their lower tummies and hips are resting on the ball, legs are extended out behind them. If they’d like, they can press their feet against the corner of a wall to help stabilize them. From there, place your hands by your face, with elbows out towards the side walls, and lift your chest and head a few inches higher by squeezing your lower back muscles.

You’ll want to think of your body like a “V” instead of a “U”, so don’t think about curving your lower back and pulling it towards your gluts. Instead, think about raising your head toward the ceiling.

Stability Ball Lower Back Workouts #2: Superman

Once you’ve mastered the Modified Superman, then you can progress to the traditional Superman. It’s the same thing, except this time your arms are extended out in front of you like Superman. Ask participants to straighten their arms as much as they can.

There are so many different ab workouts you can do with a stability ball. Check back in on Wednesday for more ideas.

If you liked this post, you’ll also like the tricep and push-up exercises.

Posted on August 31, 2016 August 28, 2016

Shoulder Workouts for Group X Classes (Part II)

Shoulder workouts can make for some great Group X classes. It always feels good to leave fitness classes feeling like you had a tough workout, and the shoulder muscles are small enough that you can really work them hard even with limited equipment in the Group X studio. Earlier this week, I posted part one of this series, sharing three variations of the overhead press.

Today, I’m back to share three more shoulder workouts to incorporate into your next group fitness class.

Elbow squeeze

After warming up, grab a set of moderate dumbbells and bring your arms up into a T shape. From there, keep your arms in the same T shape and move at the shoulder joint to bring your elbows and hands to the front of the room. You’re making the motion of bringing your elbows and hands together, but more than likely your elbows and hands won’t be able to touch. Then, bring your arms back out to the T. There shouldn’t be any movement at the elbow, so don’t try to move your elbow to get them closer.

Bicep and shoulder combo

With light to moderate weights, bring your arms up to that T shape, this time with the dumbbells facing your face. Then, keep your elbows where they’re at and lower your hands until your arms are almost straight, and bring them back up. This will work your biceps and your shoulders, and try to make the exercise as big as possible. When first learning this exercise, it’s going to be tough to extend those arms.

Double the weights

If it feels like the class has mastered these exercises, you can progress into doubling the weight by holding both weights in one hand. I will usually do this mostly with the overhead press, since the elbow squeeze and bicep/shoulder combo seem to be challenging on their own. But, holding both weights in one hand is a great way to get participants to increase the intensity.

Hope these shoulder workouts have inspired you to try some new exercises in your next Group X class. For more ideas, check out the workout routines page.

Posted on June 27, 2016 June 26, 2016

3 Types of Push-ups for Group Fitness Classes (Part II)

In my last post, I explained why group fitness instructors need to start championing push-ups in their classes. Push-ups are functional, easy to do at home and one of the best ways to work the chest. Participants are finally starting to acknowledge push-ups as a good workout and with a little encouragement, we can convince the entire class to embrace the push-up.

My previous post explained the first three progressions of push-ups for anyone just starting out or that has a physical limitation at the moment. Now, let’s take a look at the next set of push-up variations for those wanting more challenging options.

Knee push-ups (Version 2)

Once your Group X class has mastered the first version of knee push-ups, then they can move on to the second version. The only change is to move their hands farther away from their knees, and transition so that their weight is right above their knees. Their body should be in a straight line from the knees to the shoulders as participants lower their body to the floor by bending at the elbow.

Tricep push-ups

For tricep push-ups, participants will place their hands right under their shoulders and come up onto their toes in a plank position — body in a straight line from ankle to shoulders. Have participants lower their body to the floor by bending their elbows and extend to push back up.

Make sure folks go all the way to the floor. I like to call this, “chest to deck”. I always encourage members to try at least one push-up on their toes before going to their knees. They can always switch in the middle of a set, and even just one on the toes will help challenge them. So, even if they can’t finish the set on their toes, it’s great to have participants envisioning these push-ups as their ultimate goal, rather than settle in knee push-ups for eternity.

Also, to help alleviate some minor discomfort in the wrists, I encourage members to push all of their fingertips into the floor and picture themselves distributing the weight evenly between fingers.

Push-ups with feet on the step

Once folks have mastered the tricep push-up, then the fun begins as we get to start playing with other push-up variations. In my last post, we talked about using a step to help members progress towards doing this exercise on the floor. Once they want to move beyond the standard floor push-up, they can use the step to lift their lower half, putting more weight into their push-up.

With these six push-up options, Group X instructors should be well-armed to teach this exercise to participants with a wide range of fitness levels. If you’re excited about push-ups, I have complete confidence you can get your class excited about them, too.

For more posts like these, check out the workout routines and playlists page.

Also, you might like the tricep exercises post.

Posted on June 22, 2016 June 19, 2016

3 Types of Push-ups for Group Fitness Classes (Part I)

Push-ups are one of the fundamental exercises in the fitness industry. They’re a great way to work your chest and core, plus you don’t need any equipment to do them. Yet, not all participants in a Group X class are stoked to do push-ups. I get it. Push-ups are hard and we’ve been conditioned to think that doing a chest press with 10 pound dumbbells is good enough in group fitness. But, I’d like to challenge us all to break free from the stigma around push-ups and encourage them in our fitness classes.

In order to teach push-ups in your Group X class, you’ll want to be armed with a quite a few variations or progressions of the push-up to help everyone find success at their own level and pace.

Here’s a look at the first three push-up progressions to cue for beginners and for anyone with a fitness limitation.

Against-the-wall push-ups

If you’re just starting out or have a limitation you’re working through, push-ups against the wall are a great starting point. Put your hands shoulder-width apart against the wall, right under shoulder-height. Scoot your feet out from the wall a few paces, so that you’re at a slight angle (not quite 45 degrees) to the floor. Keep your body in a straight line from your head all the way to your ankles as you bend at the elbow to bring your body towards the wall.

Push-ups with hands on the step

As participants continue to progress towards a push-up on the floor, they’ll want gradually get lower to the floor. Push-ups on a step are a great progression from the wall. If you have chairs, stairs or other higher equipment, those might be an even better next option after the wall.

Set up the step with a few risers underneath – it’ll be easier with more risers. If your step has bumpy ridges, you might want to place a towel down first. Then, place your hands on the step, right under your shoulders. Come into a plank position, either on your knees or your toes. Your body should be in a straight line from your knees to shoulders (or ankles to shoulders, depending on what plank you chose). Lower your body towards the step and back up, keeping that plank tight the entire time.

Knee push-ups (Version 1)

Once participants are able to transition to the floor, knee push-ups are oftentimes the typical place to start. Have participants place their hands right under their shoulders, with hands either shoulder-width — or a little bit wider — apart. Start on all fours, with your knees directly under your hips.

Lower your chest to the floor by bending your elbows.

These three push-up variations are a nice starting point for beginners. Especially as folks are building their upper body strength, make sure participants know these are perfectly good options. Tune in next week for the second half of the push-up progressions.

If you liked this post, you might also like my posts sharing tricep workouts.

For more exercise ideas, check out my workout routines page.

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