The following is roughly an hour long workout that seeks to mobilize and activate tight and underactive muscles surrounding your knees, hips and shoulders. After about 25 minutes of mobility and stretching, there is 15-20 minutes of activation work with minibands. Then the workout concludes with 10-15 minutes of full body strength work.
If you’re interested in purchasing the minibands we use in class, click here.
**If you have chronic health concerns, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the following, to make sure that exercise is right for you! **
Session #23 (6/30/21)
Supine Mobility → 2 x 20 s. Each
Knee to Chest w/ Ankle Rolls
Can Openers
Glute Bridge Marches
Deadbugs
Quadruped Mobility → 2 x 20 s. Each
Hip Circles (Both Directions)
Cat/Cows
Hip Rolls
T-Spine Extensions
Hockey Stretch (Tall/Low)
Pigeons + T- Spine Extension (L/R)
½ Kneeling Adductor Stretch (L/R)
Push-Up Position Spider Abbreviated Flow
Standing Mobility → 2 x 20 s. Each
Forward A-Skip
Knee Hug + Quad Pull
Side On A-Skip
Toe Sweeps
Jumping Jacks
Open the Gates
Seal Jacks
Close the Gates
Front Lunge w/ Twist Over Front Leg
Windmills
World’s Greatest Stretch
Activate
A. 3 x 20 s. Each (Band Around Toes)
Miniband Ice Skaters
Marches
Lateral Walks (4 steps each way)
Squats
B. 3 x 10 s. Each
Back Burners- SLOW!
C. 3 x 20 s. Each (Band Around Wrists)
3-Way Seal Claps
Touchdowns
D. 3 x 20 s. Each (Band Around Ankles)
Hop Scotch (Tall)
Monster Walks
Hope Scotch (Low)
Diagonal Walks
Full Body Strength 2 x 20 s.ON/ 10 s OFF
Reverse Lunge + Knee Drive (L)
Squat Pos. MB Row
Reverse Lunge + Knee Drive (R )
Ice Skaters (Plyometric)
Lateral Bear Crawl
Miniband Front Plank
Toe Touches (Opposite/Straight)
Reverse Crunch w/ Hip Drive
If this workout interests you, please e-mail: tylercotterell235@gmail.com for details on how to receive the recording or to get on the mailing list for future live workouts!
Yours in Fitness and Health,
TC
Your Final Reward Will Be Heartache and Tears, If You’ve Cheated the Guy in the Glass.
The following is roughly an hour long workout that seeks to mobilize muscles from your ankles to your shoulders and everything in between. After about 45 minutes of mobility and stretching, the workout concludes with 10-15 minutes of full body strength work.
**If you have chronic health concerns, please consult with your doctor before trying any of the following, to make sure that exercise is right for you! **
Session #23 (6/28/2021)
Supine Mobility- 2 x 20 s. Each
Deep Breathing (1x)
Knee to Chest w/ ankle rolls
Can Openers (L/R)
Semi-Circles (L/R)
Glute Bridge + Thoracic Reach
Dead Bugs
Rock and Rollers
Quadruped Mobility
A. 2 x 20 s. each
Hip Circles (Both Directions)
Hip Rolls
Fire Hydrants
Hockey Stretch (Tall/Low)
B. 2 x 20 s. Each
“Where’s My Shoes”
Cat/Cows
T-Spine Extension
C. 2 x 20 s. Each
Pigeons + T-Spine Extension (L/R)
½ Kneeling Adductor Stretch (L/R)
1/2 Kneeling Arm Circles (L/R)
Push-Up Position Spiders (L)
Bird Dogs (L/R)- 2 s. holds
Push-Up Position Spiders (R )
Downward Dog
Standing Mobility
A. 2 x 20 s. each
Knee Hug
Quad Pull + Opposite Arm Reach
Toe Sweeps
Reverse Lunge + Overhead Reach
Punters
B. 2 x 20 s. Each
Open the Gates
Windmills
Close the Gates
Lateral Lunge + Lift Off (L)
Body Weight Squats
Lateral Lunge + Lift Off (R )
World’s Greatest Stretch + Neck Roll
Total Body Strength
A. 2 x 20 s. ON/ 10 s. OFF
Swing Lunge (L)
Jumping Jacks
Swing Lunge (R )
Seal Jacks
Lateral Lunge + Curtsy Lunge (L)
Run in Place
Lateral Lunge + Curtsy Lunge (R )
Lateral Bear Crawls
B. 2 x 20 s. (NO REST!)
→ 20 -30 s. Rest between sets
Toe Touches
Reverse Crunch w/ Hip Drive
RKC Plank
+ Cool Down Stretch
If this workout interests you, please e-mail: tylercotterell235@gmail.com for details on how to receive the recording or to get on the mailing list for future live workouts!
Yours in Fitness and Health,
TC
Your Final Reward Will Be Heartache and Tears, If You’ve Cheated the Guy in the Glass.
While many parts of the country are beginning the process of reopening gyms or personal training studios, there’s still countless other regions with no light at the end of the tunnel. Regardless of what situation you may find yourself in, I believe something we’ve all learned first-hand these past several weeks, is how difficult it is to maintain consistently high levels of workout intensity at home.
Without the social motivation, the music pumping, the class instructor in your face, it can be extremely challenging to get high quality workouts in. This is especially true, if you’re the type that struggles to motivate yourself. You may rely on an external force to provide your best source of motivation. Unfortunately, almost all our external motivating factors have been stripped away during quarantine workouts.
The question is, how can you safely increase your workout intensity without any ‘traditional’ external motivators? The simple answer is this:
Invest in a Fitness Tracker.
I’ve used a few different fitness trackers in the past and have found value in each- I’ve owned a Nike Fuelband, Fitbit Ionic and currently use a Garmin Vivioactive 3 watch as well as a Myzone Heart Rate monitor. There are several benefits to each of the products I’ve mentioned, however, the bottom line is this: regardless of the device’s accuracy or bells and whistles- the ability to track your activity, connect with others and generate movement, make a fitness tracker a must have during this time!
Why Invest in a Fitness Tracker?
#1 Fitness Trackers Offer Connectivity
During the CO-VID 19 pandemic, social distancing has unfortunately forced us away from our friends and family; by utilizing a fitness tracker, its capabilities will allow you to reconnect with a fitness community that social media cannot. Every fitness tracker is different, however, the fact is each company offers their own “challenges” and sends “awards” for achieving various fitness accomplishments throughout the day/week or month. While this can’t permanently replace the class instructor you love or exercising with your best friend, it will start to tap into the social aspect of training.
In addition, when I say “social” referring to exercise, I’m not necessarily talking about communicating with other gym members. Instead I’m talking more about the inner competitive nature we all possess. Whether you realize it or not, you’re naturally competing with the girl or guy next to you on the bench or squat rack- every single training session. This is an aspect of gym training that home workouts simply cannot mimic- unless you use a fitness tracker to compete!
#2 Generate Movement
While a fitness tracker will not help with your issue of lack of fitness equipment at home, it will most definitely generate movement. During these weeks in quarantine, more than likely you either continued living a mostly health-conscious lifestyle, or you let the wheels fall off and have been treating this time like a hall pass.
There’s got to be a middle ground between these two lifestyle choices though, or else the road back to your fitness journey is going to be uphill for a long time. The compromise that a Fitness Tracker will provide is that it’s going to be your reminder to stand up and move around- for those that have never owned a fitness tracker, you can usually turn on a “reminder to move” setting that will vibrate/beep or send a notification to your phone incrementally, letting you know it’s been too long since your last bout of movement.
This doesn’t mean you have to go for a run every time your device reminds you to move- maybe it’s just a walk around your apartment, a set of body weight squats, up and down your stairs a few times, or some push-ups. Remember, any movement is better than no movement right now.
We also live in a society that is reward driven; therefore, it admittedly feels very good getting a notification come across your device when you hit your step, stair or activity goals for the day!
#3 Fitness Trackers Will Enhance the Quality of Your Workouts
Several months ago, one of the most sobering realizations I came to when I had my first workout with my Myzone Heart Rate monitor, was discovering my actual exertion versus my perceived exertion. (While my Fitbit Ionic and Garmin Vivioactive 3 both had heart rate monitoring capabilities, Myzone Heart Rate Monitor is a chest strap that has been peer reviewed to be 99.4% accurate.) Seeing my real time heart rate zone on a screen in front of me, has challenged me every single workout to get well outside my comfort zone, thus vastly improving the overall quality of my workouts.
Even if other fitness trackers aren’t quite as accurate as the Myzone Heart Rate Monitor, keep in mind, it’s all relative. So even if the “calories burned” or the “peak heart rate” isn’t completely accurate, it will minimally be consistent. Therefore, the fitness tracker will provide you with the ability to look back on your workouts and compare your relative exertion from one workout to the next. Having this capability will assist you in getting outside of your comfort zone without the presence of a coach- accordingly, you’ll be able to maintain consistently high levels of workout intensity even outside the gym walls!
#4 They’re in Stock!
In a time when fitness equipment is virtually impossible to purchase online, I did some research and every fitness tracker I searched on Amazon or the product’s website, is available to be purchased. The common complaint regarding maintaining fitness levels I’m hearing right now, is some variation of: “I can’t workout right now because I can’t buy any dumbbells/barbells/kettlelbells etc.”
While I completely empathize with this unfortunate reality, I also feel that an alternative solution would be to instead invest in a fitness tracker. Investing in such a device will not only assist in your fitness levels during this period of quarantine, but also will continue to enhance your health once society resumes its normal function.
#5 You’ll Find Value in them AFTER Quarantine Has Lifted
Many of the fitness products that have been frantically purchased the last several weeks will unfortunately become dust collectors once quarantine has lifted. Individuals have spent considerable amounts of money on equipment, only to serve as holdovers until gyms can reopen. While your weight bench or pair of dumbbells will sit idly once gyms reopen, your fitness tracker certainly should not. If you get in the habit of allowing your fitness tracker to serve as an extra source of motivation, it will only continue to enhance the quality of your workouts and lifestyle once quarantine has been fully lifted.
.
My Personal Review on Fitness Trackers
I’m by no stretch of the imagination a fitness tracker connoisseur, nor am I speaking on behalf of any one company. All I can tell you is the benefits I’ve personally experienced with the fitness devices I’ve owned and used myself. The Nike Fuelband, Fitbit Ionic and Garmin Vivioactive 3, each helped me enhance one main area of my health- my NEAT (Non-Exercise Active Thermogenesis- aka Active Rest). Having step goals in addition to the workouts I was already doing, vastly helped with my recovery from workouts. I noticed my fitness trackers’ benefit the most on weekends- where if I was being on the lazy side, having my device vibrate and tell me to get up and move was huge. (This generation of movement is the most applicable way that I feel a fitness tracker will assist in an individual’s health during quarantine.)
My Myzone Heart Rate monitor is by far my favorite fitness tracker I’ve owned though. It completely taps into my competitive nature by having my heart rate zone displayed on a screen in front of me. This has been a huge asset for me in continuing to push myself outside my comfort zone during quarantine. I haven’t personally used the function, however, you can also become completely connected with the Myzone community around the world, should you choose- this feature allows you to enter competitions and compare your workouts against thousands of other people.
I’ve only experienced two drawbacks with fitness trackers that I could see causing issues for some. First, no matter how many steps you hit daily, or how many floors you climb, your activity level will not give you a free pass nutritionally. Just because you crushed 30,000 steps doesn’t necessarily mean you can now eat whatever you want after dinner. This would be a dangerous precedent to set and would ultimately lead to you spinning your wheels. To maximize the benefit of a fitness tracker, it should be used in conjunction with proper nutritional habits.
Secondly, an issue I could see some having with the Myzone Heart Rate Monitor was the need to always have the heart rate in an elevated state- to improve the “score” of the workout. This can create the dangerous tendency to breeze through warm-ups or rush through reps, just so you can see your heart rate climb. Therefore, if you’re going to use a heart rate monitor to determine the quality of your workouts, you have to accept the fact that there will be peaks and valleys in the workout. Not the entire workout will be spent in the 80-90% range; just make it your goal to work up toward that point.
How to Know Which Fitness Tracker is Right for You??
With fitness trackers ranging from simple to fancy as well as cheap to pricy, it may be extremely difficult to determine which fitness tracker is right for you. A source of information I wish I had known about when I was shopping for a fitness tracker, is the Consumer Advocate website dedicated to fitness tracker reviews. In the link attached you will find reviews on their top 11 fitness trackers!
They rate each of these products on Features, Connectivity, Cost and Customer Experience, and my favorite part is their transparency with the product’s drawbacks. With over 200 hours worth of research, they have developed a comprehensive and exhaustive list of their findings that will undoubtedly lead you to a fitness tracker that is right for you!
In addition to the in-depth analysis of each fitness tracker, the Consumer Advocate group also lays out some distinctions between fitness trackers and smart watches, some pitfalls consumers fall into when purchasing a fitness tracker and some very helpful FAQ’s regarding fitness trackers in general. I whole heartedly encourage you to check out this website before you commit to investing in a fitness tracker!
Final Thoughts
While quarantining is protecting us from contracting a deadly virus, we are unfortunately setting ourselves up for a slew of health issues down the road by living largely inactive lives. I urge you to consider investing in a fitness tracker and implement it as apart your fitness journey going forward.
If you already own a fitness tracker, and it’s just accumulating dust in a jewelry box, take this time to break it out. Research its functions to maximize the device’s usefulness and allow it to be a source of external motivation. Then once gyms reopen, keep it apart of your fitness routine in order to consistently execute and chart high quality workouts.
Continue to stay safe and healthy!
Yours in Fitness and Health,
TC
Your Final Reward Will Be Heartache and Tears, If You’ve Cheated the Guy in the Glass.
If you are normally a hard gainer, whose goals revolve around filling out t-shirts or yoga pants, then this is an especially difficult time for you. If you were like the majority of the population who was a day or week late to Amazon, Rogue or Dick’s Sporting Goods, you’re most likely left with a Home Gym set up that doesn’t come close to including the normal weights you would use at the gym.
Maybe you have a single kettle bell, some bands, or a pair of light dumbbells- whatever you currently have access to, it most likely doesn’t compare to the variety of weights or machines you’re accustomed to using in a commercial gym. This is going to make it difficult to continue with your goal of strength, power or muscle gains.
Therefore, the first thing you need to do, is accept the following:
Temper your goals to align with your current situation.
In other words, if your goal was to hit a PR in Squats or Bench Press by June 1st, understand that this is most likely no longer a reality. Instead, focus instead on goals such as:
Logging quality workouts daily that elevate your heart rate
Perfecting basic body weight moves
Smooth movement patterns
Enhancing your mobility and flexibility
Adding an unfamiliar component to your workout- such as cardio
Unfortunately, 5 x 5 rep schemes just won’t work when you only have light weights to deal with. Therefore, you must display a level of adaptability with your goals and adjust to your own individual scenario. Understand that this period of social distancing will most likely result in [hopefully] maintaining the “gains” you’ve made in previous months or years in the gym- but you can also use this time away from the gym as a way to reinvent yourself by adding in new components that will benefit your future workouts.
3- C’s to Maximizing a Quarantine Workout- Circuits/Complexes/Combo Moves
#1 Circuit Training Will Make Up for Missed Intensity
If you’re not accustomed to circuit training, you may think it’s “stupid” or “only for people who are trying to be skinny.” Unfortunately, this is a very short-sighted and close-minded opinion on a style of exercising that will automatically give you intensity. With your normal intensity most likely lacking – due to not having access to heavy dumbbells, barbells or machines- it is imperative to figure out ways to mimic your normal workout’s intensity. Otherwise, you will certainly not make progress in any area, and you’ll also most likely lose interest in home workouts altogether because your workouts just won’t have the normal challenge that you’re accustomed to.
Why does circuit training possess the potential to make up for missing intensity? Because you’re quickly moving from one move to another with varying amounts of rest time in between. You’ll also be able to pre-fatigue muscles and get them working much harder than if you were to just do straight sets or traditional super-sets. By moving quickly through the workout, you’re going to be elevating your heart rate, and increasing the metabolic demands placed on your body.
The circuits you create don’t have to be full body- even though they possess a great option to alternate between upper and lower body throughout the sequence. You can do upper body circuits, lower body circuits or core circuits- each of these will maximize the minimal equipment and space you have access to.
In order to create your own circuit, you first need to identify what equipment you have. Is it just going to be bodyweight? Or do you have a few sets of dumbbells? Next, you have to determine how long you want the circuit to be (in terms of number of exercises). Anywhere between 4 and 10 exercises will provide you with a circuit that should match your ability. Then, you need to figure out your variables- specifically your work and rest time.
When performing circuit style training, the best results are usually seen when timing yourself and trying to perform as many quality reps as possiblein an allotted time.These timed sets can be anywhere from 20-40 seconds long- depending on ability and the complexity of the moves. If you’re alternating between an upper body move and a lower body move, then your rest time can be minimal to nothing. However, if you’re doing high intensity, full body moves (such as a kettle bell swing, medicine ball slam, squat jumps) then you’ll want to lean more towards a 2:1 work: rest ratio. Finally, determine how many sets you want to do. Depending on time constraints, and how many exercises you’ve included, I’d recommend between 3 and 5 rounds to start.
#2 Use Complexes to Maintain Strength Levels and Intensity
The next step on the difficulty spectrum would be integrating complexes in your home training. Complexes can be done with either dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, or even body weight. For this purpose, though I’m going to focus on complexes that can be done with dumbbells, kettlebells or barbells. The idea behind performing a true “complex” is performing 3-6 strength moves and not putting the weight down until the set is complete. This is an off-shoot of circuit training but lends more towards strength training and possesses even greater metabolic potential- due to the ‘heavier weight’ being moved.
Complexes can be organized a few different ways as well. They can focus on one muscle group, or they can be full body. It’s completely up to you and how you’ve organized your own training split.
Not everyone will have the potential to do complexes right now, due to the variation in exercise equipment you currently have access to. If you do have some sort of external weights though, consider integrating complexes into your daily workouts because they will exponentially increase the difficulty of your workout!
Barbell Complex
Challenge yourself to not put the barbell down, and perform between 5 and 15 reps of each movement, depending on your ability and the amount of weight you have access to.
Challenge yourself to not put the dumbbell down, and perform between 5 and 15 reps of each movement, depending on your ability and the amount of weight you have access to.
Challenge yourself to not put the kettlebell down, and perform between 5 and 15 reps of each movement, depending on your ability and the amount of weight you have access to.
I’m notoriously leery of “combo moves” under normal circumstances. My main reason for this is because combination moves, generally mean you’re short changing yourself in one of the moves. However, due to the fact that these are extremely abnormal circumstances, you have to find ways to create intensity with your workouts- and integrating safe combo moves are a great way.
A combination move, is when you take 2 strength moves that would normally be done alone, and combined them into one move. This is extremely beneficial right now, because most people don’t have access to heavy weights. Combo moves will provide a method to make a pair of 15’s or 20’s feel significantly heavier.
I implore you though, when performing combination moves, be safe. If the weight feels like it’s too much for a move, shut it down and do something different. If you continue to practice perfect form with the optimal weight, combination moves will provide a tremendous boost to your workouts as well- especially by adding them into a circuit!
While the training methods I’ve outlined above, may not fully align with your normal goals, they will provide the intensity that your current home workouts are lacking. By implementing these methods you will be able to maintain your strength levels and stay afloat during this time away from your full gym arsenal.
In order to be successful though, you must leave your ego at the door. If you’re someone who says “I only strength train, I never do cardio…” But you also only have access to 10 LB dumbbells right now, then your workouts are going to suffer tremendously. It’s perfectly fine to ditch every one of these training methods as soon as the gym lights come back on, however, in this moment these methods will allow you to maintain high levels of workout intensity with sub-maximal weights.
When performing any of these methods though, listen to your body. If something feels easy continue to tweak variables. Consider increasing the reps, the work time or decrease the rest time. Conversely, if something feels overly challenging, make the necessary adjustments so you’re still performing your workouts safely and with anatomical integrity.
Keep in mind, just because it’s “lighter weight” doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you. Allow Circuits, Complexes and Combo moves to increase your workout intensity while always maintaining proper form! Be a “fitness chameleon” and adapt to the environment you currently have access to; this adaptability will ultimately allow for you to hit the ground running with your fitness goals when society returns to normal.
Yours in Fitness and Health,
TC
Your Final Reward Will Be Heartache and Tears, If You’ve Cheated the Guy in the Glass.
Cotterell Training Systems 