Pulse Gym

Award Winning Gym

Jacki Lane

Vacation Pool Workouts.. fun with kids and beyond!

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Heading on a vacation?  There’s no reason to sit by the side of the pool watching your kids burn thousands of calories while you ingest the same!  Did you know a tropical vacation Pina Colada can pack you full of over 500 calories, around the same as a Mcdonalds Big Mac!  Try one of these two water workouts next time you’re away to burn that 500 instead of packing it in.  The kids will love that you got in the water with them, and YOU will love that you worked out on vacation!

Triceps & Abs Blast

Warmup:  Swim any style, doggie paddle, breast stroke, floating jog – whatever – from one end of the pool to the other for 10 minutes.

Workout:  Find the stairs in the pool, and sit on the highest stair you can to complete 20 triceps dips. (The higher you are, the harder it will be.). Swim over & back to your same spot, and sit on the highest step you can to perform 10-20 bent knee v-sit abs (sitting on step, hands by hips, bring knees to chest and extend out along waters surface as straight as you can).  Swim over & back and repeat the pattern 5 times.

Calorie finisher:  Swim fast over & slow back for another 10 minutes.

Water “Aerobics” On your Own

Set up your phone on the pool edge playing some upbeat music (try Power Music 128-135 bpm playlists on Youtube).  Try to perform the following move patterns for each of 6-8 songs, shoot for 30 minutes of motion at the beat of the music.  Alternate each move either 32 beats of the music (that’s a traditional aerobic count) or do 60 second intervals if you’re not a beat-junkie.

Soldier Kicks & High Knee Runs:  “Soldier Kicks” are straight leg kicks to the front with alternating fingertips to toe touches.  “High Knee Runs” are simply a high knee jog with hands pushing to the front of you with open palms facing away.

Cross Country Skis & Jumping Jacks:  “Cross Country Skis” involve splitting your feet front to back equally along your midline, moving your hands underwater opposite your legs.  “Jumping Jacks” are simple enough to figure out, but have hands in the water, palms facing down providing a great shoulder and lat workout as you move your arms up and down.

Jog with Breaststroke Arms & Pendulum Swings:  “Breaststroke Jog” is a high knee run with arms moving front to back as if doing a breaststroke forward AND backwards.  “Pendulum Swings” are a side to side kick & hop motion, kick your right foot out to the side and jump switch in the middle to kick your left leg to the left side with your arms moving in opposition to your legs.

Rocking Horse Right & Left:  A “rocking horse” is when you bring your right knee up with a bicep curl motion of the arms underwater and hop to kick your left leg straight back with a triceps extension of the arms underwater pressing backwards.

Football Run & BubbleUp Biceps:  A “football run” is the fastest, smallest run you can do with your full body submerged.  “BubbleUp Biceps” is a standing move, with your palms facing up, where you perform super fast and powerful bicep curl motions making the water “bubble up” in front fo you without splashing.

Jog Forward & Back & Volleyball Hops:  Jog forward 4-8 steps with freestyle stroke arms and then jog backwards with reverse breaststroke arms into the current you made.  “Volleyball Hops” involve jumping as high out of the water as you can with hands overhead as if blocking a volleyball shot over a net.

TreadWater & Sidestroke:  Tread water with hands above water for 30 seconds and below for :30 then switch to a 32 beat side stroke over & back in the pool.

Bonus Round:  Add them all together for 8 beats of each to make your own water aerobics class!

Have fun and don’t forget water and sunscreen!

Jacki

 

 

 

 

 

The Magic of Respect

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SO many times people ask me…

“How on earth do you have such a great team!???”

“How do you see so many different people in a day and get along with them?”

I responded to one camper today…

“My magic is that I believe EVERYONE has magic.” 

If you can truly go through each day knowing that everyone you come across is special to someone, in some way, and kicks butt in some corner of their life, even if it’s not obvious to you, it’s easy to admire, ignore or empathize with some of the craziest stories, situations or behaviors.  With that attitude, I can see through to the gold and good in everyone.

My clients and team know I respect all of our differences ~~ it’s what makes every day unique, challenging and fun!  That’s the magic of RESPECT!

With love to you all!  Keep being YOU!

Jacki

 

Best way to lose bodyfat // and build a 6 pack!

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OK there you have it, the title of the most read fitness articles and books on the planet.  Lose Fat and Get Ripped!  Promise it all and people will follow!  As you all know, there’s no best way to do anything.  It’s all about YOU.  What tactics you are willing and able to implement in your life for fitness and nutrition, and how genetics, medications, and lifestyle interact with those choices.  It’s so hard!  Your trainer and nutritionist can help you experiment with things that have worked for others in the past, and find YOUR special sauce.

Should you fast or eat every 2 hours?  125g protein or Vegan?  Pro-biotics or greens?  We all need help learning what’s right for us.  Give a trend a month – if it’s not working for you, move on!

That’s why consistency is key – – trying things out to see what works, switching gears if you need to and sticking like GLUE to the things that do.

I like to tell clients that their ab and core workout is the FRAMER of the house of their body, and diet is their FINISH CARPENTER.  Exercising AND eating clean is what makes your hard work on your muscles show… But remember being strong is more important than showy muscles over your lifetime — so try to focus on that!

AB OR CORE WORKOUT??

First, decide if your workout is more for life function, sports performance and/or to support complex fitness moves (overhead weights) OR if you just want to build visible six pack abs.  Plank and plank varieties are known to be way more effective to build overall core strength which aids sports performance, prevents injury and helps build strength for more complex workout moves.  Ab crunches and variations are great for building muscle in a targeted spot — but might not help with overall strength and performance.  (Think of bodybuilders that train for show rather than endurance competitions — your abs can SHOW but may not work to support some of the activities you’re into as well as a plank would!). Here are two variations we’ve used in our workouts ~~ we’ve found the best plan to us is to mix & match and cross train.

CORE WORKOUT: 7-20 MINUTES

Pushup Plank Drill EMOM.  Every Minute On the Minute this workout starts over.  Minute 1, perform 1 pushup, lower to plank, and hold until there are :15 seconds rest left in the minute.  Take the rest!  Minute 2, do 2 pushups, wait in plank, etc. Our gym record is 22, but most find it hard to get past 7,8,9… Give it a try and safely build to your personal best, even if you’re doing knee pushups and knee plank.  It all works.

ABS: 15 MINUTES

500 Reps:  Choose your top 5 ab moves.  Tabletop Crunches (knees up), Bicycle Abs (elbow to knee), Leg Scissor (scissoring legs up & down), Toe Touch (reach up to toes extended in air while lying on back) and Russian Twists.  Do 20 of each, repeat 5x.  Be sure to rest hip flexors (front top of thighs) and lower back as needed between moves or sets.

YOUTUBE ABS:  8 MINUTES Need to follow along?  Try this 8 Minute Oceanside Abs Vid filmed on Imagine on Block Island in the summer of 2020.

Keep those lower backs safe ~~ take breaks or modify as needed!  ’23 Version of Oceanside Abs comin’ up soon!

🙂 Jacki

First time I see them melting…

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Every spring, we plan Pulse Gym’s fitness offerings for late spring and summer, including our signature Beach Bootcamps.  Mid-May, 10-30 people come shivering out of their winter hibernation, dig out an early season beach-blanket, locate their fave water bottle and meet us at the beach.  The workouts are tough, the sand adds intensity you can’t imagine to every day.  We come up with options for EVERY SINGLE LEVEL and love to be challenged to do so!  Most clients leave the first three weeks wondering why they thought they were in OK shape… just to learn at the beach they in fact are not.  But that’s not necessarily true!  Some of the fittest exercisers at Pulse Gym all winter opt for Beach Bootcamp because of the added challenge the outdoors, the hill, and the motivation of a summer wardrobe to fit in.

A few weeks in, we notice someone looking different.  The third week in, a few more… it only takes 2-3 WEEKS for us to notice visible signs of clients MELTING and METAMORPHOSING into the leaner, faster, fitter person they knew they were capable of becoming when we met on testing day.

It’s a super powerful feeling to change someone’s body, and watch it change their outlook, their confidence, their energy and personality, and ultimately their lives.  We’re 5 weeks in to coaching Session 1 of 2023 and am seeing these transformations begin and love it.

Will you be our next guinea pig?  Session 2 starts 7/6.  Tues/Thurs 630 am.  We want to see YOU melt!