Balls to the Wall
Grab a partner, whether it be your spouse, kid, coworker, friend, whoever, grab someone and get fit with that partner. Be the leader (tool #100). People love to be led, so you should seriously consider being the fit example. The only way to eradicate obesity in America is to have fitness enthusiasts like you join the train of healthy individuals and ditch the fat lifealtogether. Once in a while (as in twice a month) eat whatcha want. But on your regular regimen, you are eating on point as I thoroughly outline in Breaking the Chains of Obesity, 107 Tools. Being too busy is no longer in your weekly speech. You’re now going to embark on the healthiest journey of your life, right?
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So here’s your workout! Balls to the wall. Check out the video below to see a depiction of the workout performed by myself and Hedda Royce from G-Loves. Those gloves made this workout even that much more awesome. Girls, if you wanna protect those lady-like hands, keep your wedding band on, and accessorize your lululemon outfit while you’re breaking a tremendous sweat, then G-loves are a must! Oh yeah, they have gloves for men too-booya!
Equipment:
2 basketballs
A partner
A wall (to throw the balls against)
A stopwatch (to track your one minute sets)
G-Loves (recommended)
The Warmup and Workout:
1 minute each in the zone, with 20 second recoveries in between:
Dribble basketball
Dribble between hands
Dribble ball around you
Dribble on one leg
Switch legs
Dribble jog
Dribble side shuffle
Dribble deep closed legged squat alternate hands
One ball thrown to wall with partner:
With this part, put one ball down cause you only need one ball. Toss the ball to your partner against the wall. Your partner should catch it while you do one of the exercises below. Do each exercise 10-20 times each. Think Tabata Method speed with these exercises. Quality of movement should always be taken into account along with safety, of course.
Burpees (make sure with these, you are not putting a lot of pressure into your knees. The way to do that is to keep your weight distributed into your heels when you stand from a deep squatted position. You should put a tremendous emphasis on squeezing your core muscles from the time you plank to squat to stand. There is the option to do a pushup when you are in plank for those of you who are advanced and when you stand, explode to a jump! If you have bad knees or shoulders, instead of a burpee, do 6 cross-punches as you do in shadow boxing)
Squats: stand with your feet a bit wider than hip distance with your feet slightly positioned outward. Descend your hips down toward the earth and be sure to track your knees in alignment with your ankles, facing the same way as your toes. Your knee is a hinge joint so be careful of where your knee lines up in reference to the ankle and toes. Perform 4 quick squats when you let go of the ball.
2 pushups: As soon as you let go of the ball, drop down to a plank and perform 2 quick pushups. Got more, then do them, but don’t go all day and make your partner wait ok? Be sure to keep those hands wider than your shoulders which will place your elbows in alignment with your wrists. Keep that core tight-duh! You know what that really means? Keep your butt in the same plane as your chest as you lower and come back up. Have your partner tell you if you are executing or not..If they say butt up, then tuck your tailbone slightly under as you lift your hips up towards the sky.
Spider jumps: Starting out in a squat position, take your right hand to your left foot (contralaterally) and then jump 180 degrees like spider(wo)man to another squat this time reaching with your left hand to your right foot. Do 3 spider-jumps. Execute your squats correctly as stated above for squats.
Walkouts: Drop down to a deep squatted position and then walk out to a plank and walk back in. Sort of like a burpee but no jump up when you stand and no pushup.
Alternating lunges: First be sure to do a regular lunge. Lunges should have both legs bent at a 90 degree angle with your front knee tracking over your ankle and facing the same direction as your toes. No need to go too deep with these. Start with your feet together and then lunge forward, then push back with your feet together and switch sides. Do 2 reps each side for a total of 4 reps. You have the option to reach your right hand across to the left foot and the left hand to the right foot to include a bit rotation and upper body mobility.
Donkey kicks: Drop to plank position and bring your heels into your butt like a donkey is kicking. Be careful with these. If you have no stability in your shoulders, you can fall flat on your face, so start off by lifting one leg at a time to ensure stability and good comprehension of what a donkey kick is. You should NOT feel too much pressure in your shoulders or wrists for this one. If you do, your core is not being used and in that case, scale back to a single leg heel touch or a plank with leg abductions (think jumping jacks in a plank position)
Side kicks: I’m not talking about your personal side kick who follows you around everywhere you go, I’m talking about kickboxing side kicks which are excellent for the obliques, glutes while challenging your balance and proprioception. Starting on your right foot, lift the left knee up and while keeping the weight and center of gravity over the right hip, kick that left leg to the side and then land on the left to kick with the right. Do 4 kicks and then get the ball back for your partner to do the same..
Finish with Abs:
You each use your own ball for this one! Perform each abdominal exercise for 1 minute each
Plank on ball or plank on the floor: Starting in plank on the ball, with your chest in alignment with your hands, balancing on your hands and toes, keep your belly tight and your shoulders drawn down your back and away from your ears. If the ball feels like it will roll away, then safety first. But otherwise, balance on the ball and you can do some fun things with this one. Bring your knee to your elbow and alternate between sides. Ooh la la.
Seated side twists: In a seated position with your legs bent, keep an erect posture taking out any pressure from your lower back. Keep the core engaged as you take your ball and with straight arms through the midline of your body, rotate in your oblique plane from side to side and bounce the ball on the outside of each leg and then rotate to the other side.
Balls to the wall in seated position: In a seated position similar to set up in the seated side twists, or standing (up to you), throw your ball from overhead to the wall, catch it and then throw again. Be sure that you are far enough away from the wall otherwise the ball will hit you (this happened to me-which I humbly laughed and said, ok-ok, bring the booty back!) Remember that this is a core exercise so always keep the core engaged and do not sit your weight into your lower back. If this is uncomfortable, then do another plank for this set.
Be sure to have water with you for the workout. Afterwards, fuel your body with a very healthy meal derived from the recipes on this site. Enjoy the video below done by Jerry Lin. Thank you Hedda Royce from G-Loves for partnering up with me. So much fun.
*you are expected to have clearance from your doctor before trying any new physical fitness program…Thank you!