The Physique 57 Solution (7 page)
Read The Physique 57 Solution Online
Authors: Tanya Becker,Jennifer Maanavi
Tucks
. Hip Tucks are small, deliberate movements in which you roll your hips forward and then release them back. We perform them in the Thigh and Back series of our workout. We love this variation because no matter which muscle group you’re working, Hip Tucks bring your abs and glutes into the mix and zero in on the area right below your navel (the so-called kangaroo pouch that every woman wants to avoid). We like to tell our clients, “Every time you tuck, you’re giving yourself a tuck!” These small, controlled movements also strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and loosen up your lower back. Plus, they’re a little bit sexy and just plain fun!
. Throughout our Thigh and Seat series, we regularly use our hips, legs, knees, or feet to draw small circles in the air while the rest of the body maintains an isometric hold. These tiny circles help you to engage the ancillary muscles that support the thighs and gluteal muscles. We like to think of our circles as a way to “connect the dots”—you’re connecting everything together, target muscles and ancillary ones, working them in unison and toning and sculpting both as you trace the path of the circle with precision and control. You can almost see your muscles becoming tighter and more defined before your eyes!
. A microbend is a deep, super-focused movement that involves bending and then straightening the leg in a very small, controlled way. The bend is slight, only a matter of inches, but it still delivers a tremendous
challenge to the leg muscles because they have to work hard to control the range of movement. When you straighten the leg, you are pressing out, extending the muscles to produce a longer, straighter leg. Microbends are designed to elicit that truly full extension—something that doesn’t occur naturally in most workout moves.
As you read through the exercises in the chapters that follow, you’ll spot these and other components of our technique: the isometric holds, the graceful dance-based movements, and the stretches that will give you a lean and feminine shape. This is where it all starts to come together, and micromovements are just one part of the big picture. If it initially seems like there’s a lot to master in these pages, don’t worry. Our moves all have an inherent logic that makes performing them a lot easier than you’d think. Just take your time, be patient with yourself, and recognize that there is a learning curve.
If you’re already in good shape and tempted to do more—for example, some additional moves to tighten your least favorite trouble spots—each of the chapters provides a list of Booster moves that you can use to supplement your workouts. You can tack these moves on to the end of your workout or do them when you have a few extra minutes during the day. But you don’t
need
to do them—everything you need to get a great body is contained in the two classic workouts in part 3.
So now let’s get acquainted with the very first moves you’ll encounter anytime you cue up your playlist and begin a Physique 57 workout: the eight-minute, heat-producing series known as our Warm-Up.
OTE ON
B
REATHING
No matter how you exercise, proper breathing is essential. Not only does it enhance the cardio aspect of your workout, but it also ensures that your muscles have ample oxygen, thus improving your power and stability, and enabling you to perform at a higher level. You ideally want to breathe in rhythm with your body’s movements: Whenever possible, try to
exhale
during the muscle contraction and
inhale
when the muscle relaxes or lengthens. Especially when you are doing abdominal work, you want to exhale every time you curl up to contract your abs deeper and tighter. The most important thing, however, is to KEEP BREATHING at a steady pace, even when you’re concentrating or working hard to maintain a position. Holding your breath while exercising can lead to dizziness and fatigue, which can undermine your efforts. And nobody wants that!
3
WARM-UP
F
OR MANY YEARS, THE WARM-UP HAS BEEN CONSIDERED
the “easy” part of any fitness regimen—a mild prelude that knocks five minutes off your workout before you take on the more challenging routines. But most Physique 57 clients will agree that our warm-up is unlike any other. We don’t believe in wasting your time with light aerobics or gentle stretching; instead, we want to get your muscles fired up and start generating some serious heat! So we skip the slow build and dive right in, using our free weights to get your muscles pumping, your heart rate up, and your metabolism stoked so that your body is primed for peak performance and will remain that way throughout your workout. We often hear new clients say, “That’s the
warm-up
?” after they finish their first series because our starting moves are just as intense as the main moves in other workouts. But that’s what makes our warm-up so effective, and why it paves the way for your success going forward.
The purpose of the warm-up has always been to set the stage for optimum results. If you want to create significant changes within your muscles, you need to create the proper conditions for change to occur—and we do this by literally warming the body. Anytime you activate a muscle, you generate heat as a by-product of the movement. And when you generate heat, a host of positive changes take place on a cellular level that make it easier for your muscles to perform at a
high intensity. First, your body begins redirecting blood flow, sending more blood to the muscles that are working. Second, the heat boosts your body’s oxygen dissociation curve—the rate at which your red blood cells unload and deliver oxygen to your muscles. Third, heat speeds up the all-important enzymes that control your metabolic process, causing you to start burning more calories. Whenever we do a Physique 57 Warm-Up, we like to talk about “launching into the calorie-burning zone.” Ultimately, the more heat you get going in your body, the better your muscles will perform and the more calories you’ll burn along the way, all of which paves the way for you to see greater changes down the line.
As you move through our Warm-Up, you will also discover that we steer clear of the usual moves like jumping jacks, side bends, step-touches, and torso twists. While we do include some classic moves such as planks, biceps curls, and triceps dips, we’ve either modified them to make them more interesting, or slightly changed the pace and choreography to amp them up and make them super-challenging.
For us, the Warm-Up is also the time when we do some of our best shoulder- and arm-sculpting work. Because your arm and shoulder muscles make up one of the body’s smaller muscle groups, they burn far fewer calories per minute of activity than, for example, the thighs. So as we mentioned earlier, rather than giving them a separate series of their own, we fold them in here and use free weights to generate heat and provide them with the maximum stimulus possible in a very short amount of time. The arm-sculpting part of the Warm-Up takes just under five minutes and tones your biceps, triceps, pecs, shoulder, and upper back muscles to deliver a slim and sexy upper body that will have you looking gorgeous in tank tops and strapless dresses—amazing when you consider that many fitness regimens spend ten to fifteen minutes on arms alone!
When it comes to choosing and working with weights, we strongly feel that heavier is better. Contrary to what many women believe, using heavier weights will NOT cause you to bulk up—in fact, heavier weights will allow you to perform fewer reps and see better results. We recommend that you use two different sets of weights to do your Warm-Up: a lighter three-to five-pound set for triceps work, and a heavier five-to eight-pound set for everything else. We recommend two sets
because, in general, the triceps muscles, or backs of the arms, will not be as strong as your biceps and shoulders when you’re first starting out—so we target them using lighter weights until they gain strength and power. For any given exercise, your weights should be heavy enough that you are really feeling the burn by the end of the set. If you’re not, your weights are too light and you need to go higher. We’re not going to tell you it’s okay to use soup cans or water bottles instead of weights because it’s not—hopefully you are committed enough to this program and your health to invest in real weights to help you get the most out of the Warm-Up moves.
And now it’s time to take a deep breath in and, as you exhale, leave the outside world and all your cares behind you. It’s time to tune in to your body… this is your hour for you!
SING
F
REE
W
EIGHTS
: A W
ORD
A
BOUT
P
OSTURE
Maintaining good form or posture is essential for getting the most out of any exercise, but it’s especially important when you’re working with free weights. When you pick up your weights, be sure that you continue to stand tall with your shoulders back and your chest open; don’t let your weights round your shoulders and pull you down. Even when you are directed to lean your torso forward, as with a move like Triceps Pressbacks, focus on keeping your spine straight and don’t let those shoulders drop. Always think like a ballerina: Slouching isn’t pretty!
A graceful alternative to the old-school march-in-place, this is one of the fastest ways to elevate your heart rate and prepare your body for the next 57 minutes. You’re setting the pace and tone for your workout, so let’s get those knees up!
MUSCLES TARGETED:
Entire body
Stand tall and draw your navel toward your spine.