Friday, May 21, 2010

Today's Favorite Exercise

CLOCK LUNGE

Why? Because I am a leg girl. I like strong legs. Period. Not for vanity reasons. Our legs work amazingly hard. I like to know I am taking care of mine. Keeping them strong means I get to enjoy the things I like to do, rather then being tired and in pain the whole time. Running, hiking, walking, playing with the kids...all more enjoyable and less tiring.

Anyhow, done properly, you will feel these pretty much everywhere. Make sure your entire body is working. Keep your abs tight! Keep your back straight, shoulders back and down. Start with hands on your hips, as you get used to these and have a stong core and balance isn't as much of an issue, you can ad weights and either do a variety of curls, or shoulder presses, or just hold them for added resistance. Only ad weights once you are able to maintain proper form for an entire set. As always with lunges make sure your knee never passes your toes, back straight, chest up, drop that back leg...if you don't feel it in your quads, hams, and glutes...you aren't maintaining proper form.

To be clear on what a rep/set of these is - each rep is made up of 4 lunges(1 lunge from each of 4 angles makes 1 rep). So if you do 1 set of 20 reps on each side, you will have done a total of 80 lunges on each leg. Short version of instructions is your lunging forward hitting 11, 12, 1, and 3 o'clock each rep.

Jillian's Instructions :

Clock Lunge
This move works out your lower body from all angles, hitting every part of the thigh!

Step 1
Stand with your feet hip-width apart, keeping your weight on your heels and your shoulders squarely over your hips. Picture yourself standing in the middle of a clock, facing 12 o'clock. Step forward with your right foot, bringing it across the body and setting it down at 11 o'clock. Bending the left knee, lower yourself until the right leg is parallel to the floor.


Step 2
Exhale and push yourself back into starting position. Then step forward with your right foot, leading with your heel, and put your foot down at 12 o'clock. Bend both knees until your right thigh is parallel to the floor and your left thigh is perpendicular to it. Your left heel should lift off the floor.


Step 3
Exhale and push off the ball of your right foot to step back to the starting position. Repeat the lunge movement, this time stepping with your right foot to the 1 o'clock position.


Step 4
Exhale and push off the ball of your right foot, to step back to the starting position. Then step out to the side with your right foot to the 3 o'clock position. Your left leg should be straight and your right thigh parallel to the floor. Return to the starting position and repeat. Do all the reps on the same side, then repeat on the opposite side.



Jillian Says:
This is an advanced move, so make sure you have the proper form in your basic lunge before you try this one!

---Source: www.jillianmichaels.com ---

3 comments:

  1. Do you follow Jillian's eating plan? I just picked up her master your metabolism cookbook at Sam's the other day...reading the beginning now of her "philosophy" on foods to help with various hormones, etc.

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  2. Not entirely. Because of how we eat, we eat pretty "clean" though.....not like free range chickens clean, but more like tons of raw veggies, fruit, and Trader Joe's clean....manageable on a daily basis clean. We do what we can w/o being obsessed by it. : ) I 100% agree w/what she says about chemicals, hormones, your metabolic type, ect..., but have to tweak it to be manageable for the long haul.

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  3. Looks great, I'm surprised she didn't do the 6 o'clock position too.

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