Content provided by the GBS Health & Wellness Team
Celebrate the Fourth of July and mix up your workout routine with this fun seasonal workout! Complete the circuit below by doing 15 reps of each exercise and repeating the circuit three times. Each exercise has a linked video and explanation to help you get started. Don’t forget to start with a warmup!
Liberty Bell Swings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSESeQAir2M
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart while holding a kettlebell with both hands and arms straight down. Inhale and push your hips back (hinge your hips) and slightly bend your knees to bring the kettlebell between your legs. Be sure to keep your back straight and engage your core. Exhale, contract your glutes, and push your hips forward to lift your body into a standing position. Allow your arms to swing the kettlebell as far as it will naturally go. Inhale and lower the kettlebell between your legs by pushing your hips back and slightly bending your knees. This is one rep.
Red, White, and Glutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVYnf2CFO9M
Stand with your feet hip-distance apart and let your arms fall at your sides. Draw a semicircle with your right foot, moving it clockwise until it crosses behind your left foot. Keep your right toe tucked and clasp your hands together at your heart. Lunge down as deeply as possible, hovering your knee a couple of inches off the floor. Slowly return to the standing curtsy position.
Squats and Stripes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaXPRqUwItQ
Slowly begin to squat down by hinging at the hips and then flexing at the knees. Keep the chest up and back in a neutral position. Avoid jutting the head forward. Squat to a depth that can be safely controlled.
Eagle Bent Over Reverse Fly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evXOlgLTPCw
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells at your sides. Press the hips back in a hinge motion, bringing your chest forward and almost parallel to the floor. Let the weights hang straight down (palms facing each other) while maintaining a tight core, straight back, and slight knee bend. Raise both arms out to your side on an exhale. Squeeze the shoulder blades together as you pull them toward the spine. Lower the weight back to the start position as you inhale.
Independence Rows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXpZu_fmheU
Assume a standing position while holding a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip. Hinge forward until your torso is roughly parallel with the floor (or slightly above) and then begin the movement by driving the elbows behind the body while retracting the shoulder blades. Pull the dumbbells towards your body until the elbows are at (or just past) the midline and then slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position under control.
Statue of Liberty Shoulder Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWKKIQtVR7M
Grab a dumbbell in one hand and bring it to shoulder-height with your palm facing toward your chest and your arm bent. Stand tall, keep your core tight, and place your feet about shoulder-width apart. Gripping the dumbbell as hard as possible, press it over your head until your arm is almost completely locked out. Pause, and then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.
Salute Crunches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaL7XWK3MVE
Lie flat on the floor. Your feet should be on the floor and your hands are behind your head. Hold your head gently with your hands. Pull your shoulder blades back and slowly raise your knees to about a 90-degree angle, lifting your feet from the floor. Exhale and slowly, at first, go through a bicycle pedal motion, bringing one knee up towards your armpit while straightening the other leg, keeping both elevated higher than your hips. Rotate your torso so you can touch your elbow to the opposite knee as it comes up. Twist to the other side, while drawing that knee towards your armpit and the other leg extended until your elbow touches the alternate knee.
Mount Rushmore Climbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwgirgXLYM
Get into a plank position, making sure to distribute your weight evenly between your hands and your toes. Pull your right knee into your chest as far as you can. Switch legs, pulling one knee out and bringing the other knee in. Keep your hips down and run your knees in and out as far and as fast as you can. Alternate inhaling and exhaling with each leg change.
Pro-Tip: Decrease reps to 10 or remove/decrease weight to modify exercises. To make it more challenging, increase weight and/or shorten rest time between exercises.
