Utah Body

Zuzana at Bodyrock.TV has done it again. She never ceases to amaze me with her workout routines and fit body. This time she demonstrates a 6-minute workout that will “rock you out” when you don’t have time for a complete workout.

The workout consists of 6-minutes of high-intensity interval training. The idea is to set an interval timer to beep at 10-second and 20-second intervals. The routing is as follows:

• 10 seconds of Jump Squats
• 20 seconds of Side Pike Jumps
• 10 seconds of Jump Squats
• 20 seconds of Mountain Climbers

Repeat the steps above for a total of 6 minutes. This should leave you quite exhausted, as Zuzana illustrates. I period of stretching is highly recommended after the 6-minute routine. For the real animals out there, repeat the 6-minute drill until you are satisfied (or until you wear a hole in the floor). Happy hopping!

Since Utah Body is frequently on the road, I am always trying to schedule my stay in a hotel with a fitness center. We all know how hit-and-miss this can be. One thing that has always intrigued me is the possibility of a complete workout without weights; a program that can be performed in any available space such as a hotel room. This form of training is referred to by some as bodyweight fitness and several sources are now reporting techniques and exercises to with this in mind. One such source is Beast Skills.

Beast Skills illustrates exercises for sculpting your back, arms, shoulders, legs, abs, etc. without the use of weights. Some of the exercises require a bar or rope from which to hang, so a hotel room might not work for these. The body parts that are especially hard for me to sculpt without equipment are legs and butt. However, I have started doing one-legged squats and sumo squats at home and have realized some great results. Beast Skill illustrates the one-legged squats, or as they call it “The Pistol”, here.

Photo Courtesy of Beast Skills and beastskills.com

The one-legged squat shown above can be very difficult for many of you, so try the exercise with your leg pointing behind you resting on a chair or hold onto something with your hand to help you balance and to support you until you can do the exercise unassisted.

Kettlebells are currently getting a lot of attention by personal trainers, fitness instructors, and just about every fitness and body sculpting publication in print. The question is, “should women pay attention to kettlebell training?” Utah Body just finished reading a very interesting post on The Fitness Black Book:

Comments from the post that intrigued Utah Body were, “With strength comes muscle-building and with muscles comes a nice, sexy physique that you can be proud of” and ““Lift like a [real] man, feel like a goddess.”

Obviously, if a woman wants to shape and sculpt beautiful lines and curves, strength training is essential and, therefore, kettlebells can be a vital part of her workout. A great video of a kettlebell workout for a woman can be seen on The Fitness Black Book and below:

Utah Body was introduced to a very nice gym accessory a few days ago – the Versa Gripps Professional Series Weight Lifting Grips. These little beauties are a glove/wrist-wrap combination and put a whole new spin on lifting heavy weights. Instead of the annoying hand gymnastics one must go through with regular wrist-wraps, the Versa Gripps wrap a bar with one small twist. They are perfect for working with machines as well, since the Versa Gripps material is relatively thin and blends well with cushioned machine grips. Utah Body is definitely sold.

Useful information sources that help us keep our bodies looking great are not always easy to find through the thousands of sites available on the Web. However, Utah Body has discovered a treasure trove of useful blogs that we highly recommend. Note that in the list below, Modern Forager and The IF Life apparently have merged into Fitnes Spotlight (http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/). At any rate, the top 20 fitness blogs on the net, according to Gym Junkies (http://www.gymjunkies.com/best-fitness-blogs/) are:

1. Steve Maxwell (http://maxwellsc.blogspot.com/)
2. Again Faster (http://www.againfaster.com/articles/)
3. Straight to the Bar (http://www.straighttothebar.com/)
4. Fat Man Unleashed (http://www.fatmanunleashed.com/)
5. CrossFit (http://crossfit.com/)
6. Modern Forager (http://www.modernforager.com/blog/)
7. Zach Even Esh (http://zacheven-esh.com/blog/)
8. Mark’s Daily Apple (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/)
9. The Diesel Crew (http://www.dieselcrew.com/)
10. Stronglifts (http://www.stronglifts.com/)
11. Nate Green (http://www.thenategreenexperience.com/)
12. Ross Enamait (http://www.rosstraining.com/blog/)
13. Alwyn Cosgrove (http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com/)
14. Zen to Fitness (http://zentofitness.com/)
15. Fitness Black Book (http://fitnessblackbook.com/)
16. Fight Geek (http://www.thefightgeek.org/)
17. Eric Cressey (http://ericcressey.com/)
18. Women’s Diet and Fitness (http://womensdietandfitness.com/WDF/)
19. The IF life (http://www.theiflife.com/)
20. Weight Ladder (http://www.weightladder.com/)