Low-Impact Cardio Blast

This low-impact, high-intensity workout is for the intermediate/advanced exerciser looking for a workout that’s tough on the heart, but easy on the joints.  This is a circuit-style workout, taking you through a series of cardio moves, each performed for about one minute with little or no rest between exercises.  Any time you’re doing low-impact exercise, adding big arm movements and going through the exercises with as much speed as you can (while keeping good form) will help you keep your heart rate up.  The exercises are just suggestions…always modify according to your fitness level and avoid any exercise that hurts or doesn’t feel right.  See detailed instructions below.

Exercise	Picture
Warm up Warm up for 2 or more minutes with light cardio, such as step touches (as shown).  Really use your arms to get your heart rate going.
Side Lunge with Windmill Arms Stand with legs wide, arms straight out to the sides and parallel to the floor.  Bend the right knee into a side lunge and bring the left arm down towards the foot.  Repeat on the other side, lunging from side to side and bringing opposite arm towards foot.  The faster you go and the lower you lunge, the harder it is.  Repeat for 1 minute.
Knee Lifts with Med Ball Hold a light medicine ball or weight straight up overhead.  Lift the right knee up to waist level while bringing the arms down, touching the weight to the knee.  Return to start and repeat on the left side.  Alternate knees and repeat for 1 minute.
Front Kick with Squat Stand with feet together.  Bring the right knee up and extend the leg in a front kick (don’t lock the knee!).  Lower down into a low squat (knees behind toes) and then kick with the left leg.  Repeat (right kick, squat, left kick) for 1 minute.
Diagonal Knee Smash Shift your weight to the right foot and take the left leg straight out to the side, toe lightly resting on the floor and arms extended up and to the right of the body.  Bring the left knee up and across the body while bringing the arms down and towards the left with a torso twist.  Take the left foot down, tapping the floor and continue with the knee lift and arm smash for one minute, going as fast as you can.  Repeat on the other side for one minute.

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Outdoor Circuit Workout

If you’re looking to spice up your outdoor walking or running workouts, this Outdoor Circuit Workout will take you through some tough intervals that will make your heart rate soar.  By mixing up the moves and changing the intensity throughout the workout, you’ll keep your body challenged and your mind interested.  You can use this Perceived Exertion Chart to track your RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion).  Please modify the workout to fit your fitness level and goals.

Time	Activity	RPE
5 minutes	Warm up – Brisk walking	4
2 minutes	Walk or jog This is your baseline pace.  You should feel as though you’re working, but be able to carry on a conversation without huffing and puffing.	5
1 minute	Walking Lunges Take a big step forward with the right foot and lower into a lunge (keeping the front knee behind the toe), step the left foot next to the right and then into a lunge on the left side.	6
1 minute	Speed walk or Run Pick up the pace here so that you’re above baseline	7
1 minute	Walk or jog Slow down enough to lower your heart rate back to baseline	5
1 minute	Sprints Choose an object in the distance (a tree, mailbox, etc.) and run or walk to it as fast as you can.  Walk to recover and repeat the sprints for the full minute.	8
3 minutes	Walk or Jog Slow down  to baseline.	5
1 minute	Tree Pushups Find a tree and stand a few feet away from it.  Place hands on the tree in front of you at about shoulder level.  Bend the elbows and lower towards the tree in a pushup.  Push back up and repeat for up to 1 minute.	6
1 minute	Scissor Jumps Keep your hands on the tree for support and begin with the feet together.  Jump up and bring the right foot forward, left foot back.  Quickly switch feet and continue scissoring the feet as fast as you can for 1 minute.  For added intensity, swing your arms along with the feet instead of holding onto the tree.	7
1 minute	Speed walk or Run Increase your pace here so that you’re working hard.	8
3 minutes	Walk or Jog Slow down to baseline	5
1 minute	Long Jumps Find a relatively flat stretch of sidewalk or trail and begin with feet together.  Lower into a slight squat and jump forward with both feet as far as you can, swinging your arms to help propel you forward.  Continue leaping forward for 30 seconds, take a walking break, then finish out the minute	8
1 minute	Speed walk or Run Go at a pace that allows you to lower your heart rate a bit.	6
1 minute	High Jogs As you jog, lift the knees up to hip level (if you can).	7
1 minute	Low Jogs As you jog, bring the heels up towards the glutes as far as you can (as though kicking your own butt).	7
3 minutes	Walk or Jog Slow down back to baseline.	5
3 minutes	Cool down with an easy walk	3-4
	Stretch

Instructions and Form Tips:

• Perform each interval, one after the other, using this Perceived Exertion Chart to make sure you’re staying within the recommended Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) listed on the right hand side of the chart above
• Complete one circuit for a 30 minute workout or complete the circuit twice for a 60 minute workout
• Skip any moves that hurt, leave you dizzy or put you at any kind of safety risk.
• Don’t be afraid to look silly out there but, if you do, find a park or trail where there’s less eyes watching.
• This workout can also be done indoors…be creative!

If you’re a beginner, you may want to start with a less complicated workout like one of these Workouts for Beginners.  Please see your doctor if you have any medical issues before trying this workout.

Abdominal Exercises – Best Abdominal Exercises and Core Workouts

These are some of the best and most effective ab and core workouts for strengthening and firming your abdominal muscles. If you are looking for a new way to work your abs try these ab workouts.

Remember that getting great abs takes more than just ab exercise; you need proper nutrition and a well-balanced exercise routine to go with these ab-focused exercises.

Abdominal Exercise Guidelines
Perform several (3-5) abdominal exercises 3-5 times a week. Start with exercises and repetitions that are comfortable for your fitness level and as you improve increase the number of repetitions. You do not need to do all the exercises; simply select those that work well for you and vary your routine over the months.

1. Bicycle Crunch Exercise
2. Captain’s Chair Exercise
3. Ab Crunch on an Exercise Ball
4. Vertical Leg Crunch
5. Long Arm Crunch
6. Reverse Crunch
7. Plank (Hover) Exercise
8. Traditional (Basic) Abdominal Crunch
9. Half Curl
10. Crossover Crunch
11. Seated Oblique Twists with Medicine Ball
12. Oblique Crunch
13. Alternating Supermans
14. V-Sit Exercise

Side Bends

• Holding a dumbbell in you right hand, stand with feet shoulder width apart and your knees slightly bent.
• Place your left hand behind your head and slowly bend sideways to your right lowering the dumbbell down to your knee.
• Return to an upright position and repeat for the desired number of reps.

Medicine Ball Sit Ups

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Hold a medicine ball (choose a 5 pound ball to begin) to your chest and have a partner stand at your feet (not on them).
• Push your lower back into the floor flattening the arch and hold.
• As you curl up throw the ball to your partner. Hold the crunch as your partner catches the ball and throws it back to you.
• Catch the ball and slowly return to the start position.
• Tip: Don’t sit right the way up as you wait for the return pass. Your shoulders should be no more than 6 inches off the floor.

Weighted Curls with Medicine Ball

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Hold a medicine ball (or weight plate) to your chest (start with 5 pounds).
• Push your lower back into the floor flattening the arch and hold.
• Curl up just enough to lift both your shoulders off the floor a few inches.
• Hold for a count of 2 and return to the start position.

Cable Crunch

• This exercise requires a triceps pushdown machine with a rope attachment.
• Knee down in font of the machine holding the rope just above your head.
• Slowly crunch down to your right knee and hold for 2 seconds as you breathe out.
• Return to the start position slowly and repeat to the left knee.

Learn About Us!

ABOUT OUR CLUB

The San Jose Athletic Club (”SJAC”) is a full service 35,000 square foot urban sports facility located in the historic Scottish Rites Temple in downtown San Jose, California. SJAC has been in the same location since 1981 and is downtown’s oldest and largest athletic club facility.

We proudly offer full-service amenities including:

• Basketball
• Racquet sports
• 25-Yard Swimming Pool
• Weight Rooms
• Massage Therapy
• Cardiovascular Machines
• Group Exercise Classes including, Zumba, Pilates, Yoga and much more
• Complete locker rooms with steam, sauna, spa, showers and lockers – everything needed to get and keep our members on the path to wellness

On the social side of membership, SJAC is also the home of the Corinthian Grand Ballroom, a premier destination for weddings and special events. Plus we have numerous meeting rooms, and our own private bar – Phoenix Lounge. Lastly, the Silicon Valley Sport and Social Club is also located on site, which is a non-profit dedicated to providing fun recreational leagues for local residents and employees. And, as an SJAC member, you receive discounts for this membership as well. Becoming a member of SJAC is much more than just fitness. It’s a lifestyle. As in our motto -. Carpe Vitam – Seize your Life, and that starts with feeling and looking your best!

Improved Tool Developed for Cycling Fitness

For competitive bicyclists with goals – whether competing in the Tour de France or aiming for the podium at a local race – faster cycling comes from training regimens based on various zones of exercise intensity. New research from exercise scientists at the University of New Hampshire has found that effective training regimens, which generally are created after expensive, time-consuming laboratory tests, can be developed from a relatively simple, do-it-yourself test.

Using two tools most competitive cyclists already own — a power meter, an increasingly common training device that mounts on a bicycle’s rear wheel, and a stationary bicycle trainer – UNH graduate student Jay Francis ’09 modified a three-minute all-out cycling test and found that it is as effective as more lab-intensive measurements for determining exercise intensity. The study, which was Francis’s master’s thesis, is published in the September 2010 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise, the premier journal in the field.

“Power is a very unbiased way of measuring your exercise ability, compared to speed, heart rate, or perceived exertion,” says Francis. “A power meter measures how much power you are getting from your body to the road,” independent of external conditions like hills, wind, or even what you had for lunch, he adds.

Francis and his advisor, assistant professor Dain LaRoche, wondered if this increasingly common piece of equipment could be used to establish individualized exercise intensity domains – training zones that range from moderate to severe – that were as accurate as those established with complex laboratory testing.

Francis used a three-minute all-out cycling test – “you just push and push and push and never let up” – which had previously shown to yield, in the last 30 seconds of the test, a power level that a cyclist can sustain for 20 to 30 minutes. He replaced the expensive and problematic laboratory equipment used in the original three-minute test with the cyclist’s own bicycle, fitted with a power meter and used with a stationary trainer.

Testing 16 competitive cyclists, Francis compared their exercise intensity from the power meter test with classic laboratory-produced exercise intensity measures: blood lactate concentration and oxygen consumption. The power-meter and laboratory-based results correlated.

“You can go out with your own power meter and, for free, in just three minutes, you can do what would cost you $250 and take over an hour in the lab,” says LaRoche.

With this data, says LaRoche, a cyclist can develop a range of individualized training zones that a coach will use to prescribe a particular workout. “You can’t use heart rate, because everyone’s is different, but you can say, ‘we’re doing a zone three workout today.’ As a former coach I see the practicality of it,” he adds. LaRoche previously worked with speed skaters and Nordic skiers for the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Francis took a more circuitous route toward exercise science. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNH in electrical engineering in the early 1990s, then worked in that field for many years while taking up cycling recreationally. He returned to UNH for a second master’s degree, in exercise science, to help him pursue his goal of becoming a cycling coach. A self-described “mid-range amateur cyclist,” Francis launched his own coaching service in Merrimack upon graduation last year. Its name, FxD Coaching, riffs on an equation that engineering and exercise share: force times distance equals work.

The work he dedicated to his master’s thesis paid off. LaRoche says it’s unusual for a master’s-level student to have an article accepted in the prestigious Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise journal. More importantly, says LaRoche, Francis’s work can now have an impact on athletes. “There’s so much misinformation out there about how to train,” he says. “Jay is providing a real service for mid-range cyclists.”