Feb 10 2012
Strong Enough – 600 Rep Upper Body Blast Playground Workout
Are you strong enough? The important thing to remember with this workout is that you don’t need to be strong enough right now. You need to have the heart to become stronger. You need to have the drive to push yourself. You need to have the discipline to be persistent, consistent, and to make yourself as strong as you want to be. No one can do it for you. Excuses don’t get you there. You have to choose to do it for yourself.
This is a workout you can do with just your own body weight, a step or bench, and a pull up bar of some sort. I like to use a playground, but if the weather doesn’t permit it, you can exercise your ingenuity and set up a pull up bar in your home, use the chair and closet rod set up I have explained in the past, or take it to the gym.
This workout is going to challenge you. It is perfect for experienced exercisers and also great for beginners because you can modify each exercise. There might be points where you aren’t strong enough and you want to give up. Take a break and get back to it.
No matter what your faith, this song is perfect for this workout. Think that this workout isn’t for you because you aren’t strong enough? Just a few weeks ago, I wasn’t strong enough. It isn’t that anyone else is stronger than you or has more willpower than you. It is that some people are ready for change, and some are not. I am ready for change. I am digging deep and calling on faith to make it happen when I don’t feel strong enough. Are you ready for change? Let’s do this!
Getting to the point where you want to give up and pushing for just one more rep is how you build inner strength and discipline, in addition to physical strength. You don’t have to be strong enough right now. Don’t be afraid to fail. You aren’t failing. you are getting stronger.
The full workout breakdown is below. Go for your own personal best. Remember to post your scores below! I want to know how you did!
xoxo ~ Cori
Strong Enough Workout
SONG: Matthew West – Strong Enough
SONG: Matthew West – Strong Enough
Workout Breakdown
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Time: Personal Best! As long as it takes |
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Workout Type: 600 rep challenge |
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Workout Exercises: 11 |
Get your gear:
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No gear needed. Just your own body and a decision to get it done. |
Buy the same nutrition products as me:
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PROTEIN Get your protein here |
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SUPER GREENS Get your super greens here |
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Peanut Butter Get your PB2 here |
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EGG WHITES Get your egg whites here |
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Tea Get your tea here |
Strong Enough Workout
Absolutely no equipment needed. You will need a pull up bar of some sort, a step or bench, and a way to modify it if you need to. Two chairs and a closet rod (or broom, mop, wooden dowel, or something similar) will work at home. A playground works great if weather permits. You can also take this workout to the gym.
2 warm up exercises. 9 upper body exercises. The reps and sets are below. Don’t do a circuit, do 4 sets of each exercise before moving on and keep the exercises in order to get the most out of it.
Remember to post your scores! I’m letting you know how long it took me to get through the workout. POST YOUR TIME! Keep track of your workouts so you know when you’re making progress!
Rotator Cuff Warm Up:
External Rotation 25 x 4 (2 each shoulder)
Single Arm Scarecrows 25 x 4 (2 each shoulder)
Not sure how to do these? Look at the beginner version of this workout:
Turn Me On – 600 Rep Body Weight Upper Body Blast
Side to Side Push Ups
10 – 10 – 10 – 10 right
10 – 10 – 10 – 10 left (alternating right to left each time)
Move one hand to one side as you lower your body for each push up. Alternate sides, doing 10 on each side for each set. To make it easier drop to your knees. To make it harder elevate your feet.
Plank Ups:
10 – 10 – 10 – 10
Try to push both arms up at the same time. They look easy, but are so tough. Drop to your knees to make them easier. Elevate your feet to make them super hard.
Diamond or Close Grip Push Ups:
10 – 10 – 10 – 10
Hands together in a diamond pattern or as close as you can. Keep your elbows in towards your rib cage. Drop to your knees when it gets tough. Feeling strong? Elevate your feet. Bring your chest all the way down each time. No partial movements on this one!
Side to Side Chin Ups:
5 – 5 – 5 – 5
Elevate your feet. Under hand grip. We are focusing on your biceps, not your back. Chin up, straight up to the bar. Go right. Stay Up. Go left. Stay Up. Back to the middle. That’s one rep. Alternate which side you go to first each time. Try to keep your chest up. I did a couple extra because I was able to get to almost 8. If you can do more… do it! Don’t stop at 5 if you can do more!
Bench Dips:
10 – 10 – 10 – 10
Keep your chest up and your back long. To make it easier bend your knees. To make it harder elevate your feet.
Hanging Knee Ups:
10 – 10 – 10 – 10
With bent knees, lift your legs, knees into your chest, and hold it for just a second before you do it again.
V-Sit (Modified with Knees Bent):
10 – 10 – 10 – 10
Keep your abs tight and squeeze it all in. Keep your chest up as you bring your knees in. Keep your back long and tall. I did a few extra because I felt strong today. If you can do more than 10, do it! Don’t hold back or stop at 10 just because that’s the number I put here. When you run a race, don’t aim for the finish line. Blow right through it.
V-Sit (Legs straight):
10 – 10 – 10 – 10
If you feel it in your hips more than your abs, just do more sets with your knees bent until your abs get stronger. You might also want to work on your hip flexor flexibility and strength. Keep your chest up. Keep your back long and tall.
Mountain Climbers:
20 – 20 – 20 each leg
If you have trouble with 20 for each, break it up. Even if you have to break it up… try to go for as many as you can! Keep your butt down as you bring your knees in. Keep your knees and shins close to the ground.
I finished this workout in just under 34 minutes. I had to drop to my knees on the last set of the side to side push ups and the last set of the plank ups. I was able to stay elevated for all 4 sets of the diamond push ups though! Awesome!
Try to get this workout done is under 45 minutes if you are a beginner, or under 30 if you are experienced. Next time I am pushing for getting it done in under 30 minutes. I was so close!
If you are looking for variations that are challenging, but just slightly easier, you can also check out the beginner version of this workout:
Turn Me On – 600 Rep Body Weight Upper Body Blast
Follow Through
I like to post something about cardio and nutrition at the end of every post because it is important.
Cardio and nutrition are going to be two of the most important parts of achieving your results, no matter what what your goal is. You can not work off your nutritional decisions with exercise. What? You can’t eat a donut, then just do 2 hours of cardio and *poof* it will be like it never happened? That’s what I’m saying. Come on. No. You can’t.
Your body doesn’t work like a simple addition or subtraction problem. It is not calories in vs. calories out. What you eat has a chemical effect on your body. Even if you do cardio to ‘burn it off’ the chemical effect is still present. Different sugars have an affect. Different proteins have an effect. Different fats have an effect. When you take a vitamin, you understand that it has an effect in your body that cardio will not ‘work off,’ right? Food works the same way. Different foods have positive and negative chemical effects within our body. You can’t just work them off.
You have to unlock and unleash the body fat by working with your body in every aspect. Your body works in harmony like a symphony. When one instrument is off, the entire song doesn’t sound right. A good steady drumbeat can’t make up for a guitar that’s out of tune. 2 hours of cardio cannot make up for a donut. Or pizza. Or macaroni and cheese. Or wine and a baguette. Got it?
Cardio
I do a minimum of 45 minutes of stairs with intervals as cardio each and every day. When I’m trying to lose fat I usually do two separate 45 minute cardio sessions a day. Even while I have been recuperating from the car crash, I have still been able to do at least one session of my daily cardio. I love my cardio and I like to stay conditioned. I personally prefer to do a little more cardio than the average figure competitor, then also eat a little more. It takes more time and effort, but I feel the pay off is well worth it. The pay off is that I feel awesome. I feel energized by cardio. I love it.
Post Workout Nutrition
When I was trying to gain muscle I finished every workout with a protein shake, animal protein, and some complex and simple carbs. These are healthy choices for gaining or for performance. These are not the right choices for me for trying to lose fat, define and sculpt muscle. Trying to define and sculpt muscle is different from gaining muscle. This means I need to eat something different.
When I am trying to lose fat and sculpt muscle, I am much more strict with my diet. Only true food sources. No protein powder.
I finish up every workout with lean protein from true food sources (a little red meat, white chicken, white fish and egg whites are best) and some dark green veggies or Super Greens mixed with water only. Again, no protein powder. If you are a vegetarian you would most likely need to supplement with protein powder. If you are not, let me say again that true food sources work best for losing body fat.
Even when I am trying to lose fat, I still FEED my body.
Want more information about nutrition? Check out BPM.tv Nutrition 101.
You can also look at my current personal fat loss diet in order to get ideas on how to develop your own nutrition plan.
You can click on the link to my fat loss diet to get details about what works for me, but here is the basic breakdown.
This is my meal plan while I am trying to lose fat and define muscle. My carbohydrates come from complex sources only and are kept to about 100 grams per day.
My sugar is kept at about 18 grams per day. That’s it. That is less than what is in one banana. That means fruit is not in my fat loss nutrition plan. My sugars come from minimal amounts that naturally occur in veggies and in the complex carbs I eat each day. No matter what your goal, I highly recommend you watch your sugar intake, even ‘healthy’ sugar like fruit, and moderate it to a minimum based on your own personal goals.
My protein is kept at about 250 grams per day and comes from high quality, organic, free range (or wild) lean animal sources. My fats are kept at about 40 grams per day and come from my protein and complex carbohydrate choices (not additional plant sources like olive oil, coconut, nuts, or avocado).
That equals about 1800 calories per day. I don’t drop it much lower than that.
I eat natural, organic, whole foods that I cook myself, or if possible I eat them raw. I drink 1 to 2 gallons of water and a couple cups of either coffee or tea. There is no mysterious, magical diet. If you want to lose bodyfat you need to eat a fair amount of lean protein and A LOT of green veggies at every meal. Period.
Did you like this post? Tell me in the comments!
Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments. Don’t be shy! Your comments may help to inspire another. Your questions may help someone else who has the exact same question, but is too shy to ask. I love hearing from you!
Try to come up with a way to make the exercises even more challenging! Try to have better form than me! Let’s inspire each other.
