WORKOUT

This work­out serves as Day 8 of our 10-day Chal­lenge, Func­tion­al­ly Fit with Nicole, but can also serve as a stand­alone workout.

Focus & Ben­e­fits: In this work­out, we tar­get the mus­cles that are respon­si­ble for ​‘pulling’ — back, biceps, rear delts, and ham­strings. The glutes will have an indi­rect focus, but are involved in many of our pulling move­ments. With straight­for­ward strength cir­cuits, we’ll focus on get­ting stronger with these essen­tial move­ment pat­terns. It’s when we slow down and focus on strength that our dai­ly move­ments and oth­er work­outs get much eas­i­er. Enjoy get­ting stronger today!

Equip­ment: Dumb­bells (range of light to medium/​heavy) and an option­al mat.

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: Strength­en­ing our ​‘pulling’ mus­cles serves us in many ways; they are what allow you to pick up some­thing heavy with­out throw­ing your back out, open a door with one hand while car­ry­ing 6 gro­cery bags in the oth­er, keep good spinal align­ment (and avoid pos­ture relat­ed injuries/​pain), and many oth­er reasons.

If you’re fol­low­ing along on my 10-Day chal­lenge, you’ll see that today’s work­out for­mat is a mir­ror image of the Day 6 ​‘push’ focused work­out. This was done inten­tion­al­ly so we can bal­ance out the mus­cles we didn’t tar­get in that work­out. Plus, if there’s some lin­ger­ing sore­ness, rest assured that dif­fer­ent mus­cles will be worked today.

Exer­cise Spot­light: Quadruped Off­set Sin­gle Arm Row

• This is a fun row/​core com­bo as it tar­gets your back while forc­ing your core to sta­bi­lize for balance.
• Form cues:
  • Start on all fours (hand and knees) with a dumb­bell in one hand, rest­ing on the floor
  • Extend your oppo­site leg back, so that it is ful­ly straight and your toe is light­ly tap­ping the floor
  • Sta­bi­lize through your core as you per­form a row with the dumb­bell-hold­ing arm (squeeze shoul­der blade to spine as you pull the weight toward your rib cage)
  • Return weight back to ground and repeat
  • Through­out the motion, keep shoul­ders and hips fac­ing the floor, pre­vent­ing any rota­tion that your body is tempt­ed to do

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This work­out is rat­ed a lev­el 3 out of 5 based on the straight­for­ward strength exer­cise selec­tions, but could delve into the lev­el 4 range if you’re unfa­mil­iar with some of the com­bi­na­tion move­ments. Mod­i­fy by choos­ing lighter weights, going at a slow­er pace, and per­form­ing with a small­er range of motion where possible.

Clos­ing Note: I love a work­out that can be applied direct­ly to dai­ly life; this func­tion­al strength work­out did not dis­ap­point. Enjoy the ease of day to day tasks that come from hav­ing strong, func­tion­al­ly sound muscles!

-WORK­OUT OUTLINE-

Warmup (4:30 min) — 30 sec each
Over/​Under
Alter­nat­ing Heel Scoops
Heli­copter Arms
Step­back + OH Reach
Front Kick + Reverse Lunge – alternating
Alt. Sin­gle Leg Deadlift
Body­weight ​“KB” Swing
Scap Pushup on Knees
Quadruped Tho­racic Rotation

Work­out (18:00) — 2 Rounds; 30 sec on / 15 sec off

Sumo Dead­lift
Reverse Lunge + Knee Dri­ve, alt.
DB Clean

Upright Row
Wide 1.5 Curls
Bent Over Wide Row

WATER BREAK

Sin­gle Leg Dead­lift + Curl to Curt­sy Lunge – R
Sin­gle Leg Dead­lift + Curl to Curt­sy Lunge – L
Farm­ers Car­ry Drop off/​Pick up

Reverse Fly
Quadruped Off­set Sin­gle Arm Row – R
Quadruped Off­set Sin­gle Arm Row – L

Cooldown (4:00) — 30 sec each
Hug the Tree + Chest Opener
Neck Stretch, alt.
Cen­ter Wide Leg Ham­string Stretch (stand­ing)
Side to Side Wide Leg Ham­string Stretch
Run­ner + Shoul­der Stretch – R
Run­ner + Shoul­der Stretch – L
Butterfly
Puppy