Exercise of the Month – Pre-Party Toning

Let’s get in the party mood! Christmas is fast approaching, is there a little black dress that you want to squeeze into, or perhaps your favourite suit? This workout is the perfect balance of cardio for fat burn and muscle contractions for toning.

Try this exercise 2-3 times a week but the more sessions in the gym means more benefits on your heart, lungs and waist. You’ll be able to fit into that dress in good time for Christmas dinner.

The Workout

The workout includes the below four exercises with a cardio drill in between each exercise, this makes up one set. The table to the right shows how much cardio you should do between each exercise.

The Exercises

Pulse Lunges
Take large step back into lunge position, bend down so your knee is hovering just an inch above the floor, then stand back up keeping your balance to complete a reverse lunge. To make this exercise EVEN more challenging try pulsing 5 times on each leg after you’ve taken that big step back before completing your next rep.

Side Plank Twists
Start in side plank position and twist body, bringing your raised elbow down to the ground 15-20 times. Switch sides and repeat.

V-ups
Complete 15, raising your chest and knees towards each other simultaneously.

Push ups
Complete 20, try full, but if this gets too hard then drop to your knees.

Each set includes all four of the above exercises with increasing cardio drills in between each exercise.

Set Example

Pulse Lunges, Cardio, Side Plank Twists, Cardio, V-ups, Cardio, Push ups, Cardio.

Suitable Cardio Drills

Burpees, Step Ups fast or slow, Mountain Climbers, Squat Jumps, Medicine Ball Swings and Knee Raises.

If you would like a version of the table to print off and follow whilst you complete the workout you can download it here.

Please speak to one of our highly skilled Personal Trainers if you have any questions about this exercise.