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The Best Home Workouts This Holiday Season

Posted on by NWV

Holiday carbs and calories are right around the corner. Looking for the best home workouts this holiday season to keep your fitness routine in  check? We have you covered! Check out a few of our favorite home bodyweight and light equipment workouts you can complete anytime, anywhere! 

Bodyweight Basic 8

This 20-25 minute workout can be done at home with no equipment needed! You can complete this routine every other day for 2 – 4 weeks. These are great foundational exercises for more advanced workouts.⁠

Equipment: Exercise Mat 

The Perfect 10 Core Crusher

The Perfect 10 Core Crusher consists of 4 exercises that you complete 4 rounds of 10 reps. Challenge yourself with 4-Way Body Taps, Twisting Side Planks, Oblique V-Ups, and Bear Pose with Elbow-to-Knee Tucks.

Equipment: Exercise Mat 

The Heart Thumper

TRUE’s Heart Thumper workout is a 20-25 minute workout sure to get your heart rate going. This HIIT style workout incorporates 4 exercises that are completed by 30 seconds on and 20 seconds off. Repeat this circuit for 4 rounds for optimal results. 

Equipment: Exercise Mat 

The Glute Grenade

The Glute Grenade requires no equipment and can be completed indoors or out. This is not your everyday glute workout and is sure to become your favorite glute circuit. 

Equipment: Exercise Mat 

TRUE Strength & Cardio Volume I

Strength and cardio all in one workout? Yes indeed. The TRUE Strength & Cardio Volume 1 workout is comprised of 5 exercises completed with 40 seconds on and 20 seconds off. This workout utilizes dumbbells, but you can also substitute, we recommend gallon jugs filled up to the desired weight, a weighted ball, or kettlebells. 

Equipment: Exercise Mat, Dumbbells 

TRUE Strength & Cardio Volume II

5 more exercises for the best strength and cardio workout. If you don’t have dumbbells, you can substitute with gallon jugs filled up to the desired weight, a weighted ball, or kettlebells. 

Equipment: Exercise Mat, Dumbbells 

Looking for more? We have a full playlist of At-Home Workouts that can be enjoyed throughout the holiday season. If you try these out, be sure to use #TRUEHomeWorkoutTips on Instagram. 

The Most Efficient Body Workout? A Total Body Workout

Posted on by Angie Tinsley

Most would agree that everyone wants to get the most out of their time when they are at the gym. To get the “biggest bang for their buck”, if you will. In order to make the most of your gym session, total body workouts are the best option for almost all trainees.

Why Stress The Entire Body In One Session?

Most people share one common goal when exercising: To lose weight. However, there are other fitness goals other than losing weight that people set for themselves. For example, some may start out wanting to lose weight but then modify that goal to include improving body composition, strength, and improving your stamina or endurance.

All of these examples show why it is important to stress the body as a whole unit, not just by individual muscle groups or areas. By working the entire body, you can stress each major muscle area and still recover in time to do it over again. Exercising in this fashion creates a large metabolic deficit to recover from, therefore, making you burn more calories, get stronger, leaner and continue to improve your overall body condition.

Anyone Can Do A Total Body Workout!

A large part of the importance of total body workouts is to emphasize that anyone can do it. Runners should do more strength training and strength trainees should also do more cardio. If you aren’t a runner or a strength trainer and are just focusing on having a healthy body, total body workouts are still beneficial because you are getting a well-rounded workout that incorporates all types of training.

Runners Need Strength

As a runner, if the majority of your training consists of running then you are neglecting the fundamental need of your musculature. Running helps your aerobic conditioning, and if you keep pushing your aerobic system without increasing your strength you are more likely to succumb to an injury.

I recommend that runners should spend at least two days a week incorporating strength training into their workout, making sets of exercises consist of about five repetitions. Make sure to do compound lifts and movements that are heavy, but relative to your ability, and that those lifts stress a lot of muscle mass. For example, squats, deadlifts, bench press, chin-ups or any combination of, are all great types of lifts.

Weight Lifters Need Cardio

Many strength athletes who are interested in gaining muscle mass or getting stronger will train around the five to 15 reps and are likely already doing some of the compound lifts recommended for runners. However, this is mostly anaerobic activity and neglects the aerobic pathway for the majority of their training.

If you focus on gaining muscle and becoming stronger, just remember that strength takes longer to increase than just body conditioning and you will progress pretty fast on the aerobic scale. So, for those who primarily focus on weight training and not cardio, work in more cardio to get an entire total body workout in. Spend about one to two days a week doing low stress conditioning for 20 to 40 minutes doing things like biking, the elliptical, running or other cardio.

A Well-Rounded Workout is a Win

Also, do not forget the importance of stretching, which is applicable to any type of workout—not just a total body workout regimen. The less mobile you are the more work you will need to put in by doing pre and post workout stretching, whereas the more mobile you are the less work you will need to put in, post workout stretching. Stretching before and after a workout is a great warm-up and cool-down and will help prevent any injury during exercise.

Total body training can help any trainee be more efficient with their time at the gym and get a bigger return on their investment. Total body workouts target every muscle in the body in one session, and there is a variety of exercises you can do to change it up each day and still work the whole body. By working all of the major muscle groups, you will be able to reach your fitness goals faster with every workout.

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Quick! Get Low Workout With The QuickFit

Posted on by Angie Tinsley

Some of your largest muscles are in your lower body. The lower body is also the base of support for your body as you walk, run and jump which are all activities you will do in day-to-day activities or in sports-specific training. Lower body workouts can help increases bone strength, improve balance and stamina and decrease injury to knees and hips.

Exercise Goals

This workout will focus mainly on the lower body and will incorporate movements that will help you gain strength and endurance. By fatiguing the entire lower body complex, this workout will assist in getting you the lean lower body look you desire.

For this workout, you will be using the QuickFit strength.

Tips Before the Workout

Complete a proper warm-up before diving into this workout. With each movement on the QuickFit you may want to perform a few reps in your warmup, so you can be sure you have a proper weight selection in mind for the actual workout.

To adjust this workout for your skill level there are a few things to consider:

  • For a Beginner user: Use a weight that is moderately challenging but enables you to keep perfect form with every rep.
  • For an Intermediate user: Use a weight that is challenging to complete all your sets and reps.
  • For an Advanced user: Use a weight that is very challenging to complete all your sets andreps. Try not rest between rounds.

Proper Forms To Remember For This Workout

Before doing this workout, remember these proper forms to help prevent injury and get the most efficient workout possible:

  • Squat: Adjust your weight selection to match your comfort. Grab the low handles and bring them up to your shoulders, your hands should be touching the outside of your shoulders. Straddle the bench and start with your feet about shoulder width apart with your toes pointing outward about 30 degrees. Keep even pressure from heel to toe, with the weight being felt mid foot. Bend at your knees and hips at the same time, while pushing your knees out. Keep lowering yourself down until you are below the height of a chair (lower than your body naturally wants to go). Then, when standing back up try to push your hips to the ceiling, then stand up straight to finish.
  • Row: Adjust the weight stack to the desired resistance. Be sure to adjust the back of the seat down and attach the rowing handle to the middle pulleys. Put your feet on the foot platform facing the QuickFit, reach forward and grab the rowing handle with a shoulder width grip and have your elbows inside your knees. Keeping your back tight, push away from the platform; once your knees are extended begin to row the handle to your mid chest. Return the handle forward and bend your legs again, mimicking your starting position. Try not to let the weight stack slam back down and do these reps at a fairly fast pace with no pausing.
  • Leg Press: During the less press, make your weight heavier than it was with the row. Keep your feet on the same foot platform, and point your toes outward about 15 to 30 degrees. Keep your knees bent slightly past 90 degrees and once you are in proper form, keep even pressure from heel to toe. Grab the handle about shoulder width apart and keep your back flat and chest up. Your knees should be pushed out and push into the platform until your legs reach almost full extension. Be careful to not lock out and hyperextend your knees. Return back to the starting position slowly until the weight stack is just above resting position and press again.
  • Straight Leg Deadlift: Adjust the weight stack to the desired resistance. Face the QuickFit and grab the low handles, taking a couple steps backward until your feet are just behind the end of the bench. Stand up straight with your arms slightly in front of you and put your feet hip width apart. Keeping your legs fairly straight bend at your waist, being sure to keep your back flat. Allow the handles to pull you forward until your torso is parallel to the floor. At this point, attempt to squeeze your hamstrings and glutes to bring your torso back to the upright standing position. Do these reps slowly and under control.

Final Thoughts

During this workout, always focus on the form with each movement and rep. Form is important on lower body movements because lack of proper form could lead to knee or back injuries, especially on the squat and straight leg deadlift. Challenge yourself, but not to the point where your form begins to suffer as a consequence.

Log your weights used and repeat this workout in about week to see how much better you have improved. Make sure you stay active, eat enough food, and rest enough in between workouts. All these factors will help you recover faster.

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