Try it Out: 6-Move Fit + Focused Workout

The Fit + Focused program is all about establishing a healthy foundation to help participants achieve sustainable results. And this foundation begins with moving your body optimally.

For the exercise portion of the program, I designed it to be periodized and progressive with a focus on building strength and challenging your conditioning. This means within a given week you’re going to hit multiple movements patterns and exercise intensities. This combination allows for progress to be made while avoiding under- or over-training.

With each workout, you’ll do a warm-up, strength sets, a conditioning block, and cool down. To get an idea of what that’s like, go through this routine pulled from the program. For fun, I included movements you may not have seen or experienced before. Try just some of them out or give the full workout a whirl.

The Workout

Warm-Up

Jefferson Curl

This is a great active stretch for your hamstrings, glutes, and lumbar fascia.

• Start by standing tall with your legs straight and together.
• Begin by tucking your chin into your chest. Then, slowly continue to round your back one vertebra at a time. As you curl, feel the weight “pull” you lower towards the floor. Your entire spine should form one uniform curve when your hands are at the lowest point. Sink as low as you can while keeping your legs completely engaged.
• Throughout the movement, focus on pulling your belly button into your spine and remember to breathe. Think as if you’re trying to lay your stomach on your thighs.
• Reverse the movement by uncurling your spine beginning with the low back first. Keep your chin tucked into your chest the entire
• Finish by standing all the way up, finally extending your neck straight.
• Once you feel good with this movement with your feet on the floor, you can move to a 2- to 4-inch lift, creating a deficit for a deeper stretch.

Cuban Press

This is a light-weighted movement that aids in warming up your shoulders and traps.

• Start by holding light dumbbells in each of your hands. Extend your arms next to your thighs, with your palms facing your thighs, keeping your elbows slightly bent.
• Begin by lifting your elbows up comfortably close to shoulder height. Rotate the dumbbells up while keeping your upper arms steady (imagine as if you’re forming a goal post shape). Continue moving until your forearms are perpendicular to the floor. Inhale when you have completed the movement.
• Return to the starting position with your arms by your sides.

Strength

Cyclist Squat

By putting your heels in an elevated position you can achieve a deep knee bend and squat, which helps to strengthen the knees and vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), the muscle used to stabilize the kneecap. This move puts more pressure on your knees, but you can always hang on to support with the upper body.

• Start by standing tall with your heels elevated on a slant board or weighted plate. For the goblet version of a cyclist squat, place a moderate-to-heavy dumbbell at chest height.
• Begin by performing a squat: set your hips back, trying to keep your torso upright, with your feet firmly gripping the elevated surface. Once you reach depth, push through your feet to bring your hips back to a standing position.
• Finish with your hips extended.

Gorilla Row

Like other bent-over row variations, the gorilla row builds strength through the middle and upper back, lats, and shoulders while also enhancing thoracic and abdominal stability.

• Start with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, with two kettlebells (or dumbbells) placed between your feet.
• Begin by hinging your hips back and bending your knees until you can reach the handles of both weights (if using dumbbells, you may need to have them placed on an elevated surface).
• Grasp the weights, then row them one at a time, alternating sides. As you row up with one side, push down into the opposite weight on the floor. Be sure to keep your hips and back in place as your arms move.
• Once finished with the assigned reps, finish by returning to a standing position.

Conditioning

Carries

Carry variations target your entire body, from biceps to shoulders and low back to abdominals. They can help improve balance and trunk stability.

• Start by standing tall with your feet shoulder width apart and your arms resting at your sides. Place a set of dumbbells or kettlebells on the floor, one next to each foot.
• Begin by squatting down to grab a weight in each hand. Engage your core and keep your shoulders down from your ears.
• Stand up tall, keeping the weights to your sides.
• Step forward and begin walking. Keep your head up, shoulders back, and core muscles engaged.
• Finish by completing the assigned time or distance.

Ground to Overhead

This exercise works your legs, glutes, core, arms, grip, shoulders, and back. A great deal of force is necessary to drive the weight from the floor to the fully extended overhead position, making it an effective power exercise.

• Start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart and with the weight on the ground between your feet.
• Begin by hinging over to the weight with your knees slightly bent, back flat, and arms straight. Once you have the weight in hand, keep the weight close to your body while bringing your hips forward quickly to move back to a standing position. As you do so, the pull transitions to a press overhead.
• Finish by bringing the weight back down to the ground, continuing to keep it close to your body.

Once you reach the end of your workout and are ready for the cool down, go for a three- to five-minute walk and then take some deep breaths while in child’s pose.