Pooltime + Working It Recap:: 7/8-14

It's Monday! Time for our 2nd pool workout. Last week, our pool workout was more of a total body workout, so today I'm switching it up with an upper body workout.

Sorry. No video this week. I'm not sure where the weekend went, but I simply didn't have the time to shoot and edit a video. Probably a good thing, too, since my form wasn't really the best. Oops!

These exercises are pretty basic, except you'll be doing them underwater. Still, here's a little break down.

Bicep curls - You'll want to do these in shoulder-deep water. Squat down into a plié squat, so your shoulders are completely underwater and your body is stable. Start with your arms by your sides, palms facing forward. Curl your hands up to your shoulders. Try to keep your wrists in line with your forearms. Add weights to make it more difficult.

Push-ups - Face side of pool with hands on top of pool edge about shoulder distance apart, fingers spread and arms extended. Push down on side of pool, lifting upper body out of the water. Bend elbows, lowering yourself back down into the water as low as you can. Make it more difficult by bringing your arms closer to your sides. Make it easier by placing your hands on the side of the pool edge, and pushing your body toward the edge.

Tricep kickbacks - Move to chest deep water. Change your leg stance into more of a lunge - with one leg in front of the other. Sink into that lunge until your shoulders are underwater. Lean your chest forward until your upper arm is parallel to the pool floor with your fist up near your chest. I like to rest my opposite hand on my front leg. Kick back your fist until your entire arm is parallel to the pool floor. Add weights to make it more difficult.

Side swipes - Move back into shoulder deep water and back into the plié squat. Start by extending arms straight out in front of you, hands clasped, then sweep them together across the body to one side, then back across to opposite side for one repetition. Try to keep both arms straight and below the surface of water throughout the move to create resistance. Maintain squat position, and keep hips facing forward, core engaged, and back straight throughout the move. Add weights to make it more difficult.

Remember that even though the underwater exercises might seem easier, the added resistance of the water is actually working your muscles even more than out of the water. To avoid injury, be careful when adding additional weight. Doing these exercises underwater also really focuses more on your core, too, since you've got to worry more about balance in addition to the exercises. Bonus!!

I'd love to hear what you think of this workout. Especially if you give it a try. :-) If you're still unsure on any of these exercises, click here for some animated gifs.

In other news, I was pretty lazy about all my workouts this week. What workouts I did manage, I didn't really give them my all. I hope to turn that around this week. I'm not sure how many times I need to learn the lesson of not leaving my workouts until after work. It almost never works that way.

And, here's the break down of the week.

Date	#CoreBalanceChallenge	Yoga	Pool
Mon 7/8	1:15 plank, :15 boat dancer	←	Yay!
Tues 7/9	1:15 plank, :40 superman dancer	←	Yay!
Wed 7/10	1:15 plank, :20 boat dancer	←	Yay!
Thur 7/11	1:20 plank, :40 superman dancer	←	Yay!
Fri 7/12			Yay!
Sat 7/13			Yay!
Sun 7/14	1:30 plank, :30 boat, :40 superman dancer	Morning Flow Yoga	Pool Workout #2

See what I mean? Kind of pathetic. *sigh*

All I can do now is get back to it, make working out in the AM a priority, and NOT beat myself up about having kind of a lazy week.

How were your workouts last week?
What do you do after having a lazy week?
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