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Workout Wednesday, Week 6:

While sexy and sculpted shoulders are sought after, shoulders and the chest region can be tricky to target and remain a bit of an enigma. Same with those lunch lady arms (triceps)—how ever does one tone and tighten that region without weights?!

This week we focus on a few challenging exercises designed to accelerate your gains with very pointed work. Take the first exercise for this week, the Decline Push Up. Significantly more challenging than a traditional push up, this behemoth exercise packs so much in its punch. It requires a firm core as you engage your abdominals to keep your body in a plank-like position, and it’s completely customizable with respects to the height of the bench dictating difficulty.

The beautiful thing about the things we indulge in, yes indulge in, while working out is everything can be scaled to your fitness level. So as with the Decline Push Ups for this week, the same ability to modify the exercise applies to the Dips in the second exercise. You can use a higher bench, straighten the legs, bend at the knees, or you can even use 2 benches and elevate the legs all together! Notice in the video below, we add a little flair with a knee drive to your chest to make the move more dynamic which will recruit your abdominals.

No equipment needed! A park bench, a chair, even a sturdy coffee table works—so now you have no excuses to get moving and have a little fun!

Click here or on the video below to view one round of this week’s exercises (note, the video does not have any sound).

Total time: 4:30 minutes of work with 30 seconds of rest between sets

Each set is 1:00, consisting of 30 seconds of Exercise 1 (for me this is 10 push ups), right into Exercise 2 (for me this is 10 dips including the knee drive), rest 30 seconds, then repeat 3x.

Exercise 1: Decline Push Ups, 30 seconds or one set of 10

Using a stable bench, table, or chair, lie down on your belly. Walk your hands out and away from your shoulders (these are NOT yoga push ups, so your hands are not beneath your shoulders), so your elbows make a 90-degree angle with the ground. Carefully walk your feet onto your bench, table, or chair. Keeping your body firm, lower your chest down to the ground. Press your upper body back to the starting position and pause briefly, then repeat.

Modification: The lower the bench, the more accessible the push up. You can choose to omit the option of a bench all together if you are still working on traditional push ups, or come to your knees if needed. To make this exercise more challenging, increase the height of the bench, table, or chair and lower yourself downward until your chest almost touches the ground.

Exercise 2: Dips to Single Leg Knee Drive, 30 seconds or one set of 10, 5 on each leg

Using the same bench or chair from the previous exercise, place your hands shoulder distance apart, next to your hips, fingers facing forward. Walk your feet out in front of you, and keep your spine straight as you move away from the chair. Bend your arms to lower your hips towards the ground, then straighten to raise your hips. Then, lift one leg and draw the knee towards your chest. Extend the leg, lower it to the ground, dip and repeat the knee drive on the opposite leg—alternating every other leg after each dip.

Modification: You can skip the knee drive if it’s too challenging and/or incorporate a weight across your thighs.

Rest 30 seconds then REPEAT 3x

Enjoy and Happy #WorkoutWednesday!