Work from home

Scott Schwab:
I was realizing that a lot of our posts deal with going to the gym and I wanted to write a couple about working out from home. Chandi did Turbo Jam and the ab ripper from P90x today. It got me thinking about working from home, or better said working out from home. For a period of about 3 years of my life, my workout consisted of a variety of push ups and sit ups. I thought that I would resurrect the workout and add a couple of exercises to give a complete home workout. The workout is meant to maximize on the amount of each set for every rep, so keep that in mind.
Push ups
I have found that through the years the simple push up is one of the best exercises that one can get for their upper body. You are using your own weight for Resistance and you can expect great results for your arms, back, shoulders, and even abs if you can stand flexing them while you are doing the push ups. Start with a set of regular push ups and do as many as you can. Even if it is a smaller number, you have to do as many consecutively as possible. The ideal push up for the first set is to have your hands shoulder width apart. The second set of push ups is to elevate your feet onto a coffee table or a couch. Do the same number that you set through your first rep. The third push up is opposite of second, put your hands on the elevated surface and your feet are on the ground. The forth set is triangle push ups. For this set you will not be able to do the same amount. The triangle is placed out in front of your shoulders so you could put your nose in the triangle each time you go to the floor. It is hard so be prepared. The fifth and final set is chest push ups, where your hands will be in a triangle so that as you go to the floor your sternum is hitting in the triangle. Also very difficult and you should try and match the number to what you achieved with the triangle nose push ups.
Sit ups
Despite what all of the advertisements say, the regular sit up or crunch is still affective. If you have back problems, it probably relates to a weak abdomen. The core is the most important part of the body to work. With the sit ups you will do a set immediately after a push up set going back and forth with little to no rest. Your first set is to just do as many crunches with your hands behind your head and pulling your head to your knees. That number is what you will do for all of the other types of sit ups, so push yourself until you cannot do anymore. The second set will be to put your legs straight out in front of you and elevate them 3-4 inches of the ground and count to 100. To accentuate the exercise lift your head to look at your feet. The third sit up is to take your right arm and touch your left knee and repeat with your left arm to right knee. Do not bicycle because you will work your abs less. Focus on pulling your head to your knees, and not bringing your knees to your head. The fourth sit up is to hold your feet and legs in a 90 degree angle. Put your hands together and reach as high to your feet as you can. Again this is going to be harder then the other three so just do as many as you can. The fifth sit up is actually two in one. It will get your obliques on each side and you will do the same number on each side. Lay on your side with your feet and legs slightly raised. Put the top hand behind your head and pull yourself up to have your elbow touch your knee. Do as many as you can for the right side and match it for your left.
squats
These can either be wall sits or standing in place with your feet shoulder width apart. Remember to get as low as you can and for proper form look up and puff out your chest. If you are doing wall sits you will try and do 1 minute. For regular squats just do as many as you can. You will do 5 sets and work them into the rotation of the sit ups and push ups.
Jumping Jacks
As dumb as this may sound it is a great workout when combined with the other three. You can also just do jumps straight up in the air and jump as high as you can. Some people can do jumping jacks for days, so set a time rather then an amount. As far as the jumps go, setting a max number seems to be better, but whatever you would like. This will be the last set of four that you do and you will work it in with the other 4 reps and 5 sets of as many as you can do.
Also we will be having a past guest blogger tomorrow drop by for a visit. It is Kimmy Cowley and she will be our poster for tomorrow.