New strength workout routine

by Jemma on October 13, 2011

in Points of interest

Happy Thursday friends! The weekend is almost upon us again and I for one cannot wait.  :)

This morning I headed to the gym bright and early to do my strength training session from my new workout plan.  A lot of you have been emailing asking about what is that I actually get up to during these strength workouts and I’m all about caring and sharing so I thought I would write it all down in a blog post.

For these workouts I have been taking inspiration from NROL and the Women’s Health magazines website.  My work out involves total body strength training mixed with high intensity intervals to target all of the major muscle groups and to get the heart rate up for an all round intense workout that is shorter than my normal sessions, but works my body that little bit harder. I’ve chosen exercises that seem pretty straight forward and are easy enough to do with the equipment that my gym readily has available.  These are also done alongside my weekly Body Pump class too.

dumbbell

The aim of these workouts are to:

  • produce muscle definition
  • build strength
  • increase my core strength
  • help maintain a stable weight- I’m quite comfortable with my weight at the moment and would hate to loose any as I don’t think it’s necessary.

muscle-building-for-women

*Please note that I am not a trained fitness instructor. This is a routine that I have formulated myself, for myself. So please seek advice advice elsewhere in relation to whether this workout is suitable for you if you are going to try it out.

Workout 1

  • Weighted one leg squats
  • Dynamic lunges
  • Dumbbell straight leg dead lift
  • Wood chop with dumbbells
  • Tricep dips
  • Bent over row
  • push ups
  • Mountain climbers
  • Plank with alternating leg lift

Workout 2

  • Lat pull down with under hand grip
  • Wide grip lat pull down
  • Seated row
  • Chest press
  • Shoulder press
  • Pull overs
  • Single rows with dead lifts
  • Dumbbell bent over row
  • Barbell squat
  • Reverse lunges with dumbbell

Each set involves 10 repetitions and is repeated 3 times.

I’m really enjoying this workout at the moment and as my body becomes used to the moves I can increase the reps or the size of the weights to make sure that I am still challenging myself. 

Are you following a strength workout at the moment?

Where do you look to to find inspiration when constructing your own workouts?

Have you read NROL?  What did you make of it?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Vita Coco and Nakd GIVEAWAY!!!

**All original sources are available by clicking on each individual picture**

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Tagged as: exercise, muscle definition, strength training, work outs

  • http://www.healthifulbalance.blogspot.com Shannon @ Healthiful Balance

    Thanks! These two workouts sound great! Will try them soon :)

  • http://veganlenna.wordpress.com Lenna (veganlenna)

    I love your workout and your workout goals, it is such a healthy fitness approach! And I really love woodchops and deadlifts, those are my fave moves currently. Strange, I know :D
    I am really into strength training now. I used to do only cardio, but you need to build some strength to have a healthy and fit body.

  • http://movesnmunchies.wordpress.com movesnmunchies

    WOW! looks great! that must take u a long time!

  • http://www.fitforthesoul.com Ellie@fitforthesoul

    ooooO Jemma, awesome possum workouts! haha. These are kind of similar to what I like to do normally~I love strength training, and interval type stuff. I also love your confidence and healthy outlook on maintaining a healthy weight!

  • http://practisingwellness.com/blog/ yolie @ practising wellness

    I love strength training! <3
    Blogs, and Oxygen magazine, have been so motivating for me with planning my weights sessions, and also inspiring me to get some dumbells and start lifting!
    I never ever used to, and in recent months have, and LOVE having this strength and tone, it's awesome. And so empowering to feel strong, mentally and physcially :-)
    Your workouts look wicked. I used to work at a gym, and got to go to Body Pump classes for free – they are fantastic! :-D I've heard so much about NROL and am seriously considering buying it – sounds great! xyx

  • http://www.keepinghealthygettingstylish.com Laura Agar Wilson (@keephealthstyle)

    I liked NRoL but I’ve found I prefer the routines in Female Body Breakthrough as I didn’t find NRoL challenging enough plus they required a lot more equipment than my gym has available! Hope you enjoy them, I’m loving my strength training right now :-)

  • http://celeryandcupcakes.com Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes

    You will have to let me know what you think.

  • http://celeryandcupcakes.com Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes

    It doesn’t take that long. About 40 minutes max :)

  • http://celeryandcupcakes.com Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes

    I’m loving strength training right now- glad you are enjoying it too.

  • http://celeryandcupcakes.com Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes

    Haha! Thank you lovely! It’s taken me a while to get there, but hopefully this mindset is here to stay. :)

  • http://celeryandcupcakes.com Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes

    I know what you mean about the equipment aspect with NROL. I’ve incorporated some more challenging moves in there that I found on the Women’s Health website. They have some articles by Rachel Cosgrove on there that are quite interesting and I’ve added in some of her moves from there too. My strength routine has become a whole cocktail of stuff. Glad you are enjoying your training. :)

  • http://celeryandcupcakes.com Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes

    It’s a really great book to get some ideas and inspiration. So happy to hear that you are enjoying strength training- I love it! :D

  • http://everydaysapicnic.wordpress.com Sarah(everydaysapicnic)

    I’m trying to incorporate some more strength training into my routine, but I’ve taking it easy because I’ve got a niggling chest/shoulder injury.
    I take inspiration from circuit classes I’ve been to and workouts from magazines. I like the sound of your workouts – I think they could be adapted to do at home, so I might try them out.

  • http://runningcupcake.co.uk Maria

    I keep hearing good things about the book but the equipment puts me off- I stick to body pump for now!

  • http://whatkateiscooking.com Kate (What Kate is Cooking)

    This came at a great time- I really want to get back into strength training, but I never really do it because I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. Thanks for the workouts!

  • http://peanutbutternutter.net Leigh

    1 legged squats!! You are my hero, we do them in rowing and I hate them, definitely wouldn’t do them by choice hehe. Wokout looks great, I hope it helps you reach your goals lovely :)

  • http://veganaphrodite.wordpress.com vegan aphrodite

    I love that you added that you dont do this to loose weight! Not that there is anything wrong with loosing weight. But you do look stunning! So healthy and strong! So Im happy that you are just doing this for strength and health :)
    Your workout sounds intense! Im pretty bad at doing my weight trraing, but I try to at least to some kind of it every week!

  • http://errign.wordpress.com/ Errign

    I have been slacking on strength lately, trying to heal my side up, but I like it. I generally don’t do the same routine every time, but I get inspiration from magazines and favorite moves.

  • http://tryingfood.blogspot.com Turtle-speed Runner

    Looks like good workouts, I may have to check them out! :)

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