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The BUDDY workout

Static Lunge 2
Jenn ZerlingGot a friend?  Put them to good use.  Jenn Zerling, trainer and author of Breaking the Chains of Obesity, has created this brilliant buddy workout to get you moving and challenge your mind and muscles

HOW Perform four sets of each exercise together where each set lasts for 25 repetitions.  Navigate through all seven exercises and repeat the circuit four times through.  If this is too challenging, start off with 15 reps each exercise for four sets.  Work your way up.  It is all about quality of movement more than the quantity of movement.  Take ten second breaks in between exercises.  

Plank Hockey It’s time to be a kid again.  Grab a hand-sized bean bag and both of you should make your way into a plank position.  Your hands go directly under your shoulders and balance on your toes with a wide stance (feet wider than hip distance apart for better balance).  Decide who takes the bean bag in their possession first and then use your arms as a hockey goal as you both aim to score points by sliding the bean bag through the arms.  Be sure to block the play with your hands. First person to score ten points wins that round.  This exercise is so much fun and it works every muscle in the body from head to toe, including your mind.

Plank Hockey

Throw Catch with Medicine Ball  Of course, this old-school exercise learned during your childhood allows you to work on coordination, and compound movements that strengthen both your upper and lower body at the same time.  Get a five pound medicine ball and choose which person will roll the ball to the other first.  The receiving partner squats down with a straight back, with the knees aligning over the toes as (s)he squats down to pick up the ball and throw the ball with both hands back to the starting partner for half the set.  After half the reps of the set, whether it’s 12 or eight, switch positions so that the opposite person is now receiving the ball and tossing to the other.

Throw Catch With Medicine Ball Throw Catch 2

Push Up to High Five  Pushups are one of the most standard exercises in any fitness program out there.  If you cannot do a single pushup, no worries; drop to your knees and start there.  Pushups are a closed chain exercise since they keep your hands connected to a surface.  When executed correctly, this is highly beneficial for your shoulder girdle muscles along with your back, chest and core muscles. The pushup is performed followed by a high five with your partner. If you cannot do the full set, stay in plank position and take out the pushup.  Wait for your partner to join you in the high five.  Keep your shoulders down and away from your ears and belly tight the whole set.

Push Up 1 Push Up 2

Static Lunge to Medicine Ball Pass  Starting in a static lunge with your right foot forward and your partner’s left foot forward, find a good lunge where your hips are perpendicular to the ground with your front knee at a 90 degree angle and tracking over your ankle.  Make sure your back knee is also at 90 degrees.  Focus on bracing your abdominal wall for support of the lower back. Pass the medicine ball back and forth to each other, rotate side to side through your trunk and tap the ball lightly to your outside hip and then pass it back to your partner, holding the ball with slightly bent arms.  Keep your posture erect or upright for good core support.  Go back and forth for the whole set keeping the lunging legs static or not moving.  Make sure you breathe and engage your abdomen the whole time while remaining deep in the lunge.

Static Lunge 1 Static Lunge 2

Side Plank with Bean Bag Pass  Starting in a side plank with your backs together, place the bottom hand directly in line with your shoulder for a strong foundation.  Drive your shoulder down your back to create length in the neck.  Stay on the knife edge of the bottom foot while taking the top leg and crossing it in front creating a “kickstand” for better stability.  Lift your hips high to the sky creating a curve under your side body, igniting your obliques and core muscles.  With your bean bag, reach up all the way and give your partner the bean bag while slightly externally rotating through the top shoulder to hand the bag to your partner.  Once your partner grabs the bean bag, reach underneath your bottom arm to get the bean bag back and repeat the exercise for 7 or 12 reps before switching task order (have your partner now pass the bean bag up top to you while (s)he reaches underneath to grab it again).

Side Plank 1 Side Plank 2

Patty Cake in Static Squat  Get into a deep squat with your booty back and knees aligned over your ankles.  Make sure the knees track in the same direction that your toes point to help protect the knees.  Lift your chest up slightly so that you can see your partner, but keep your core super tight the whole set.  Staying in a static squat, reach contra-laterally (across the body to the same hand of your partner) and hit hands 15-25 times while remaining in a static squat with good body alignment.

Patty Cake

Crunch to Ball Pass  Starting in a seated position, interlock your feet with your partner, and have a 90 degree bend in both knees.  Take a 5-10 lb medicine ball and have one person bring the ball down into full extension lifting the ball either overhead or to the chest.  As you each lower towards the earth, take your time while engaging the core and lowering one vertebrae at a time.  Both of you should lower down with and without the ball, and each rep that you come up, you pass the ball to each other and alternate between who is holding the ball for each rep.  Inhale on the way down, exhale as you crunch up.  Keep your neck neutral at all times, keeping the emphasis on the core.

Crunch to Ball Pass Crunch to Ball Pass 2

breaking the chains of obesity cover

Breaking the Chains of Obesity
is available on Amazon.co.uk for £11.73.

Clothes by Vimmia.  Workout photography by Xochitl Rodrigue

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