I would love to know about most impactful strength training exercises for someone who has done yoga or reformer pilates for years. I would love to focus on strengthening my upper body.
Woohoo! 1st question and it's a good one. I can probably customize this a bit more once I know what kind of equipment you have at your disposal, but I'm going to assume none for the time being.
I would match up a push movement with a pull movement. What do I mean by that?
A push movement is a push-up or a bench dip. Don't have a bench? Use a chair or a coffee table. Now for push-ups, old school thinking has "girl" push-ups (on your knees) vs. "guy" push-ups (think military). Doing push-ups on your knees won't progress you to military push-ups. The progression I tell people that has helped me has been to do a military style push-up but instead of your hands being on the floor, use a bench, chair or coffee table (something that is stable and will not move). And as those get easier, move to a progressively lower level.
Here is a video of me working on elevated push-ups off of the bench so you can get a visual. It has slight tempo (more on tempo below) associated with it.
A pull movement is rowing movement, like a towel row (link below) or reverse fly (also link) below. For the reverse fly, you can use any object that you can get a firm grasp on (think a can of soup) and build from there.
A great way to make these more difficult is tempo training. For example, try the towel row and count to 3 when you are pulling yourself towards the wall. You want it to take the entire 3 seconds to execute the movement. It should feel way more difficult than if you just went back and forth quickly.
The other thing I will add is that I would upper back exercises and some core to go with the arms and shoulders. Wall angels are really good and can be done anywhere. Marc actually did a lot of these when he was rehabbing his shoulder. If you use cans of soup, trust me - you'll feel these.
I can write a whole post on tempo training because that is where I have seen the most gains (lighter weights than what I did previously, but more time under tension).
The amount of options increases exponentially with bands (i.e., Rogue Bands, TRX).
If you want some HIIT (high intensity interval training) options, throw in some :60 planks (bonus for elevating your feet), hollow rocks and burpees, for starters. I would not recommend tempo on HIIT - focus on form and execution.
Let me know if this helps and that will help me craft a larger post on this topic.
I would love to know about most impactful strength training exercises for someone who has done yoga or reformer pilates for years. I would love to focus on strengthening my upper body.
Thanks!
Woohoo! 1st question and it's a good one. I can probably customize this a bit more once I know what kind of equipment you have at your disposal, but I'm going to assume none for the time being.
I would match up a push movement with a pull movement. What do I mean by that?
A push movement is a push-up or a bench dip. Don't have a bench? Use a chair or a coffee table. Now for push-ups, old school thinking has "girl" push-ups (on your knees) vs. "guy" push-ups (think military). Doing push-ups on your knees won't progress you to military push-ups. The progression I tell people that has helped me has been to do a military style push-up but instead of your hands being on the floor, use a bench, chair or coffee table (something that is stable and will not move). And as those get easier, move to a progressively lower level.
Here is a video of me working on elevated push-ups off of the bench so you can get a visual. It has slight tempo (more on tempo below) associated with it.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TTzr2g35fAQ3nCkh9
A pull movement is rowing movement, like a towel row (link below) or reverse fly (also link) below. For the reverse fly, you can use any object that you can get a firm grasp on (think a can of soup) and build from there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdZ6L3cjkIc - reverse fly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtTDy-2GNTE - towel row
So a super set could be with a focus on form:
- 10 push-ups
- 10 towel rows
- Rest :90 and do 2 more times
A great way to make these more difficult is tempo training. For example, try the towel row and count to 3 when you are pulling yourself towards the wall. You want it to take the entire 3 seconds to execute the movement. It should feel way more difficult than if you just went back and forth quickly.
The other thing I will add is that I would upper back exercises and some core to go with the arms and shoulders. Wall angels are really good and can be done anywhere. Marc actually did a lot of these when he was rehabbing his shoulder. If you use cans of soup, trust me - you'll feel these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9TD09kzjGY - wall angels
I can write a whole post on tempo training because that is where I have seen the most gains (lighter weights than what I did previously, but more time under tension).
The amount of options increases exponentially with bands (i.e., Rogue Bands, TRX).
If you want some HIIT (high intensity interval training) options, throw in some :60 planks (bonus for elevating your feet), hollow rocks and burpees, for starters. I would not recommend tempo on HIIT - focus on form and execution.
Let me know if this helps and that will help me craft a larger post on this topic.